A SENIOR Iranian cleric has decreed dogs are “unclean” and should not be kept as pets – a move aimed at discouraging Western-style dog ownership in the Islamic state.
Mad Muslim cleric Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi , left, and a comical little cur
Dogs are considered “unclean” under Islamic tradition but, while relatively rare in Iran, some people do keep them as pets.
By issuing a fatwa Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi has sent a clear message that this trend must stop:
Friendship with dogs is a blind imitation of the West. There are lots of people in the West who love their dogs more than their wives and children.
Guard dogs and sheep dogs are considered acceptable under Islamic law but Iranians who carry dogs in their cars or take them to public parks can be stopped by police and fined.
The Koran does not explicitly prohibit contact with dogs, Shirazi said, but Islamic tradition showed it to be so.
We have lots of narrations in Islam that say dogs are unclean.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
June 20th, 2010 at 9:16 am
At least Iranians won’t be stepping around, or even in, piles of dog shit every time they leave the house, like we have to do here. Can’t we have the same ban?
June 20th, 2010 at 10:01 am
I expect one of his neighbors let their dog piss on his front gatepost. Either get out there and front him up or complain to the council you lily-livered twat.
I don’t like dogs either but that’s not a good reason for banning their ownership. They’ve made an invaluable contribution to the success of our species and we should remember that.
June 20th, 2010 at 10:40 am
Well I have a great liking for dogs. There are no bad dogs, only idiot owners. And boy some owners are real dumbfucks. Dressing their dogs in twee coats, clipping their hair in designs and without the slightest idea how to treat them. And, worst of all letting them crap all over the place, and there is nothing I dislike more than stepping in dogshit. I detest the Kennel Club. Total twats. Setting standards where dogs end up with squashed faces so they cannot breathe, fat Labradors waddlind around, boxers with clipped tails, stupid standards. And Crufts is just as bad. I don’t watch Crufts but the few times I have had a look I dislike these dopey women, usually women, poncing round with the high stepping pooches.
Dogs are basically wolves, pack animals, and should be treated as such. I usually have Labradors and they don’t get patted, fussed over and generally pissed about. And they have never been hit, never mind beaten. They are “calm submissive” to borrow from the greatest owner trainer ever: Cesar Milan. I get more pleasure from my dogs than almost anything else. I like big dogs – German Shephards which I owned, Labradors which I have now. An mishandled dog is miserable and a disaster and most dog training classes are a waste of time.
I live in fairly remote hill and forest country and so I am lucky with the space around me. When we lived in a city we chose never to have a dog and I still think that was the right decison.
Bloody muslims. If there is a daft idea you can be sure they will hit on it.
June 20th, 2010 at 10:53 am
‘If there is a daft idea you can be sure they will hit on it’. Yep
If anyone is interested in seeing how this ‘unclean’ stuff can lead to lunacy (sorry, it comes from lunacy as well) try reading ‘monstrous regiment’ Terry Pratchett. In it,the prevailing god suddenly announces another load of things which are an abomination. Their holy book has to have endless appendices. The colour blue, cheese, babies among other things. Not so far from the truth.
June 20th, 2010 at 10:57 am
Broga
I’ve often thought that once a certain human population density in a locality is reached, then further dog ownership should be banned. Simply because we know their owners won’t behave. I enjoy fell-running but there are times I have to slum it and use footpaths. My experience is sometimes marred by having to look down and pick each step rather than appreciating the view ahead. I’ve already said I don’t like like dogs but we always had them as kids and I think I benefitted from that.
Off topic joke:
Two blokes die in a car crash.
One arrives in Heaven and is greeted by St Peter at the Pearly Gates. “Welcome to Heaven”, he says, “Here is your harp.”
The other guy ends up downstairs where a grinning Satan hands him his vuvuzela…..
This is a twist on a cartoon I saw some years ago where the vuvuzela was originally an accordian.
June 20th, 2010 at 11:40 am
@Broadsword. Far too many dogs, I agree. And all that sentiment. That Edinburgh pooch that visited his owners grave for years. Why did he do that? What do you get in graveyards? Bones. When some university researcher discovered the reason for the faithful hound,the guy was lucky to escape being lynched.
Never done Fell Running but plenty of fell walking and dog shit is diabolical. May I recommend a wonderful book on fell running to you. “Feet in the clouds: a tale of fell running and obsession” by Richard Askwith published by Aurum Press in paperback. Amazing tales of superb athletes, largely unknown, and written by a journalist (usually a good indication of a lively read) who was bitten by the bug himself.) The discrimination by the “Establishment” of these amazing athletes will appeal to the anti authoritarian cast of mind of anyone who contributes to this site.
