When I’m walk my dog (shih tzu) Muslim people moving to another side of the road, older people lead their kids to escape close contact. It’s happened to me a lot of times near the mosque.
Why they doing that? Are they afraid of my little dog or what? š
Edit: just in case, it’s Sweden and the mosque is located on the way to the park. Dog on a leash, small and fluffy.
Comments
My wife used to know some folks who moved from Africa. Really nice people but they were afraid of dogs. They said it was because no-one kept them as pets and basically any dog they saw was a wild stray and would attack people.
Maybe something like that?
Iām not Muslim, but itās my understanding that dogs are not Haraam, and are therefore unclean. I am a former teacher who taught Muslim students and they were mortified to learn that I had a dog in the house. No touching, no petting because I was told they are unclean.
Some think dogs are unclean so will actively avoid them incase they touch them. This would make them need to wash again if they are going to pray.
It’s more a personal choice and not based in the religion as Phrophet Mohammed had a dog. Loads of Muslims also have dogs.
In NYC Asian people have the same reaction when I walk my dog so I donāt thinks itās a Muslim think. Some cultures just arenāt used to dogs and fear them for whatever reason.
I am not Muslim but I heard they call dogs “haram”. Means unholy thing I believe.
We had a Muslim foreign exchange student stay with us for a year.
It’s a cultural thing. Few if any dogs as pets in primarily Muslim areas. Lots of street dogs and feral packs roaming around being gross and dangerous.
So dogs are seen the same way we might think of a skunk or a racoon, only imagine if those traveled in packs and could kill your kids.
They believe dogs are unclean.
In most of africa, dogs are not kept as pets. They are used as guard dogs as best, live outside and are unsocialized, at worst they are feral, so they steal food, are dirty and full of fleas, and often agressive.
Even if most immigrants are aware it’s not the same in occidents it’s hard to unlearn things. For the ones who want to i mean.
In Islam and to many Muslims, dogs are unclean animals.
Likely why it may seem like drastic behaviour near a mosque is because Muslims need to maintain a cleaning ritual (wudhu) before prayer and getting into contact with a dog (being an unclean animal) might break the state of cleanliness, so they’d have to clean up again. So in general it’s seen as an unclean animal and the more strict ones typically avoid dogs as much as they can. The views will vary depending on which Muslim you ask, but that’s the gist of it… Unclean animal, no good for Islam’s cleanliness rituals and beliefs
The long and short of it is that that Muhammad was a cat person. Aside from his family he was known for having a lot of cats and praised them for their qualities. Dogs on the other hand were seen as unclean.
You have to keep in mind, that in a lot of societies, dogs were not pets, but either pests, hunting hounds, or guard dogs. In many parts of the Middle East, dogs are more or less scavengers.
my muslim friends say dogs are haram and cats are rather clean, and what they call halal
Because dog’s saliva is considered “unclean” and Muslims believe that if you get some on your clothes, you can’t pray unless you wash it.
You can judge a man’s character by how he treats a dog.
I’ve always wanted to know the answer to this question.
Many years ago, I worked in a large office (about 2,000 people) and so the foyer would often host blood donation drives, charities etc.
One day there was a guide dog charity that trained up guide dogs for the blind, and they has one such dog with them.
They had been instructed to leave the building early on because Muslim staff complained about the dog being present on the premises.
Some sects of diaspora communities (specifically wahabis) cite a specific passage from a hadith (secondary – tertiary texts in Islam) to argue that dogs are unclean. However, the overwhelming majority of Muslim really don’t care (my friend with his Lab always gets swarmed by Hijabi girls around campus looking to pet the fellow, who’s all too happy with the attention).
But there’s also a slight generational divide, with younger Muslims not really caring while older people, who probably did not have the best time with dogs in their countries of origin, preferring to stay away here. If you’ve ever been to third world countries, you’ll notice that dogs as pets can be rare (especially in urban South Asia) and often occupy the same societal role as crows, eating only garbage, which is what shapes the views of older immigrants. In other words, imagine for a second what the reaction of an average American or Canadian person may be if they knew people that kept raccoons as pets. In fact, especially in North African and Levantine households, cats are an extremely common pet and are absolutely beloved (think, for a second, back to the Istanbul cats).
But also, religions are internally diverse and it’s hard, if not downright impossible, to color any religion with hard boundaries. In a group consisting of approx 2 billion people worldwide, a certain portion, frankly, just won’t like dogs, irrespective of their religiosity or denomination.
