Surah Saturday: Bowwowwow
Apr. 9th, 2011 10:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akilanajmahSo this week I got not one but THREE dog related things in my Facebook feed which led me to examining SURAH AL-KAHF.
First, that Suhaib Webb podcast/khutbah I posted earlier? He starts talking about people who want to live Islam in black and white, eliminating the spirit that is imbued into it. He tells a story about a blind man who was excluded from the mosque because he had a guide dog with him. Webb pauses at this point to explain that dogs aren't filthy and that it was Muslims that invented the concept back in Iraq years and years ago.
Then Amina Wadud posted this article about Muslims using guide dogs and the obstacles that they have to overcome.
Saladin Ahmed responded when I re-posted the article stating that he thought the anti-dog sentiment was from cultural stands and misinterpreted hadith. I tend to agree.
To be a Muslim, you have to believe and declare that there is no god but God and that Muhammad was his Prophet. You don't have to believe that Muhammad was the only one, or the best one-- but that God is God alone (no compeers-- i.e. no worshiping Blessed Virgins, no attributing sons to God, no worshiping the moon, no idols etc.) and that amongst the messengers, was Muhammad. Then, the Qur'an, implores you to follow God (and all that She's said through His prophets through time) and to listen to the Messenger.
So what do we know about dogs from God?
Well, there's the parable of the cave. In fact, it's not just a parable, it's a whole Surah. Surah Al-Kahf (Surah the Cave). Here's the story:
So the Prophet (pbuh), in his early days of being a Prophet and before things got to be unbearable in Mecca, was always being asked to authenticate his status as Prophet. Things like "Hey! Turn that tree into gold!" or "Hey! Bring back my great grandfather!" but he would always just reiterate "Listen, I'm just a guy okay? I get words from God, I tell you them, but I can't really do all that stuff you're asking. That's stuff that God can do, but not me."
So the people of Mecca decided that since they couldn't get a satisfactory answer from the Prophet (they tried to bribe him out of being a Prophet, they tried bullying him, they taunted him and on and on), they'd just go ask someone who was an expert on prophets-- the Jews. The Arabs of Mecca figured that the Jews would give them a good answer that they could, once and for all, figure out if Muhammad was who he said he was. The Jews told them to ask the Prophet what happened in the cave. Apparently, all real Prophets would know this. The Jews told the Arabs of Mecca that once they got an answer, come back and tell them and they'd be able to say whether he was the real deal.
So one day they all asked Muhammad "Hey, my man, what happened in the cave?"
The Prophet didn't know but told this group of people to ask him tomorrow and he'd tell them. Well, nothing came from God via Gabriel. In fact, days stretched into weeks and he hadn't recieved a single surah of revelation. This was concerning, especially since everyone in Mecca was in a tizzy gossiping about why the Prophet hadn't answered. Some people speculated that he was stalling because he'd really been making things up the whole time. Some people speculated that if he was really just a con artist, he'd have just made something up by now.
Eventually, Gabriel appeared after the Prophet had been very worried. Gabriel warned him "Man, don't say you're about to do something all arrogant like that. It's only through God's will that you can do anything. When you say you're bout to do stuff, remember to add "if God's willing (InshaAllah)". And then Gabriel gave Muhammad all the details of the cave-- way more than the Jews had even known. And hence, Surah Al-Kahf was revealed.
What is the parable of the cave?
Some guys were good people amongst a sinful people. They, and their dog, went on a hike one day and God led them to a cave. God had them and their dog, go to sleep for 300 years while he destroyed their people, sparing them and preserving them the whole while.
The dog is a pretty prominent part of the story.
The surah says:
Do you think the men of the cave and Ar-Raqim were strange among Our signs? When those young men took shelter in the cave, and prayed: "O Lord, grant us Your favor and dispose our affair aright."
We sealed of thier ears in the cave for a number of years, then roused them to ascertain which of teh two groups could account for the period they had stayed. We narrate their story to you in all truth. They were a few young men who believed in their Lord; so We gave them greater guidance. And strengthened their hearts and they stood up and said: "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We shall involke no god beside Him, for we shall have utterd a blasphemy then."
