The 'I Want to Touh A Dog' event held in Petaling Jaya yesterday has been decried by a Muslim cleric, who said today it was against the fatwa and Shafie school of thought.

Johor Islamic council adviser Nooh Gadut said the touching of dogs intentionally is forbidden as it is categorised under najis mughallazah (grave impurities), and viewed seriously by the Shafie school of thought.

"It is forbidden as it is against religion, health and culture. Don’t try to create a culture that goes against Islam and the Shafie, especially something that has elements that insult the country’s ulama,” a  Berita Harian report today quotes Nooh as saying.

Pahang mufti Abdul Rahman Othman said religious authorities should investigate the programme’s objectives, which were "clearly against religious beliefs of Muslims".

Rahman said Muslims should not view the issue lightly and should refer to the religious authorities before they do something "that goes against the Shafie school of thought".

Selangor mufti Tamyes Abdul Wahid, meanwhile, questioned the event’s objectives, on whether it was for dogs to be made as pets or otherwise, reports Utusan Malaysia today.

Tamyes said if the event was organised to purposely create a polemic among the rakyat, the campaign should be rejected.

“If dogs are to be made guard dogs and we touch them when our hands are dry, then it is fine. But if we bring them into our house and we kiss them, that, I cannot accept,” he said.

T he dog patting event , aimed at breaking the taboo of dogs among Muslims, drew hundreds of participants in Petaling Jaya yesterday.

The programme’s organiser Syed Azmi Alhabshi said he had obtained the permission of the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council (Mais) and the police to hold the event.

'Kiss parents cheeks'

Meanwhile, Temerloh MP Nasrudin Hassan said it would have been better if Syed Azmi had organised a ‘kiss parents’ cheeks’ campaign, as well as ‘caress the heads of the orphans’ and ‘love your spouse’ campaigns.

"This campaign has no rationale among Muslims. A ‘don’t be cruel to animals campaign’ would have been better," Nasrudin, a PAS central committee member, said on his Facebook page today.

“Islam is not a cruel religion, we can touch them when saving or treating them,” he said, and he went on to add that it is forbidden to touch dogs when there is no reason to.

PAS Youth deputy chief Muhammad Khalil Abdul Hadi ( right ) also agreed with his party colleague’s suggestion, that there should be a ‘caress the heads of the orphans’ campaign.

"Instead of the dog patting campaign, it would be better to have a campaign on how to kiss the hajar aswad (black stone of the Kaaba)."

Admitting that the Quran tells the story of the ashabul kahfi (young men who slept in a cave for 309 years with their dog), he said the moral of the story was not so that Muslims should have dogs as pets, but to show that dogs also helped Islam’s struggle in their own way.

"Maybe this programme was organised to relieve the rakyat who are stressed with the fuel hikes?" he asked.

Constitutional law expert Syahredzan Johan, on the other hand, questioned the fuss over the programme.

“Touching dogs becomes a big issue that even the mufti asks for an investigation to be made. Why doesn’t corruption become a big issue too?" Syahredzan asked.

Jakim to call up 'pat-a-dog' organiser

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