Really? The Muslim kids from up the street come over to see if āFergus and Lenny (the boxers) can come out to play?ā Their dad loves dogs but starts wheezing and breaking out in hives if heās within 5 feet of an animal.
We donāt believe dogs themselves are unclean, but if we come into contact with a dogās saliva then we have to perform a cleansing ritual before we can pray againā¦ and we pray five times a day, so thatās one reason Muslims tend to avoid owning dogs themselves. Working dogs like guard dogs and support dogs for the disabled are completely okay to have though.
If youāre not around dogs very often, or any animal, they might be a little scary. Like as a kid I really wanted a puppy because they just seemed so fun and cute, but in reality any time I was near one I was too afraid to pet it because they can be a little too friendly and jumpy.
Itās mostly a religious thing ā in Islam, dogs are seen as impure, especially their saliva, so many Muslims avoid contact to stay clean for prayers. Itās not fear or dislike, just part of their faith practice!
There is perception among muslims that dogs are impure and forbidden in islam.when a dog licks something you are supposed to wash it 7 times with water and 8th time with soil.The rules concerning dogs are fringe radical things.Some people including me do not observe these rules and have dogs consider them as family ..love them and treat them well.So these rules and scriptures put unnecessary restrictions on our interaction with dogs not only on 21st century but these rules were harsh even on 7th century.They also avoid dogs near mosque because it will break the wudu which is a cleansing ritual done before prayer so they would have to do it again if dog touched them.. So yeah..some still dont get those lovely babies.
I live across the street from a mosque and walk my dog there. People comment how nice she is. I know plenty of Muslims (Sunni and practicing) that have dogs. There is a Hadith where the prophet (pbuh) gives a thirsty dog water. There are extreme Muslims (just like any religion) that think the dogs saliva is not clean. Those are the best that dis oh a there daughters for marrying outside Islam.
Religious nonsense, because its dirty and evil
so, i had a coworker from turkey and he was afraid of dogs, it was just irrational.
but from wha i learned it was because where he comes from, dogs are usually dangerous animals. they protect your property, roam the streets in hungry packs and most ppl dont see them as friendly family members…
This depends on the sect, Sunnis and Alewites don’t really care but Shiites especially comsider them unclean animals. If you touch a dog, you’ll also in turn be unclean and won’t be able to do your daily prayers without washing yourself.
I have a Muslim friend who is terrified of all dogs because they are considered unclean. There is no culture around keeping dogs as pets. The only real use of dogs was for security which is brilliant since people there don’t like and don’t know anything about them other than if you break into their yard the dog will rip your throat out.
It’s not just Muslim people. In some parts of the world, dogs are more like wild street animals than pets.
IMO it’s kinda funny how many people automatically treat dogs like they can do no wrong, and that they are adorable and getting your face licked by them is cute. Sorta indicates they may not have traveled to certain places.
Wild street dogs are filthy, disease-riddled, psychotic, and often violent. When most of the dogs you see are like that, you will have a different opinion of dogs.
Like people, dogs are a product of their environment.
It’s a cultural thing. It’s most common with fob-looking Indians and Muslims since they don’t have pet cultures, at least with dogs. They are mostly just wild animals there.
I don’t know if the stories are exaggerated or not but I’ve worked with a ton of Indian folk in the software field and I remember some telling me about growing up and always being told to avoid street dogs as a kid because they can grab you and drag you away. Maybe it’s just boogieman type stories for kids but it was my manager that told me about that and he’s usually a pretty serious kind of guy.
This article explains it clearly and fully:
EDIT: Wrong article, here’s the right one:
https://islamqa.info/en/answers/976/are-dogs-impure
Pussies
What I have heard when I grew up it’s because muslims often come from countries where there’s wild dogs roaming around on the streets. And wild dogs are not always friendly. I could be wrong, this was from around the late 90’s and the 2000’s.
Cause they want to eat them
People need to realise that there are different kinds of Muslims just like there are different kinds of Catholics, my Muslim neighbours have been dog-sitting for me for almost 5 years
No, they are not afraid.
Very basic, casual, toss-away answer: some Muslims believe dogs are an unclean animal, and some do not; either way, because dogs scavenge and investigate with their mouths, the saliva can be unclean, so it’s easier to avoid accidentally getting licked.
Better, more accurate answer: it’s complicated, and I really don’t want to explain it properly, so I’m defaulting to the basic, casual answer, since it’s all that’s really needed here.