The surah goes one with a little back and forth between these men and their people, reiterates that God's guidance is amazing and then says:
You may have thought that they were awake, yet they were asleep. We made them turn right and left, while their dog lay with his forelegs stretched across the threshold. If you had looked at them you would have surely turned away and fled with horror at the sight. Even so, We roused them that they may question one another.
...
Some will say: They were three and their dog was the fourth;" and some will also say: They were five and their dog was the sixth," -- guessing in the dark. And some will even say: They were seven and their dog the eighth." Say: "My Lord alone knows best their number; none but only a few know of them."
So why does God, through his Prophet, emphasize that this loyal dog was not only subject to the same guidance and blessing (the dog was preserved with the people and his sleeping yet animated body looked like it was standing guard), but that the dog lived with the people in a confined space if dogs are filthy and contaminated? Obviously they, the young men, weren't polluted because they received this fantastic blessing. When the people asked God for help, apparently the dog was with them. The dog was with them when they received this mercy from God.
Well, what does the Prophet say about dogs?
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "A man was walking on a road when he became very thirsty. He found a well and went into it and drank and came out. There was a dog panting and eating earth out of thirst. The man said, 'This dog has become as thirsty as I was.' He went down into the well and filled his shoe and then held it in his mouth until he climbed out and gave the dog water to drink. Allah thanked him for it and forgave him."
There's also the hadith about a prostitute, who filled her shoe with water and gave it to a dog that was lolling its tongue in thirst. For this deed she was granted the ultimate reward: eternal Paradise.
There are other hadith that are attributed to the Prophet that I find wholly incredible and doubtful. These are the ones that are probably cultural that aren't true. One says that the Prophet ordered all dogs killed because Gabriel told him he couldn't come anywhere a puppy lived. a) I don't believe the Prophet, who loved animals would order dogs killed (another version of this hadith has him only killing black dogs because they're evil) b) we have the story of the Cave and that dog did not inhibit blessings in anyway whatsoever. Do I trust God more than some inconsistent stories attributed to the Prophet? You bet I do.
First, that Suhaib Webb podcast/khutbah I posted earlier? He starts talking about people who want to live Islam in black and white, eliminating the spirit that is imbued into it. He tells a story about a blind man who was excluded from the mosque because he had a guide dog with him. Webb pauses at this point to explain that dogs aren't filthy and that it was Muslims that invented the concept back in Iraq years and years ago.
Then Amina Wadud posted this article about Muslims using guide dogs and the obstacles that they have to overcome.
Saladin Ahmed responded when I re-posted the article stating that he thought the anti-dog sentiment was from cultural stands and misinterpreted hadith. I tend to agree.
To be a Muslim, you have to believe and declare that there is no god but God and that Muhammad was his Prophet. You don't have to believe that Muhammad was the only one, or the best one-- but that God is God alone (no compeers-- i.e. no worshiping Blessed Virgins, no attributing sons to God, no worshiping the moon, no idols etc.) and that amongst the messengers, was Muhammad. Then, the Qur'an, implores you to follow God (and all that She's said through His prophets through time) and to listen to the Messenger.
So what do we know about dogs from God?
Well, there's the parable of the cave. In fact, it's not just a parable, it's a whole Surah. Surah Al-Kahf (Surah the Cave). Here's the story:
So the Prophet (pbuh), in his early days of being a Prophet and before things got to be unbearable in Mecca, was always being asked to authenticate his status as Prophet. Things like "Hey! Turn that tree into gold!" or "Hey! Bring back my great grandfather!" but he would always just reiterate "Listen, I'm just a guy okay? I get words from God, I tell you them, but I can't really do all that stuff you're asking. That's stuff that God can do, but not me."
