I’ve heard this in the past, but never with any explanation. So, two questions:
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do Muslims consider dogs to be unclean?
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if so, why?
Yes, because they’ve often been known to eat their own poop.
Yes they do. Because God said so.
Specifically in the Koran, or in the oral traditions?
So do chickens but they’re considered good nosh.
Also certain fish do this, and rabbits and a whole bunch of other critters
Seems the stuff about dogs has been a bit misunderstood but by and large you’re supposed to dig cats more.
makes sense 
ETA yes now that I’ve read the linked article… strictly speaking dogs are seen as unclean but you should still treat them well etc.
The first place to not go for support of an “official” position on dogs is either the Quran or the Bible. Both are texts written at a time when the prevailing cultural paradigm was that animals were dumb beasts without standing of any kind, and people were humans created in God’s image. The notion of mistreating animals within religions which happily prescribe the correct way to saw the throat of a tasty treat is not going to find any textual support. In general dogs were (and are) pretty darn low on the pecking order of animals and were seen as the filthy but occasionally useful creatures they are…um; I mean were. Jewish, New Testament and Islamic writings all take the underlying presumption that dogs are…dogs. Where the term is used literally the dog is a fairly disgusting animal, and where it used figuratively the term represents negative images.
Like any decent religion, current Islamic teachings have to evolve a bit (I grant you Islam has been slower than average to modernize) in order to compete succesfully, and you will of course find many modern references describing how Islam is not really down on dogs. Of course you’ll also find references describing how the Quran is not really a violent and xenophobic text. Read it and do your own due diligence; the Old Testament has nothing on the Quran when it comes to butchering the unfaithful or treating animals badly (from the animals’ viewpoint).
Anyway back to dogs: I spent 14 years in an Islamic culture. My observation is that the level of tolerance is about this: dogs are mangy curs good for the occasional child’s plaything and perhaps some useful work as a guardian for sheep and houses. This may have some variance from Muslim culture to culture, but broadly speaking I’d say it applies until you get to the really modernized pockets.
They are definitely considered unclean in the ordinary sense of the word, and of course they are also considered unclean in the narrow religious sense of the word–by and large the Islamic division of clean and unclean animals is the same as the Jewish one.
Because dogs can lick their own genitals. It’s a jealousy thing.
Oh yeah, only the Muslims are jealous of that. 
In the Bedouin culture it appears that the Saluki breed is exempted from the “dogs are unclean” thing.
Oh I see, they’re a bunch of picky buggers then 
Your common or garden rottweiller just don’t fit in
My SO is a pretty strict Muslim, and she loves dogs.
Uh, you do realize that “the correct way to saw the throat of a tasty treat” is a way that’s specifically designed to be as humane as possible, right? In other words, that’s in there precisely because they had a notion of mistreating animals, and considered it a bad thing.
So would a pig make good pet too? As long as you didn’t raise him to eat, like Wilber. Would Wilber (or Babe) be an acceptable pet?
I get the impression that this idea, as well as a lot of things in “Islam,” are really related to Arab culture and may not hold true outside of that. Is this correct?
Are you saying that “Pigs as Pets” may be a western only phenomina? How about Muslisms in Dearbourne Michigan?
Dogs and pigs are najis (unclean.) Pak refers to that which is clean. A list and discussion:
I’ve spent time in a variety of Muslim countries including central Asia, Indonesia, the Muslim region of the Philippines, Dubai, Kuwait, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq. In general dogs are not well liked in any of those countries. In some countries, including Iraq, the secular elite had dogs as pets and it was seen as kind of chic and modern, but with the collapse of the secular government in Iraq dogs as pets as fallen out of favor.
Nonsense, and often repeated nonsense, at that.
It is, rather, a ritualistic way to bleed the animal and kill it within a religiously prescribed pattern. Period.
As a boy, I’ve personally witnessed the slaughtering of a buffalo for market. The entire ritual is absolutely terrifying for the animal. You should probably be able to find some pretty good videos of how this is done so you can do your own due diligence before repeating such an inaccurate canard again. The buffalo was delicious, btw, and I don’t want to hijack the thread with a value judgment about religions. But just to focus on facts: Jewish and Islamic slaughtering rituals are not even close to an effort “to be as humane as possible.”
The prescribed method is to saw the throat back and forth in a conscious animal, which is snorting, bulging it’s eyes out like it’s gonna die, and breathing through the sawed trachea. You really have to see it done to understand the BS of the “it’s to make it humane” crowd. It’s a religious ritual. Period. It’s roots are in sacrifice rituals and not humane tenderness.
Now I love my meat and won’t be giving it up anytime soon. I am hoping most of what I eat got bonked on the head or decapitated. But I am not so confused as to think there aren’t more humane ways to kill my protein than sawing its throat, even in primitive cultures.
Back when I worked a data conversion shop that worked 24/7, I once brought my dog in with me just to say hello to a different shift.
Lift spirits, see how it was going.
This was back in 1990. Not much was known about the Muslim culture in Denver then. At least by me.
Well, I guess I really offended one guy by bringing my dog into the office. But I have to tell you, this fellows BO brought tears to my eyes. I had a way different idea of what ‘unclean’ was.
He didn’t last long (because of his BO). When in Rome……