Is DD right about muslims being forbidden to keep dogs as pets?

[MummikinsOopNorth]

She came home from school saying that Islam forbids it's followers to keep dogs as pets or companions, unless they are kept for a purpose, such as hunting or guarding. Is this right? Thanks in advance

i dont think the mosque would view you diffrently just because you are a single mum tbh. my ds father is a muslim and i would like him to go to the mosque with his daddy but i feel he is still too young (he is 4) not because of any other reason other than he will run around like a mad crazy fool and disturb everyone but i do want him to learn about islam and learn arabic as it will help in the future

Dogs haven't always been considered 'clean' in the western world. In England in the early medieval period, as people started moving into two-storey houses, they got space to sleep away from the animals, and dogs came to be considered about as clean as a cow or a horse. Then, later, a trend developed for rich women to have little lap dogs - it was a case of showing how rich you were by the fact you could afford to have a totally useless dog (that couldn't herd sheep or hunt or anything like that), and you could afford to keep yourself clean whilst keeping said dog inside.

Useful to remember that British attitudes towards cleanliness/pets don't have a terribly long history, we might have seen things very differently a few hundred years ago.

There is a story of how the Prophet Muhammed loved his cat so much that he cut off his sleeve, when he found his cat sleeping on it, rather than disturb her.

There is high muslim population where I grew up. If they kept pets, it was almost invariably cats.

There isn't anything wrong with keeping a dog in Islam for security/hunting etc. however they should be kept in the yard and not allowed to live in the house. They should also be looked after well, but not treated as humans.

Islam is a religion, which you can choose to follow or not so it's unnecessary to make barbed comments about it as it can be considered rude, and you wouldn't appreciate someone making comments regarding the way you live your life.

Mummikins i think it's great that you and your daughter share an interest in different religions if more people looked at the facts rather than what they heard there would be more tolerance for peoples lifestyles and / or religious choices .

Pride is looked upon negatively in terms of thinking yourself superior to others, not being proud of something someone else does

My father is Muslim and we had a dog that slept on the sofa and the beds, my father didn't care. But then he married a white woman and smoked, drank and played the lottery so I think dog was least of his worries.

Yes your dd is right. It can't be kept as a pet because a dog living in the house means that the house is not clean enough for prayer.

My grandfather was a dog lover, very unusual among Muslims in our country. He kept dogs (usually one at a time) for as long as I remember, right upto his death. The dogs were never allowed into the house though, but the garden was massive, like a park, which they had free run of. The dog was a guard dog for the household, but a pet for my grandfather. He'd let it jump on him and lick him and he'd hug it back much to my grandmother's digust. But he'd always shower and change as soon as he came inside. When my grandfather died the dog seemed to know immediately, I don't know how, but it just lay down and stayed like that for days.

I've heard about the cat hadith too. Apparently it was asleep on the Prophet's shirt and he had to go to the mosque so he cut off the sleeve and wore the shirt so that he didn't have to disturb the cat.

OP if you want to take your dd in a mosque i'm sure you would be very welcome, its not closed off to non Muslims we are happy for people to come and talk if they are interested or have any Qs or anything, just make sure the one you go to has a women's section as I think it would be better for you to go where they have that, some small ones don't but bigger ones should.
As for the dogs, we don't hate dogs or anything but just don't keep them in the house, people can have them for hunting, guard dog etc and no-one is allowed to mistreat any animals including dogs. Although you might find a lot of muslims scared of dogs, i noticed thats quite common in our community (i'm scared myself although i do know they are not likely to hurt, i can't help it i just don't dare go near)

Would that be why one of my friends used to refuse to come in the house? I had a very large drooly black labrador, she'd never come in, yet she'd invite me to hers frequently, and now that said dippy lab is no longer with us, will happily come to my house? Why didn't she say anything? I would quite happily have put dippy dog in the garden?

loudlass she probably didn't want to seem rude, I reckon I would have probably done that

My DH used to have a dog and we have a half english half moroccan couple of friends who have dogs but his family think they are nuts. DH is excessively paranoid about my parents dog around DS I think because he believes he is unhygeinic. Which he is I suppose but no more than anything else!

Kat is he excessive because he thinks it is unhygienic or because he's scared of it biting him. I never take my kids around friends houses if they have dogs because of the latter.

My DH is Muslim and as we live with my parents, we also live with their (/our) 4 dogs. They sleep in the beds on the couches etc etc etc, all DH needs to do is wash as normal before prayer and doesn't touch them until he is done praying (shuts them out of the room for a few minutes). I don't think it says you cant have dogs directly in the Quran, and for him this is the most important guidance/rules (since its directly from God). In his home country he also used to have dogs when he was a child.

I think dogs in medieval Persia were likely to be very unclean indeed. Alot of these things make sense even in a secular world. The cleaning of feet (or taking off of shoes) when entering a building where others kiss the floor makes alot of sense too.

We have three dogs (and are generally outdoorsy) and i agree that's probably why my two DSs don't pick up many bugs. However, the average 21st century housedog is probably cleaner than people were in the middle ages.

Go, Muslims!

Dogs are vile and terribly unclean.

Yuk.

The majority serve no purpose at all but to foul the Earth with their shite.

Thanks for that expat - for a moment there i thought we were going to get a nice balanced dog debate on Mumsnet for once - phew .

Why? They forbid keeping them for very good reasons, they're unclean.

I agree with them completely!

My DH is Muslim and to him it is a cultural thing too. In his country, and many other Arab countries, you just don't have animals in the house, they live outside.

expat-have you ever had the honour of being a dog owner?,I think not, because you would not come out with such rubbish.
Irons -agree with you,we have dog,horse,cats when dd was a baby the only bugs she ever caught was in those toddler/soft play yank of piss type places.

We visited a mosque recently in the middle east. It was geared up for non muslims and although I was already modestly dressed, I was given a hijab (sp?) and ended up fully dressed in black. It was fascinating.

Those of advanced intellect do not see picking up dog shit, going out in blizzard conditions to pick up dog shit, living in a home that smells of dog and going out in clothes covered in dog hair as an hour, darkandstormy.

[considers studying Islam]

honour, sorry, DS hit the return key in his vehemence.

You already sound half way there expat.

believe me my little jr terrier is the least of my troubles. dd7 ds3 now there is another matter