Iran issues fatwa against pets

[onehandle]

Source: Telegraph

The decision by Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance comes after the fatwa was issued by powerful cleric Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi.

While keeping dogs as pets has become increasingly fashionable in Iran in recent years, the fatwa cited Islamic tradition, which dictates that dogs are unclean.

In June, Ayatollah Shirazi declared dogs unclean, saying that dog owners were “blindly imitating the West” and that their devotion to the animals would result in “evil outcomes”. “Many people in the West love their dogs more than their wives and children,” he said.

The ban on pet advertising is the latest attempt by Iran’s culture ministry to undermine “decadent” Western culture.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/7966326/Iran-issues-fatwa-against-pets.html

[joeybee12]

1. If this ISN'T The Onion, well then,

the world is insane.

[RandomThoughts]

7. And still no beer, imagine that.

Whats next...

[aquart]

2. Are they that desperate to be unpopular?

This is the problem with deciding one man knew everything and following blindly.

[primavera]

66. They don't rule through popularity...

... but through fear, and the more arbitrary and capricious an edict is, the more it keeps subjects off balance and unsure of themselves.

[zonkers]

3. Whoa.

[Vehl]

4. wow.......:( nt

[Lightning Count]

5. Wouldn't want people having dogs now would we.

“Many people in the West love their dogs more than their wives and children,”

Unlike in Iran where women are treated well?

[tsuki]

6. Ponytails, why ponytails? nt

[slackmaster]

23. A ponytail is fine, as long as it's on a pony

[Prometheus Bound]

44. To their credit, they banned mullets.

http://www.google.com.hk/images?um=1&hl=en&biw=1069&bih=868&tbs=isch%3A1&sa=1&q=mullets+galore&aq=1&aqi=g4&aql=&oq=mullets+&gs_rfai=

[mike r]

8. What an idiot. Dogs have a long history in Iran:

http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Animals/dog.htm


A statue of Persian Mastiff from Persepolis

[jobycom]

24. The problem (in their eyes) is with pets, not dogs.

Dogs have always been allowed as what we call "working dogs." Hunting, guard dogs, etc. Islam has always frowned on keeping animals as pets, partly because dogs were not ritually clean enough to keep indoors, but also because Islam demands that animals be treated with kindness, and not kept confined. I don't know if it's in the Qur'an or a Hadith, but there is a commandment that a person can keep a pet only if they treat it well, and if they can't or don't, it must be set free.

So the fatwa isn't against dogs, it's against keeping dogs inside as pets.

As the article says, it's mostly about fear of Western influence, and the fact that so many recent laws and rulings are going against western stuff, I'd guess there's a westernizing trend that's scaring the old folks. That's always good--old folks should be scared. :)

[Lightning Count]

33. If that's the case, then why does every muslim I know look at dogs like vermin.

As bad or worse than rats.

[hlthe2b]

9. Wouldn't it be ironic, if it is THIS which causes the ultimate backlash

and becomes the inciting issue that drives these radical clerics from power.

Yes, I am serious. Love for one's pets is a powerful force... Just look at the poor people who died in NOLA because they were told they could not evacuate with their pets?

[jobycom]

10. Muhammad was a cat person.

Islam has always frowned on pets. A lot of Muslims have believed that animals should not be kept in captivity like that, and even those who have allowed pets say they have to be well cared for.

Dogs are seen by some (not all) Muslims as unclean, so they haven't been popular pets. Muhammad supposedly hated dogs, but loved cats, and stories are he had one he loved so much that if the cat was lying on his cloak when he was about to go out, he would go without the cloak.

Anyway, if pets, especially dogs, are becoming a trend in Iran it's not surprising that the conservatives would see it as a western thing and forbid it. It's not completely out of the blue.

It's nice to live here, though, where Americans can't be told what pets we can own, and where we can worship or build community centers and stuff, isn't it?

[Kolesar]

12. And Cat Stevens...eom

[jobycom]

25. Ha!

:rofl:

[On the Road]

51. Well Yeah,

but after all he had to change his name.

[Kolesar]

62. Dog Stevens...eom

[KamaAina]

20. Actually, the way I heard the story of Muhammad and his cat Muezzin

(muezzin: the guy who climbs up in the minaret and calls the faithful to prayer) was that Muezzin fell asleep on Muhammad's sleeve, and rather than wake the cat up, Muhammad cut off the sleeve!

[jobycom]

26. Ooo, that's even cuter.

:) Let's try to make the Prophet look cute.

