It Is Not Haram To Touch A Dog , Says Malaysian Mufti
Owning a dog in Iran could result in 74 lashes under a new law
passed by the Iranian government while in Malaysia, Muslims clerics have voiced
their outrage after a dog patting event was held in a public park.
Both incidents have made it clear how some Muslims feel about man’s
best friend. Simply put, many, including several scholars, believe dogs are
impure.
Is touching a dog haram for Muslims?
According to World Of Buzz, Datuk Dr Wan Salim Mohd Nor, Penang’s
Mufti says,
“In the Islam
religion, it is not forbidden to touch dogs but instead encourages us to
treat the animals well, and if you help a dog in need this is considered a
charitable act.”
“In the hadith,
there was a person who had committed many sins but the person saw a thirsty dog
passing by and the person took some water to feed the dog, the person’s sins
were forgiven because of the good deed they did to feed the animal that was
suffering.”
Datuk Dr Wan Salim
Mohd Nor
Dr Wan Salim stated that, “It actually differs based on different sects of the Islam religion, for
the Syafi sect, every part of the dog is considered unclean but for other
sects, only the dog’s saliva and faeces are considered unclean.”
He clarifies his statement by saying,“In Islam, the priority is given to humans, you should always help a
human in need but if this is not an issue, there is no problem if you want to
offer help to animals who need it.”
Dr Wan Salim’s statement is supported by the Kelantan Mufti, Datuk
Mohamad Shukri Mohamad. Shukri says, “In
fact, Muslims are allowed to keep dogs for safety and security purposes, to
take care of the house or for hunting purposes, even for the Syafi sect. We
just need to clean ourselves according to the purification rituals if we were
to touch the dogs.”
But he advises that a Muslim shouldn’t keep a dog as a pet if its
just for fun and if it causes one to spend a lot to rear a dog.
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