What did the Prophet Mohammed really say about dogs?

[Guest guest]

Dear Mr Clifton,

A believer would go by what a prophet said. In

contrast, a rationalist would weigh the evidence and decide if the saying of

a particular individual has any importance in the first place in the light

of the evidence considered. What I mean in other words is that

interpretation of religious texts is for those who attach relevance to the

texts but there are those who do not think that these texts are sacrosanct.

Taslima Nasreen, a Bangladeshi writer, comes from a Muslim background but

has opposed animal sacrifice on rational grounds and has criticised the

religious tenets of Islam.

Regards,

 

 

 

On 1/25/08, Merritt Clifton <anmlpepl wrote:

>

> From ANIMAL PEOPLE, January/February 2008:

>

> What did the Prophet Mohammed really say about dogs?

>

> Commentary by Merritt Clifton

>

> CAIRO--Will the status of dogs rise in the Islamic world as

> improved sanitation eliminates street dog habitat, the threat of

> rabies recedes, and rising affluence enables more people to keep

> pets?

> Or, is prejudice against dogs so thoroughly built into

> Muslim culture that the Middle East will remain the part of the

> inhabited world with the fewest pet dogs per capita, despite having

> the longest recorded history of keeping dogs?

> Cairo, Damascus, Istanbul, Karachi, Tehran, Kuwait, and

> Dubai all appear to have reached approximately the socio-demographic

> transition point at which dog-keeping began exponential growth in the

> U.S. and more recently China, and began more restrained growth in

> western Europe.

> Features of the transition point include rising percentages

> of the population who have contact with animals chiefly as pets,

> rather than through agrarian occupations; smaller family sizes;

> fewer multi-generational households; and more women in the work

> force.

> The factors most directly associated with surges in

> dog-keeping, worldwide, center on increases in the ability of

> people who like dogs to keep dogs as pets without starting conflict

> with others who share the same living space.

> Taboos on dog-keeping in other cultures have not held back

> dog acquisition, once keeping a dog became easy for urban residents.

> As recently as 10 years ago, for instance, observers of

> dog-keeping in China typically opined that keeping pet dogs would

> never become as popular there as in the west, not only for economic

> reasons but also because of the lingering effects of decades of

> official propagandizing against dogs. Instead, almost as soon as

> governmental restrictions on dog-keeping were eased somewhat, the

> popularity of dog-keeping exploded. China now has more pet dogs than

> any other nation, and trails only the U.S. and Costa Rica in ratio

> of pet dogs to humans.

> A parallel effect occurred with keeping cats in the U.S.

> Research by John Marbanks, done in 1947-1950, found that there were

> then far fewer pet cats than dogs--and only 26% of the fed cats,

> compared to 47% of the fed dogs, had house privileges. Prevailing

> public opinion held that keeping cats indoors was unclean and

> potentially dangerous to children.

> In 1947, however, a man named Ed Lowe invented and began to

> market clay cat litter. Bagged dry cat kibble began to reach stores

> about 15 years later.

> Today about 90 million cats inhabit U.S. homes, outnumbering

> pet dogs by 20 million. About 60 million U.S. cats live primarily

> indoors.

> Differing status of cats & dogs

> A belief is widespread in the Islamic world that Mohammed

> favored cats, of whom he was openly fond, but forbade keeping dogs.

> This idea comes primarily from Hadiths 3:515, 4:541, and

> 4:4542, which state that " If somebody keeps a dog who is neither

> used for farm work nor for guarding livestock, he will lose one Qirat

> (a unit of value) of the reward for his good deeds every day. "

> But the original meaning of the word " keep, " and of the

> Arabic word translated as " keep " in these verses, is " to confine, "

> as is affirmed by the evolution of translations of less

> controversial Hadiths narrated by both Saheeh Muslim and Saheeh

> Al-Bukhari about improperly " keeping " a cat. The story in older

> translation is that, " A woman entered the Fire because of a cat

> which she kept and did not give it food or water, nor did she set it

> free to eat of the vermin of the earth. " Two later translations have

> it that the woman " was punished because she imprisoned a cat until it

> died, " or " entered Hell because of a cat she tied up and did not

> feed. "

> To confine was still the primary meaning of " keeping " an

> animal in formal English as recently as the 1930s, when the most

> commonly cited versions of the Hadiths were translated--and in the

> case of the verses about the cat, translators appear to be unanimous

> that the Arabic word originally rendered as " kept " referred

> specifically to cruel confinement.