I heard from some muslim co-workers that dogs are considered unclean, like pigs, because they have their nose on the ground/ in the dirtā¦ because dogs and pigs are sniffing the groundā¦ but i heard from others that thats not true, so idkā¦
This just makes so much sense. I had a Muslim friend and I was always curious about why he didnāt liked dogs. I figured it was because he was just a cat person. But this answers a lot of things.
Sweden?
From a non-Muslim perspective, itās a pretty normal thing to lead small children away from other peopleās dogs regardless of the dogs size.
They consider them dirty. Haram
My wife is Muslim and she says that, like pigs, they’re ritualiistically unclean in Islam and if you touch a dog you basically gotta wash. She’s touched and cuddled dogs that my family has but couldn’t pray until after washing.
Also cats are considered ritualistically clean and can come and go into mosques really which really tickles me for some reason.
I’m not Muslim, but I’ve been training a guy at my job for a couple months and he is. We have to go into people’s houses and that’s something that became apparent pretty quickly since a lot of people have dogs. He would act very different anytime he would hear a dog barking inside the house.
He said it’s because dogs are apparently “unclean”. And every time one touches him he has to like wash himself and his hands very thoroughly. Not sure why exactly, but I guess in his religion that’s just how it is, I haven’t asked for too many details.
Jews didnt exactly love dogs either, even when Jesus speaks of dogs there is a question if he is referring to gentiles who were just a little better than demons.
Dogs in Islam, as they are in Rabbinic Judaism, are conventionally thought of as ritually impure.Ā
If he touches the dog, he must wash seven times with dust so that the impurity will go away and in order to pray and accept his prayers
A lot of the older generation Muslims subscribed to the belief that dogs are unclean animals, so they would likely keep their kids away and tell them to stay away from dogs. When children grow up without animal interaction, theyāll likely fear the animal as they grow older. So, even if the people are non-practicing Muslims, they may just be scared of them. Doesnāt even matter if itās a small dog. The way they see it, a dog is a dog
It’s not that they’re afraid of dogs, it’s that you’re not supposed to touch dogs or let dogs touch your clothes, because then you can’t pray until you take a shower and clean your clothes
Saliva is HARAM for them.
Because they like terrorising people and dogs are not terrifying enough for them. They love cats though chaotic.
My Muslim friend told me that it’s because they think dogs can see spirits. Because they growl, bark, and stare at nothing sometimes. I’m not sure if that was just her culture or all Muslims.
They consider them unclean, which I find ironic because they have no issues with cats. Avoid em all you want but Iāll judge you if youāre cruel to animals in the name of religion
Arenāt dogs mouths actually very clean?
I grew up in Saudi Arabia in the 80s and 90s and never saw a dog there – no stray dogs, no pets, I would hear that some foreigners (white people) might have pet dogs in their gated communities but I never saw one in my 12-13 years there.
When I moved to India, pet dogs were still very rare. During my high school & college days, I had literally 100+ friends and acquaintances and maybe 2 people had pet dogs.
Almost nobody thought of dogs as apartment pets, having a dog was considered a privilege thing (big house, green space, special food and care etc.)
99% of interactions with dogs was with strays, and seemingly everyone had memories of scary encounters with vicious strays. I remember we were always reminded to not assume strays are friendly, that rabies was a very real threat, and to keep distance.
If you were a small business owner youād not want to attract strays and have them loiter around your store because of how common it was to see reports of little kids attacked and seriously injured or even killed by dogs.
So itās a thing, a sort of fear or hesitation around dogs for some people.
Before someone says India isnāt like that, Iām aware itās a huge country and your experience might have been different depending on the city, decade etc.
This is a thing is not spread evenly across all Muslim countries and groups. Most Muslims I know, religious or not, go ape shit for good boys and girls.
If itās near a mosque thereās all the reason theyād wanna avoid accidentally touching the dogās saliva. Even a dog lover wouldnāt wanna have to wash again just to be able to pray right away. Other than the hassle, some people really just donāt prefer interacting with dogs and/or animals. For those who love them though, theyād likely pet them while prepared that theyāll probably have to wash up in order to pray. Itās as simple as that.
Because religion is fucking stupid.
Dogs are haram ( forbidden) to keep inside your home. That doesnāt mean we mistreat them or anything. We consider them like any other animal but donāt keep them inside our home.
š and š and šŗ are haraam