The Times of Israel recently reported that Iranian officials have been forcibly entering people’s homes and confiscating their dogs to “crackdown” on “vulgar Western culture.” Iranian prosecutor Mohsen Boosaidi launched a new anti-dog policy, telling the Fars News Agency:
Keeping and caring for dogs is haram (forbidden) according to religious leaders. If we find out that anyone is keeping and caring for dogs and so is promoting vulgar Western culture, we will deal with them firmly.”
In the Isfahan province of Shahin Shahr, one family said that one day officials came to their house and took their dogs– under false pretenses. They were told:
We were shown a piece of paper indicating they were from the municipal veterinary office. They came in and took away our dogs under the pretext of vaccination.”
But when they went to the veterinary office to collect their doge, there was no record or case associated with them.
Interestingly, Javid Al-e-Davood, head of Iran’s Society for Protection of Animals, said, “Keeping dogs has not been regarded as haram in any religious book. Associating keeping dogs with Western culture is distorting the history of Islamic and Iranian civilization.”
But, according to the Hadith traditions, this is not true. Dogs are considered filthy and various Islamic traditions teach that dogs carry diseases.
In Sahih Al-Bukhari Volume 7, Book 77, Hadith 843, Islamists are warned, “Angels will not enter a house that contains a dog …”
Islamists can own dogs if they are used as guard dogs, hunting dogs, or shepherd dogs. According to Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Book 67, Hadith 389, “Anyone who keeps a dog merely as a pet, and not a hunting or guard dog, shall have two Qirats [prayer readings] deducted every day from his accumulated good deeds.”
Additionally– owners must wash out their dog’s water dish seven times because a dog’s saliva is considered unclean. This instruction is found in Abu Huraira in Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 1, Book 4, Hadith 173: “Allah’s Apostle said, ‘If a dog drinks from the utensil of anyone of you it is essential to wash it seven times.’”
Likewise, the perspective is taught that, “Allah knows best; dogs carry diseases in their saliva.”
July 7, 2016