[Moonwalk]

36. Actually, that story is told about the Emperor of Japan..or China....

...it's a popular story; the one cutting off their sleeve for the cat is always some Eastern lord (Sultan/Emperor), likely because cats are equated with the exotic East, and because the coat can then be embroidered silk or some other rich cloth, making the cutting off of the sleeve to pamper the cat that much more amazing.

[tblue37]

40. I have heard the exact same story about Churchill. Thus I suspect it is

apocryphal.

[hugo_from_TN]

37. After the cat left all that fur on the cloak,

I'm not surprised he would leave it behind.

[femrap]

11. Funny that he didn't

say that wives love their dogs more than their husbands!

Animals Rock....people, not so much.

[ananda]

13. From everything I've heard...

... humans are much more unclean than dogs.

[Po_d Mainiac]

19. Do you use your tongue for toilet paper? My mutt does. n/t

[Stuckinthebush]

32. Yup. Mine eats his vomit.

Strike two.

:D

[hugo_from_TN]

38. Mine eats the cat's vomit.

Strike 3.

[timo]

59. we were

just laughing about that, we have an english bulldog, and he cant reach his butt

[Mz Pip]

43. Mine would eat

the cat poop out of the kitty litter. She also enjoyed rolling in dead fish.

But just because dogs aren't the cleanest of beasts it doesn't justify a damn fatwa. Give the dog a bath and it will be fine.

[depakid]

61. Almond roca

So tasty...

We had to keep the cat box up on top of a cabinet in the laundry room for just that reason.

[Hawkowl]

14. BOMB IRAN!!!

Screw the nuclear weapons. Now they have really pissed me off!

(just kidding. I wouldn't want the Persian cats and puppies injured in any bombing).

[SoapBox]

15. Freaks...No respect for ANY living creatures.

[CatholicEdHead]

16. Leading to "evil outcomes"?

Are their minds in the gutter? Are they really leading towards bestiality in code talk?

[irislake]

17. Oh, wow!

If this is true we will all want to bomb the ratshit out of them. I never believed the nuclear weapons crap but hurting innocent doggies is WAY over the line!

[demosincebirth]

18. Wait untill PETA hears about this. Oh, boy!

[jobycom]

27. Oh, well done.

Work a PETA thread into an Iran thread? That's genius! :rofl:

[Rage for Order]

28. PETA will throw it's support behind Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance!!!

"They called for everyone to free their dogs. No more pets. the Ayatollahs are so forward-thinking!!!"

:rofl:

[wookie72]

35. PETA doesn't like anyone having pets

So they might support it, who knows?

[Duppers]

46. WTF!

according to you and Glenn Beck.

[wookie72]

50. No, according to PETA

http://www.peta.org/campaigns/ar-petaonpets.asp

[Duppers]

57. wow.

"Animal Rights Uncompromised:
PETA on 'Pets'
We at PETA very much love the animal companions who share our homes, but we believe that it would have been in the animals' best interests if the institution of "pet keeping"—i.e., breeding animals to be kept and regarded as "pets"—never existed. The international pastime of domesticating animals has created an overpopulation crisis; as a result, millions of unwanted animals are destroyed every year as "surplus." This selfish desire to possess animals and receive love from them causes immeasurable suffering, which results from manipulating their breeding, selling or giving them away casually, and depriving them of the opportunity to engage in their natural behavior. Their lives are restricted to human homes where they must obey commands and can only eat, drink, and even urinate when humans allow them to."




IF ignorant peeps would spay/neuter their pets, this could not be a problem.

[wookie72]

64. As a non-pet owner, I totally understand

about the spay and neuter thing... but the whole "we wish pet keeping never existed" seems nutty to me.

[slackmaster]

21. Miniature horses are OK as house pets under Islam

[KamaAina]

22. So I guess Persian cats will now be known as "freedom cats".

:eyes:

[seattleblue]

29. When I was in college there were many foreign Islamic students

that I had contact with. Most were Iranian. To a person they regarded dogs like we regard rats. I have traveled to many of the middle eastern countries and the people there were horrified to learn that a dog shared my house.

[PfcHammer]

30. "dogs are unclean" Can I get an amen?

Yas. :)

[demosincebirth]

45. I give my dog a bath...the next day he smell like a dog again.

[Duppers]

69. so are humans

I've smelled some of them from 15' away.

And no, you won't get an amen here. It seems to be a prevalent attitude of peeps from the ME, even of ME descent, that dogs are dirty & bad.


Intelligent dogs are, in general, nicer than most humans.
The more humans I know, the more I like dogs.

[crim son]

31. Okay, this is one fatwa I like!

:hide:

[harun]

65. The fatwa was against advertising, and he is right that people should not love their

pets more than people.

[Duppers]

70. omg

and I thought you were a nice person.