So the people of Mecca decided that since they couldn't get a satisfactory answer from the Prophet (they tried to bribe him out of being a Prophet, they tried bullying him, they taunted him and on and on), they'd just go ask someone who was an expert on prophets-- the Jews. The Arabs of Mecca figured that the Jews would give them a good answer that they could, once and for all, figure out if Muhammad was who he said he was. The Jews told them to ask the Prophet what happened in the cave. Apparently, all real Prophets would know this. The Jews told the Arabs of Mecca that once they got an answer, come back and tell them and they'd be able to say whether he was the real deal.
So one day they all asked Muhammad "Hey, my man, what happened in the cave?"
The Prophet didn't know but told this group of people to ask him tomorrow and he'd tell them. Well, nothing came from God via Gabriel. In fact, days stretched into weeks and he hadn't recieved a single surah of revelation. This was concerning, especially since everyone in Mecca was in a tizzy gossiping about why the Prophet hadn't answered. Some people speculated that he was stalling because he'd really been making things up the whole time. Some people speculated that if he was really just a con artist, he'd have just made something up by now.
Eventually, Gabriel appeared after the Prophet had been very worried. Gabriel warned him "Man, don't say you're about to do something all arrogant like that. It's only through God's will that you can do anything. When you say you're bout to do stuff, remember to add "if God's willing (InshaAllah)". And then Gabriel gave Muhammad all the details of the cave-- way more than the Jews had even known. And hence, Surah Al-Kahf was revealed.
What is the parable of the cave?
Some guys were good people amongst a sinful people. They, and their dog, went on a hike one day and God led them to a cave. God had them and their dog, go to sleep for 300 years while he destroyed their people, sparing them and preserving them the whole while.
The dog is a pretty prominent part of the story.
The surah says:
Do you think the men of the cave and Ar-Raqim were strange among Our signs? When those young men took shelter in the cave, and prayed: "O Lord, grant us Your favor and dispose our affair aright."
We sealed of thier ears in the cave for a number of years, then roused them to ascertain which of teh two groups could account for the period they had stayed. We narrate their story to you in all truth. They were a few young men who believed in their Lord; so We gave them greater guidance. And strengthened their hearts and they stood up and said: "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth. We shall involke no god beside Him, for we shall have utterd a blasphemy then."
The surah goes one with a little back and forth between these men and their people, reiterates that God's guidance is amazing and then says:
You may have thought that they were awake, yet they were asleep. We made them turn right and left, while their dog lay with his forelegs stretched across the threshold. If you had looked at them you would have surely turned away and fled with horror at the sight. Even so, We roused them that they may question one another.
...
Some will say: They were three and their dog was the fourth;" and some will also say: They were five and their dog was the sixth," -- guessing in the dark. And some will even say: They were seven and their dog the eighth." Say: "My Lord alone knows best their number; none but only a few know of them."
So why does God, through his Prophet, emphasize that this loyal dog was not only subject to the same guidance and blessing (the dog was preserved with the people and his sleeping yet animated body looked like it was standing guard), but that the dog lived with the people in a confined space if dogs are filthy and contaminated? Obviously they, the young men, weren't polluted because they received this fantastic blessing. When the people asked God for help, apparently the dog was with them. The dog was with them when they received this mercy from God.
Well, what does the Prophet say about dogs?
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "A man was walking on a road when he became very thirsty. He found a well and went into it and drank and came out. There was a dog panting and eating earth out of thirst. The man said, 'This dog has become as thirsty as I was.' He went down into the well and filled his shoe and then held it in his mouth until he climbed out and gave the dog water to drink. Allah thanked him for it and forgave him."
There's also the hadith about a prostitute, who filled her shoe with water and gave it to a dog that was lolling its tongue in thirst. For this deed she was granted the ultimate reward: eternal Paradise.
There are other hadith that are attributed to the Prophet that I find wholly incredible and doubtful. These are the ones that are probably cultural that aren't true. One says that the Prophet ordered all dogs killed because Gabriel told him he couldn't come anywhere a puppy lived. a) I don't believe the Prophet, who loved animals would order dogs killed (another version of this hadith has him only killing black dogs because they're evil) b) we have the story of the Cave and that dog did not inhibit blessings in anyway whatsoever. Do I trust God more than some inconsistent stories attributed to the Prophet? You bet I do.
