After the 'I want to touch a dog' event, PAS is worried that soon, Muslims will be invited to engage in illicit sex.

Federal Territories PAS Youth deputy chief Nurul Islam Mohamed Yusof said his concerns were not unfounded, especially after the 'Topless Friday', 'Oktoberfest' and the dog-patting event were organised.

"We are worried that one day, someone will organise a 'sex and condom' campaign to promote 'safe sex', supposedly to avoid HIV or AIDS from spreading," he said.

Nurul Islam (left) expressed hope for such programmes to be prevented from happening in the future. He also urged Muslims to increase their understanding of Islam.

Popular preacher Mohd Kazim Elias was in tandem with Nurul Islam, saying: "After the beer festival, comes the dog event, what’s next?"

He said Muslims cannot intentionally touch dogs as it may lead to having them as pets and bringing them into the house.

"After this, will there be a pig touching campaign, which will then lead to eating pigs?" he said in a Facebook posting yesterday.

Young Religious Scholars Secretariat (Ilmu) working committee chairperson Fathul Bari Mat Jahaya said Muslims are "absolutely" not allowed to pat dogs.

"I will support the programme if there is an explanation on samak (cleansing), but I question why the participants had to touch the dogs," he said, accoring to a report in Sinar Harian .

Religious scholar Zaharuddin Abdul Rahman (right) , meanwhile, believes it would be better for there to be a campaign to treat injured or sick dogs.

"This will be more beneficial and shows that Islam does not forbid Muslims from touching dogs, but it has to be in certain circumstances," he said.

He however hit out at quarters who said participants were "out of the faith of Islam" for participating in the event.

"This is not about faith, nor is it about liberal Islam.

"I am sure they did not mean to insult Islam. We cannot say that they insulted Islam, instead they were just not mature enough in organising it," he said.

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