One of the organisers of the 'I Want To Touch A Dog' event has expressed regret over negative media coverage by reporters whom she claimed were not even present at the event.

“We have a registration list for members of media, and none of them were there. I don’t know what they based the report from and what is their source.

“We regret that pictures of the performance of sertu (ritual cleansing) were not included in any of the media here,” said organiser Norhayati Ismail ( above ) at a press conference today.

She stressed this was her personal opinion, when asked to comment on media coverage of the event that had courted controversy.

She added that there were 20 volunteers manning the sertu counters, as well as regular reminders for Muslims to perform the  rites if they had touched the dogs.

Sorry for any unease

 

At the same press conference, organiser Syed Azmi Alhabshi apologised for  any "unease" the event may have caused.

Syed Azmi, who has been turned into a dart board after the event, read out an apology and left immediately without taking reporters' questions.

 

His lawyer Syahredzan Johan explained that there are concerns that those who wish to harm Syed Azmi ( left ) would be present at the  press conference if they find out its venue .

 

In his apology, Syed Azmi said the program was meant to teach Muslims  how to handle dogs, but conceded that there had been weaknesses in carrying it out.

 

He added that as early as Sept 11 – over a month before the Oct 19 event – the organisers had made it clear that the event was not meant to promote the ownership of dogs as pets.

 

“It is with sincere intentions that I organised this program for Allah and not to distort your faith, change religious laws, mock the ulamas, or promote liberalism.

 

“Finally, I admit that this program has its own weaknesses. I wish to apologise for inadvertently upsetting or causing problems for anyone,” he said.

Unexpected turnout

 

Norhayati explained that the organisers had expected no more than 500 to turn up.

 

As such, only 500 flyers on the Islamic view dogs and how to handle them were prepared based on guidelines from the Selangor Mufti Department.

 

In addition, ustaz Iqbal Parjin gave participants a briefing about dogs in Islam at the beginning of the event and it was stressed that Muslim participants who wish to touch the dogs were only supposed to do so for educational purposes and not for fun, she said.

 

She said she only learned that some Muslim participants had hugged or kissed the dogs through the media.

 

“We didn’t anticipate the hugging and kissing, because we had already told the participants not to touch the dogs for fun ( suka-suka ).

 

“We believe that there were latecomers who came but didn’t hear the ustaz’s lecture that day, because we started at 8 o’clock sharp and dispersed by 8.30am.

 

“Perhaps these are groups of people who, firstly, didn’t hear the lecture; secondly, didn’t get the flyers, because I anticipated about 300, at most 500 participates, but we got double,” Norhayati said.

 

She added that the large number of participants made the situation difficult to control.

 

Hugging, kissing not condoned

Responding to allegations that the organisers had misled the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council (Mais) by omitting that the event included the touching and hugging of dogs, Norhayati said the organisers do not condone the hugging or kissing of dogs by Muslims.

 

As for the touching, Syahredzan pointed out that the name of the event is self-explanatory.

 

The ‘I want to touch a dog’ event was mentioned by name in correspondence between the organiser and Mais, copies of which were distributed to the press.

 

Despite the fallout, Norhayati said the program had met its goals of promoting understanding on the Islamic view of dogs.

 

She said about 80 of the participants learning to perform sertu were non-Muslims, and would better understand Muslim sensitivities regarding the animal and how to handle neighbours with dogs as pets.

 

Some of them have even purchased supplies for performing sertu during the event, Syahredzan added, so that their Muslim visitors can use it if required.

 

As for Muslims, Syahredzan said participants at the event would now know that they need not hesitate to help if they see a dog in distress.

Wet dogs are viewed as having “heavy impurities” ( najis mughalazah ) in the Syafie school of jurisprudence, and touching one without legitimate reasons – such as to save the dog or while using it for hunting – is forbidden ( haram ).

The strict Syafiei view on dogs in Malaysia differs from other schools of jurisprudence, even those within the Sunni tradition.

The Maliki school, for example, does not view dogs as unclean and does not prohibit touching them.