[sulphurdunn]

34. My dog is the only person I know

who is always glad to see me. I'm sure only evil can come of that.

[daleo]

39. I wonder if they are allowed to raise chickens in their back yards

It's a no-no in much of North America. In fact, we have many restrictions on keeping animals. They mostly make sense to us, because that's what our culture teaches us. Same thing applies in Iran.

[Regret My New Name]

41. My city won't let me keep a tiger in my garage...

I'm betting I won't have much luck with a cloned T-Rex either.

[daleo]

48. You could keep T-Rex fossils in your garage

Cloned T-Rexes are a moot point, as there are no cloned T-Rexes.

As for tigers, I gather that varies. It seems that you can keep them in some rural areas of North America. I don't know about Iran.

Cultures vary when it comes to norms about keeping animals.

[Regret My New Name]

49. Aww man, no cloned T-Rexes? I think I got ripped off...

They told me it was just a baby, and that it would grow up to be much larger and meaner... Man, I thought the thing just looked like a spray painted chicken. I'm never buying cloned exotic extinct animals over the internet again.

[Old Troop]

42. I think this is a safety announcement against the influence of dogs.

Just the other day there was a piece in the news about a woman whose husband thought he was a dog. She visited a shrink who told her to let him continue and even eat dog food. A week later, they ran into each other and the shrink said, "how's you husband doing"? The woman replied, "he's dead". The doc said, " OMG, that's terrible, was it the dog food"? and the woman replied "no, he was licking his balls in the driveway and I backed the car over him"!

[FMBM]

47. Ok, so I am not a dog person...

I don't really have anything against those that are... just a few observations... Our neighbors on the right have two large dogs... they let them free in the front yard, and they sometimes roam over to our yard to do their business... "don't worry, they don't bite".... but they do bark loudly on warm summer nights when we are trying to sleep with the windows open... I walk along the beach sidewalk... and despite the free, city-provided doggie bags, I have to keep my eyes on the ground to avoid any eventual unpleasantness... Another neighbor has a very large aggressive dog he keeps in the front yard... but constrained by an "invisible fence"... The problem is that the dog can still reach into the sidewalk. If I forget about him, as I sometimes do, and actually walk down the public sidewalk, I am startled into the street as the dog runs up behind me barking and growling... Another neighbor down the street lets their medium-sized poodle-like dog roam free... so when I take my granddaughter for a walk down to the corner I have to pick her up to protect her from this vicious little barker. Yes, our town has a leash regulation, but for some reason dog owners don't think it applies to them... their dog would never bite, their dog is cute and lovable... It seems that dog owners think you should appreciate and value them because of their dog... And truly, large dogs are more plentiful than SUVs. My only secret pleasure is that those dogs must be costing their owners a fortune in food and medical care. If I can be heard muttering "I hope he eats you out of house and home."... can I be blamed?

[Sweet Charming Dem]

60. It seems your issue is more with irresponsible dog owners than with dogs.

[CanonRay]

52. I declare Ayatollah's to be unclean

There, my own personal fatwa.

[Politicub]

53. :-(... how evil... now attacking helpless, trusting dogs

[JCMach1]

54. Hope this comes back to bite him in the ass!

:)

[JCMach1]

55. The Prophet (PBUH) had a pet cat, so STFU stupid imams

[Name removed]

56. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Vehl]

58. Probably one of the Mullahs of the ruling regime got bitten by a dog...that might explain this.

Who else in their right mind would declare a fatwa on pets!

[JackDragna]

63. Iran shows great wisdom and leadership.

The more doggie deaths, the better! Down with the slobber-monsters! Down with..uh oh. Owner's coming. Must pretend not to know how to type. Meow. Meow.

[amandabeech]

68. LOL!!!! n/t

[bookworm65t]

67. what about LOLcats?

the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance sures needs them

:crazy:

[RFKHumphreyObama]

71. This is just another case of religious fundamentalists showing their nuttiness

Having been born in a predominantly Muslim country and having grown up with Muslims, I know Muslims who own dogs and are every bit as devoted to them as owners in the west are

[happyslug]

72. On his Web Site, this is a very small matter

From his web site:
Topic:To Keep Dog in the House
Question: How is having a dog in the car and in streets and keeping it in the house, which is a kind of imitating aliens?
Answer: These acts are not proper for honorable Muslims and have several religious problems.
http://english.makarem.ir/estefta/?it=1092&mit=

His attack on the Wahhabis (Both bin Laden AND the Ruling house of Saud are Wahhabis):
http://english.makarem.ir/news/?nid=110

His actual Website:
http://english.makarem.ir/