Re: Hostility to Dogs
Reader comment on item: Rooting for Ahmadinejad
in response to reader comment: Islam's (Mohammed's?) hostility to dogs

Submitted by Aymenn Jawad (United Kingdom), Jun 14, 2009 at 04:25

Dear Ron Thompson:

There are numerous ahadith (sayings of Mohammed) that are hostile to dogs. For example, this one about their being unclean and consequently annulling prayer:

"Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:

Ikrimah reported on the authority of Ibn Abbas, saying: I think the Apostle of Allah said: When one of you prays without a sutrah, a dog, a pig, a Jew, a Magian (Zoroastrian), and a woman cut off his prayer, but it will suffice if they pass in front of him at a distance of over a stone's throw".

(Abu Dawud 0704).

As you may know, many ahadith were created in the late 8th and 9th centuries C.E. to reflect the attitudes of the Muslim community. The Muslim hostility to dogs arose from the fact that the Zoroastrians, who were regarded as infidels, dhimmis and unclean, kept them as companions. The hadith above was possibly created in light of this contemporary attitude, but there is also the possibility that the hadith, along with others regarding dogs, is indeed rooted in Mohammed's teachings. It is interesting to note that a Zoroastrian is also regarded as one who would annul a prayer.

Regards,

Aymenn Jawad.

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