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 qUran, 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 brethren oF pUrity, 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. mUhammad 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
medina 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 ca t; dietary laWs.Further reading: Lenn Evan Goodman, ed. and trans.,
The Case of the Animals versus Man before the King of
the Jinn: A Tenth-Century Ecological Fable of the Pure
Brethren of Basra (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1978);
Ibn Marzuban, The Book of the Superiority of Dogs over
Many of Those Who Wear Clothes. Translated and edited
by G. R. Smith and M. A. S. Abdel Haleem (Warminster,
U.K.: Aris & Phillips, 1978); Yusuf al-Qaradawi, The
Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam (Indianapolis: Ameri-
can Trust Publications, n.d.); Ahmad b. Muhammad
al-Thalabi, Arais al-majalis fi qis.as. al-anbiya, or, Lives of
the Prophets. Translated by William M. Brinner (Leiden:
E.J. Brill, 2002).Dome of the Rock
The Dome of the Rock is the most prominent
architectural feature in the urban landscape of
JerUsalem and is one of the most exquisite
works of Islamic art and architectUre in the
world. The building is located in the middle ofDome of the Rock 201 J