Toronto Sun reporter Maryam Shah and her German shepherd, Victoria Beckham, back home in Karachi, Pakistan.
Posted on 09/14/2012 8:58:51 AM PDT by Squawk 8888
TORONTO - When I first heard of the dog-walking protest to be held outside a Scarborough mosque, I’ll be frank: I laughed.
I didn’t laugh out of disrespect for anyone’s right to protest. It simply amused me, because my first thought was: what would Victoria Beckham say?
Victoria Beckham is the name of my German shepherd in Pakistan. Aside from naming her after a former Spice Girl (which borders on abuse, I admit), I’ve never demonized her in the eight years I’ve had her, as the Facebook protest group created by Dharminder Kumar claims Muslims do.
One of my first memories is my dad opening the car door — intent on loading his two children for school — and having my first dog Skyber jump in, excited to accompany us.
Skyber was an Alsatian-German Shepherd mix with a hint of wolf. I remember bringing him home in a paper bag and cuddling him. His first move was to promptly leave a smelly present on my bedroom floor. It was love at first sight for us all.
My family originally wanted to adopt a dog for two purposes: to love it, and to protect our house in a burglar-prone neighbourhood.
But Skyber wouldn’t bite you even if you bit him first. He was so helpless at guarding anything that we quickly resigned ourselves to the idea of simply adoring him and having our home robbed because our dog’s too nice to strangers.
As all dogs do, Skyber loved riding in cars. Every morning, my dad would take three unkempt creatures in the backseat to school, reciting the Ayat-ul-Kursi the entire way. It’s a morning prayer meant to keep his children — human and canine — from harm as they embark on a new day.
Like clockwork, Skyber would drool on my backpack, my brother and I would sulk, my dad would lead us in a soft prayer, finishing with a resounding “I love you” at the school gates, much to our horror.
In Pakistan, we keep our dogs in a way that may seem alien to North Americans, who believe puppies come from their own wombs. While I love my indoor cat Ryan as if he’s my first-born, none of our dogs lived indoors.
Instead, they had the run of the grounds and a large brick kennel built for them in the backyard. Bear in mind, our house and the walled-in grounds are more spacious than most middle-class homes in Toronto. Here, Vicky would remain indoors, going out for walks on my time instead of racing around a large yard whenever she wants.
My dog lives carefree, with plenty of shade and shelter and playmates: my gynecologist mother, my businessman father, my friends, visitors who equally adored them and wouldn’t think twice about giving them a friendly squeeze.
I remember seeing people feed their dogs junk food in Hollywood movies, thinking: is human obesity not enough?
We fed Skyber (who died in 2002) and now Vicky: meat and roti made specially for them every day, topped with leftovers, usually vegetables, from the dinner table.
We also walked them around the neighbourhood, right down to the mosque. I once married Skyber to another dog, in possibly Pakistan’s first same-sex-canine wedding. Both dogs were male. I was nine years old and bored on a Saturday afternoon. No animals were harmed during the ceremony.
Muslims don’t hate dogs, Canada. Dog-haters hate dogs, and they come in every colour, shape, and size.
The funny thing is, I don’t go to mosque unless free food is involved. The presence of puppies could be a game-changer for me.
Toronto Sun reporter Maryam Shah and her German shepherd, Victoria Beckham, back home in Karachi, Pakistan.
Canada Doggie Ping!
The funny thing is, I don’t go to mosque unless free food is involved.
///
at best,
she is a muslim, the way Pelosi is a catholic...
ANY Imam, in ANY country, can tell you,
that having an inherently “unclean” pet dog is haram.
...
either this is pure taquiyya, or she is completely ignorant about Islam and the Quran.
In other words, she's not a practicing Muzzie. But the practicing ones probably won't cut off her head for cozying up to her dog, since her statement can seen as an convenient bit of takiya.
Of course, most Muslims hate dogs, because Mohammed told them to. Why do you suppose Bo gets to fly separately all the time on his own plane?
I should think someone somewhere has named their two dogs “Barack & Michelle”.
The requirement would be stubborn, bull headed, and craps in their own beds.
I’ve personally known enough practising muslims to believe her story- the aversion to dogs is prevalent among Arabs but not so common among muslims from other parts of the world. Pakis love pooches.
i used to go to a masjid, in the DC area.
(i wanted to marry a woman who was born in Pakistan.)
...i was sitting in the car with the Imam’s assistant,
when a woman walking a tiny dog on leash passed near,
and he rolled up the window, as if afraid it might jump in.
-
muslim kill dogs for sport, all over the world,
not just in arab countries.
muslim cab drivers, many many from Pakistan, and non-arab countries, tried to refuse to even permit seeing-eye dogs in their cabs.
-
most Pakistani’s are devout muslims.
and having a pet dog, is haram.
dogs are inherently unclean.
ANY devout muslim knows that.
and just for completeness,
i know not all dogs are haram.
certain work dogs, ARE permitted.
but no devout muslim, arab or not,
would have a purely pet dog.
Seriously, Bo flies on his own plane?
just as you also might find it interesting,
that the Holy Quran, EXPRESSLY FORBIDS,
a muslim being friends, with an unbeliever.
-
so, if a muslim says they are your friend,
they are either lying (taquiyya),
or, they are not a true muslim.
-
and, you learn a lot of surprising things,
on the inside...
The practicing muzzies I've known (mostly from India and Malaysia) will cross the street to avoid passing a dog.
I’ve never had a muslim friend. The ones I’ve known have all been co-workers. Many of them are friendly, some of them aren’t. And I do believe a few of them would have tried to do something if they thought that they wouldn’t get caught.
***Muslims don’t hate dogs, Canada. Dog-haters hate dogs, and they come in every colour, shape, and size. ***
Moslems hate dogs because the dogs can sense the EVIL in moslems.
It’s only been reported once. I don’t know if it is a regular practice, since the press would never report it if it was.
http://michellemalkin.com/2010/07/17/obamas-dog/
Most are born into Islam through no choice of their own.
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