Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Peter Awn, “Indian Islam: The Shah 

Bano Affair.” In Fundamentalism and Gender, edited 

by John Stratton Hawley, 63–78 (New York: Oxford 

University Press, 1994); John L. Esposito and Natana 

Delong-Bas, Women in Muslim Family Law. 2d ed. (Syra-

cuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2001); Ziba Mir-

Hosseini,  Marriage on Trial: A Study of Islamic Family 

Law: Iran and Morocco Compared (London: I.B. Taurus, 

1993).

dog

The dog is a descendant of the wolf and was one 

of the first domesticated 

animals

. Archaeological 

evidence indicates its domestication first occurred 

in the Middle East around 10,000 

b

.

c

.

e

. Despite 

the ancient and close association between humans 

and dogs, Middle Eastern cultures have formed 

mixed attitudes toward them. A common insult 

used by people in the region, no matter whether 

they are Muslim, Jew, or Christian, is to call 

someone a dog or the offspring of one. Yet these 

same cultures have also accepted dogs as living 

K  200  

dog

---

creatures worthy of humane treatment and valued 

for their usefulness in guarding property, hunting, 

and herding sheep.

The ambivalent feelings Middle Eastern peo-

ples have held for dogs is especially evident 

in Islamic contexts. The q

Uran

, for example, 

employs the dog as a simile for disbelievers (Q 

7:176). The 

hadith

 advise Muslims not to stretch 

out their arms like dogs when they prostrate 

themselves in 

prayer

. Most jurists maintain that 

dogs and pigs alike are inherently impure (najis) 

animals, meaning that contact with them or their 

secretions invalidates a person’s prayer. They can 

also profane a 

mosqUe

 or prayer place by their 

presence. In either case, the defilement can be 

corrected by physically removing the animal and 

symbolically washing the places they touched 

with earth and clean water. Several reasons have 

been given for regarding dogs as a source of such 

impurity. Muslim authorities invoke hadith that 

say 

angels

 do not enter houses in which there are 

dogs. Al-Jahiz (d. ca. 868), a famous Iraqi literary 

figure, proposed that dogs are reviled because they 

have a mixed nature—neither wild nor domestic, 

neither human nor demonic, but combinations 

of these qualities. In the philosophical story of 

the debate between humans and animals related 

by the b

rethren

 

oF

  p

Urity

, dogs as well as cats 

are condemned by other animals for associating 

too closely with humans and assuming human 

qualities.

Nonetheless, Islamic literature also expresses 

favorable attitudes toward dogs. m

Uhammad

 is 

reported in the hadith to have said that when a 

man or woman gives water to a thirsty dog, that 

person would be rewarded by God and enter para-

dise. He once ordered the killing of black dogs in 

m

edina

 but relented, saying, “The black dog was 

one of the communities (created by God). Thus 

it was not created but for some good purpose, 

so the obliteration of its kind must create some 

deficiency in nature.” The 

sharia

 permits the use 

of dogs in hunting wild game (see Q 5:4) as well 

as for herding flocks and protecting property, 

but not keeping them as pets. The most famous 

Middle Eastern canine breed is the Saluki, an 

Arabian hound known for its prowess in hunt-

ing down gazelles and rabbits. Moreover, not all 

jurists agreed that dogs were impure animals, 

and al-Jahiz recounted their virtues as well as 

their deficiencies. Muslim commentaries on the 

Quran mention a dog named Qitmir that kept 

company with the Companions of the Cave (see Q 

18:9–26), a group of youths who proclaimed their 

belief in God but had to retreat to a cave where 

God let them sleep for centuries in order to escape 

persecution from disbelievers. The commentators 

regarded Qitmir as a protective and loyal canine 

who would be allowed to enter paradise. Rumi 

(d. 1273), the Persian poet and mystic, even 

acknowledged that Qitmir and other dogs had 

an inner awareness of God’s love for his creation. 

Despite such support for the virtues of dogs, cats 

tend to be held in higher esteem in Islamic tradi-

tion than dogs.

See also 

cat

; 

dietary

 

laWs

.