According to "Islam and animal"(2009), the majority of both Sunni and Shi'a Muslim jurists consider dogs to be ritually unclean, or “haram”. It is said that angels do not enter a house which contains a dog. Black dogs are considered to be especially evil or even devils, in animal form. In a tradition found in the Sunni hadith book, al-Muwatta, Muhammad states that the company of dogs voids a portion of a Muslim’s good deeds. Though dogs are not allowed for pets, they are allowed to be kept if used for work, such as guarding your house or farm, or when used for hunting purposes.
According to "Dog"(2009), for most other cultures, dogs have lived and worked with humans in so many roles that they have earned the unique nickname, "man's best friend", a phrase which is used in other languages as well. They have been bred for herding livestock, hunting, guarding, helping fishermen with nets, and pulling loads, in addition to their roles as companions.
References
Islam and animal. (2009). In Wikipedia online. Retrieved February 27,2009, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_animals#Dogs
Dog. (2009). In Wikipedia online. Retrieved February 27,2009, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogs#Interactions_with_humans
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This is a situation of a group of friends’ journey to East Coast Park (ECP).
Jason, Siti, Rahim, Cherie and I all stay in the north-east area of Singapore and hence Cherie decided to drive everyone down to ECP. Cherie was a crazy dog lover and going to the beach was a good chance for her to bring her black toy poodle, Bobby, out for a great beach stroll. She put Bobby into a basket and left him sitting on the front passenger seat.
Cherie then went to meet the Siti, Rahim, Jason and I at Seng Kang MRT station's taxi stand. Rahim, being the biggest in size, was pushed to take the front seat of the car. Upon seeing Bobby, Rahim's face turned black while Siti and I were exclaiming how cute and tiny Bobby was.
Jason asked,"What's wrong? Let's get into the car and set off!"
Rahim replied with knitted brows,"I don't like dogs. My parents warned me that they are unclean."
However, Jason, not understanding the needs of his Muslim friend, started making fun of Rahim. “Come on! Its just a small poodle! Don’t tell me you are scared!”, he laughed. Rahim was really angry by Jason’s insensitivity and said to them, "You guys can go ahead. I think I'll just head home. I realize I’ve got work to complete."
Cherie felt annoyed but guilty at the same time. She had to suppressing her anger while being appalled that there was actually someone who did not like her dear Bobby. So, she tried to sound positive and said, "Please come along! It would be a fun day today! I can't park my car here for long, it's obstructing the traffic!"
Siti, being Muslim as well, tried to diffuse the situation as well! “Don’t be so insensitive Jason! Don’t you know we mu slims can’t touch dogs?“ She said turned to Rahim, "Please don’t go! If you're really affected then you can sit at the back. Jason will sit the front ok?"
Jason was very apologetic and quickly got into the front seat. Rahim did not want to spoil the mood of the gang and ended up in the back seat of the car. He avoided Bobby at all times, while Cherie took Bobby far away from him whenever Bobby looked like it was going near Rahim.
Both Rahim and Cherie accommodated and compromised each other.
I felt that Cherie was quite selfish as she was annoyed when she received negative reaction from Rahim towards her dog. Instead, she could have at least mentioned to the rest that she would be bringing her dog and in doing so, be sensitive towards people who do not like dogs in general. Cherie may not have interacted with many Malays in her life and thus was not aware that her dog would be offending to them. What she did right was reacting in a calm way as she tried to salvage the situation instead of starting an argument with Rahim.
I guess Cherie should have apologized sincerely and have been more careful. Luckily for Cherie, Rahim was not narrow-minded and mature enough to understand her mistake. If not, the outcome could have been disastrous, having a strain in their friendship.
Edited on 3/3/09.
Added in references.
Dear Sze Hui,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this excellent post. You put your intercultural observation within a very clear context by prefacing it with info regarding the Muslim view of dogs. (Did you access that info from an outside source? It would be good to cite the source, if you did.) You then describe your beach outing cum conflict in fine detail and in a highly articulate manner. I like the way you then analyze the situation, putting a positive twist on the results. This is interesting and insightful.
hello sze hui :D
ReplyDeleteHey great entry on how one person's ignorance can lead to unhappiness among a group of friends. Thanks for sharing with us!
I felt that the details of the event and the responses of each person involved was very clearly written in your post. This is not easily done actually since there are so many characters involved in this situation yet you described each very well :)
I actually happen to read your post after reading Shujuan's(she also talked about an incident regarding Muslims' taboo about dogs) so it was like cross referencing...haha and I learnt another thing which is that Muslims can keep dogs if they are used to assist in work or guard houses. I didnt know this too so wo a lot of new information today :P
I think Rahim and Siti were certainly very tolerant and kind to forgive cherie's insensitivity. I agree with you that we should bear in mind that 'one man's meat could be another man's poison' as what is pleasant to one may just be the opposite to others. Even if cherie was going out with non-Muslim friends she should have told them that she wanted to bring her pet dog along so as to make sure no one will be offended. Ya I especially like how you discussed this aspect in more depth(beyond the Muslim's dog taboo context) to people who dont like dogs in general. Haha and also i appreciate the fact you still gave Cherie credit for what she did right. This was very objective of you. The only thing is like Brad said it will be good to gave citation for extra info.
Great post indeed!
Hey Brad!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment! I added in the references already! Glad you found my post interesting and insightful!
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Hey Jing Yang!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment! I'm glad that you learned something new about another race. It's true that "one man's meat could be another man's poison". We need to learn that each individual is unique and different!
I guess in life we need to learn to give and take, accommodate and compromise, forgive and forget so that we would be able to live in harmony!
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Hey sze!!
ReplyDeleteWhile vetting your post, I was very tickled at how you mentioned how upset Cherie was when she discovered that someone did not like her dog. I, being a dog lover myself would probably have felt the same.
I also think it was a good idea that you gave background information to the post and also helped others reading, instantly understand why Muslims cannot touch dogs. I think it really takes effort to be mindful of other races' different cultures and also be as observant to others discomfort while you are unhappy yourself.
I'm glad Rahim did not take offense in such a situation and did not hold a grudge against Cherie after that. It shows that despite being "insulted" in his own way, he was still tolerant and understanding of the situation. At the point where he could have really walked away and left the situation and people more uncomfortable, he chose to be the more accomodating one. (:
Hey Jane!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment!
I agree with you that it really require effort to be mindful of others discomfort even when you're upset. It's hard to be able to control our emotions appropriately.
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Hey Sze Hui,
ReplyDeleteI think its a great post too. All of them sound like really nice people, it would've been quite a pity if their friendship was strained because of that incident. I must say I'm really glad Siti was there to make things less awkward for Rahim.
Cheers!
Hey roarhaha!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment! I like to believe that everyone is nice but at such moments, to be able to react appropriately or the 'right' way would be tough. It's hard to control anger and frustration at times!
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