> What the Hadiths about keeping a dog therefore appear to be

> stating, if read into historical context, is that people should not

> confine a dog unnecessarily, recognizing the nature of a dog as a

> social animal.

> Supporting this view is Mohammed's often expressed opposition

> to confining other animals unnecessarily or in a cruel manner--not

> only cats, but also birds, livestock, and wildlife. Mohammed

> accepted confinement, but only if the needs of the animal were met,

> and was attentive to their emotional needs, as illustrated in his

> rebuke of a man who sharpened a knife in front of a sheep who was to

> be sacrificed.

> Also often cited in support of claims that Mohammed forbade

> keeping dogs are Hadith 4:539, usually translated as " The Prophet

> said, 'Angels do not enter a house which has either a dog or a

> picture in it,' " and Hadith 4:540, " Allah's Apostle ordered that the

> dogs should be killed. "

> These two Hadiths, however, come directly after one of

> Mohammed's strongest pro-dog pronouncements.

> Hadith 4:539 has also been translated as using the vigilance

> of dogs as a metaphor to explain how strongly an icon or idol would

> repel angels. Speaking against icons and idols was among Mohammed's

> most frequent themes, but speaking ill of animals was not his habit.

> Hadith 4:540 is believed by medical historians to refer to an

> incident in which Mohammed responded to a rabies outbreak in Medina

> by closing the walled part of the city where it occurred, to prevent

> the outbreak from spreading, and then exterminated the host animals.

> Before the invention of prophylactic anti-rabies vaccines, this

> procedure of isolation and " stamping out " was the only known way to

> stop a rabies epidemic. Isolation followed by " stamping out " is

> still the procedure recommended by the World Health Organization for

> coping with zoonotic disease outbreaks, if vaccines are unavailable

> or of unknown efficacy.

> In that context, Hadith 4:540 has been recently cited in

> support of the " stamping out " response to outbreaks of the avian

> influenza H5N1 in Egypt, Indonesia, and several other Islamic

> nations.

> Mohammed spoke of dogs in five other well-remembered Hadiths.

> In three Hadiths--3:439, 3:440, and 3:482-- Mohammed forbade

> selling a dog. Each Hadith lists several other seemingly unrelated

> forbidden practices, including pimping. These practices have in

> common that they involve a betrayal of trust. Selling a dog

> therefore appears to be forbidden because it betrays the dog's trust.

> Hadith 3:484 adds that " The Prophet forbade taking a price

> for animal copulation, " which, in proximity to the other three,

> appears to prohibit renting stud dogs. This verse has also been

> interpreted as a brief reiteration of the Islamic prohibition of

> bestiality.

> Mohammed's most significant statements about dogs were

> narrated by his disciple Abu Huraira, who was well-known for his own

> love of animals.

> According to Hadith 3:551, " Allah's Apostle said, 'While a

> man was walking he felt thirsty and went down a well and drank water

> from it. On coming out of it, he saw a dog panting and eating mud

> because of excessive thirst. The man said, 'This (dog) is suffering

> from the same problem as that of mine. So he went down again into

> the well, filled his shoe with water, caught hold of it with his

> teeth, and climbed up and watered the dog. Allah thanked him for

> his good deed and forgave him.' The people asked, 'O Allah's

> Apostle! Is there a reward for us in serving (the) animals?' He

> replied, " Yes, there is a reward for serving any animal. "

> Hadith 3:551 is perhaps the most emphatic mandate for humane

> work in any of the primary religious texts of any of the Abrahamic

> religions.

> Hadith 4:538 expands the message.

> Again according to Abu Huraira, " Allah's Apostle said, 'A

> prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog

> near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she

> took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some

> water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that. "

> Hadith 4:538 goes beyond just promising a reward for helping

> animals. This Hadith promises specific forgiveness of sin to those

> who help animals, even if the sin is as grave as prostitution and is

> compounded by the prostitute having removed her head covering. These

> are offenses which in parts of the Islamic world are still punished

> by stoning or flogging.

> In essence, Hadith 4:538 states that practicing compassion

> for animals is more important than obedience to even some of the

> most basic social norms. Hadith 4:538 indicates as a cultural goal

> the education of a society in which everyone is compassionate toward

> animals, and therefore no one is stoned or flogged.

>

> --

> Merritt Clifton

> Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

> P.O. Box 960

> Clinton, WA 98236

>

> Telephone: 360-579-2505

> Fax: 360-579-2575

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