Doggy debate reveals Malaysia’s narrow Islamic code

The ‘I want to touch a dog’ event has spurred a debate among Malaysian Muslims on handling canines. – The Malaysian Insider pic, October 23, 2014.

As Malaysian Muslims debate the different views in Islam on handling dogs, the National Fatwa Council today said that teachings under the Shafie school of jurisprudence, which Malaysia follows, had to be obeyed.

The council today decided that touching or holding a dog went against Shafie jurisprudence, which the Putrajaya has called the "official" Islamic code for Malaysia, Bernama reported.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom said even though Islam held animals, including dogs, in high regard, dogs were still "unclean" from a religious standpoint and Muslims had to obey rules on handling them.

"That dogs are held in high regard is another matter, Muslims still have to abide by what has been decided under Islamic laws," he said in Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, today after a meeting of the fatwa council.

Bernama reported that the meeting was also attended by the director general of the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) Datuk Othman Mustaffa and chairman of the National Fatwa Council, Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Abdul Shukor Husin.

A day after the "I want to touch a dog" event in Bandar Utama, Petaling Jaya, on October 19, Shukor had said that there was no need for the council to issue a new fatwa about dogs as "everyone knew" that they were unclean.

Shukor also said that while there were different opinions about dogs between the four main schools of Islamic jurisprudence, the matter should not be debated as Malaysia followed the Shafie school.

This school has the strictest interpretation on dogs, which cannot be touched whether they are wet or dry, and requires Muslims to perform the "samak" cleansing ritual if contact is made.

The Maliki school, on the other hand, does not view dogs as unclean and does not prohibit touching them.

"The council feels there is no need to issue a new fatwa because as we know, in this country, Muslims cannot touch dogs without reason whether the animal is dry, what more if it is wet. And if they happen to touch it, they will need to perform 'samak'.

"The law against touching dogs should not be hyped up as it has already been decided by the ulama that it is haram. So why should we want to debate it. That is why we do not need a fatwa because the matter is clear," Shukor was quoted saying in Utusan Malaysia.

There are four schools of jurisprudence among Sunni Muslims: Maliki, Hanbali, Hanafi and Shafie. All four schools are accepted among Sunni Muslims as being within the confines of Islam. However, Malaysian Muslims traditionally follow the Shafie school of jurisprudence.

The debate has raged on social media between Muslims, and cyber bullying including threats to kill and beat up the event organiser, Syed Azmi Alhabshi, have also been made.

These threats have been condemned by moderate Muslims as bringing shame to Islam, while some scholars analyse the ongoing furore as part of a shift in Malaysian Muslim society with more people becoming open to other schools of jurisprudence.

Former Perlis mufti Professor Datuk Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin (pic, left) said the Malaysian Islamic authorities had to learn how to deal with a "modernising landscape".

"We cannot manage it as if we were from the dark ages. We must handle these modern changes in a mature manner,” he told The Malaysian Insider.

Asri has also said that Muslims were free to switch between schools, according to the teachings of Syrian scholar Wahba Zuhayli who held that it was not compulsory to commit to just one school of jurisprudence.

International Islamic University Malaysia lecturer Dr Maszlee Malik also told The Malaysian Insider that Muslim youth are now exposed to the other schools of jurisprudence through books, the media and the Internet.

- TMI