June 20th, 2010 at 11:59 am
A dog cant clean up after itself, dont blame the dog, blame the owner.
Dogs are wonderful creatures and great companions. If islam cant see that… well is anyone suprised at anything they do or say anymore?
June 20th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
Which is worse cleric or dog. There’s only one way to find out!
June 20th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
the grand ayatollah shirazi looks none to clean his own self – give me a samoyed any day. What I find interesting is:
“The Koran does not explicitly prohibit contact with dogs, Shirazi said, but Islamic tradition showed it to be so.
We have lots of narrations in Islam that say dogs are unclean.”
So much for the idea that the koran is the perfect word of their deity and is neither to be added to nor subtracted from. Mohammed didn’t say it but there is the “tradition” so it’s forbidden.
This “tradition” is an old dodge, we see it often from the christians too, especially RCC PLC. It is a great way to make up rules that everyone has to obey even though there is no foundation for them in scripture. A cynic might observe that religion is really about who controls whom…..
June 20th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
I’m no dog-person myself, but I would rather run the risk of stepping in dog-shit when I leave my house, than run into this ayatollah and the shit he’s spreading. BTW, it’s not the number of dogs that’s the problem, it’s the number of people and the inability of some to be able in a crowded society. And while I’m at it, aren’t most fatwas foolish nowadays?
June 20th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Friendship with dogs is a blind imitation of the West. There are lots of people in the West who love their dogs more than their wives and children.
Ironic, considering many muslims seem to treat their wives worse than dogs.
June 20th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
“…….people in the West who love their dogs more than their wives and children.” Note the sexist nature of that statement, how islam always views things from a male perspective. Of course under islam, women and children are not allowed to love dogs yet alone more than their control freak partners!
June 20th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
How about having a dog walking boob jangling day
June 20th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Suppose you are to be marooned on a Desert Island and have to choose between a dog and that smelly Ayatollah which would you choose? Not too difficult, is it?
June 20th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
What does that cleric think Iranians are doing with dogs that requires that they be so clean anyway?
June 20th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
So they create their religion as they go by looking at what “the West” is doing and declaring those things unclean and therefore forbidden? Sounds pretty childish and stupid, really. And where does anybody get the idea that this crap is holy or “godly”.
June 20th, 2010 at 5:48 pm
@Broga
Sorry Broga, but Hachiko the Akita dog in Tokyo who went to meet his master at Shibuya station every day and continued for 11 years after his master had died did not do it for bones. He did not know that the man had died at work and continued going back every day until he in turn died and as far as I know there were no bones there!!! Talk about faithful. I’ll take my dog over most of the people I see around me every day!!
June 20th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
Broga
Ta for that book recommendation, I think I’ll give it a go. Just in time for my upcoming week away. We’ve hired a cottage that is so remote, it’s off the electricity grid. Make a guess as to what I’ll be doing.
June 20th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
This is the one area of Islam with which I have some sympathy, dogs are really not urban animals. I believe cats have a much higher place in Muslim esteem so they’ve got something right for once, pity about the beheadings and Burkas and stuff.
June 20th, 2010 at 6:01 pm
maybe this mad cleric feels intimidated because dogs are more intellegent than him and probably don’t smell as bad either.
To be honest I’d rather take my chances with dogshit on the street than live in a theocratic totalitarian hellhole like iran anyway, when are the people there going to stop putting up with these batshit crazy clerics and finish off what they should have done at the election protests last year.
June 20th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
i’d take my rottweiller over this prick anyday, as for the poop my local council give away poop scoop bags, so there is no excuse for not picking up after your hound. What i’d like to see is a ban on owning dogs for under 25s as they are usally the prats who mistreat/fight them.
June 20th, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Broadsword – you ‘expect’ wrong, don’t know the difference between piss and shit, resort to an ad hominem attack and offer the complete irrelevancy that we would ‘do well’ to remember the part dogs have played in our development.
I can only suggest that you get one.
June 20th, 2010 at 6:47 pm
@Normand If you are on the side of the dogs I am with you. The dog I read about was the Edinburgh pooch, “Greyfriars Bobby.” Maybe a dog hating researcher made it up.
I also like rottweillers (@alec s thompson) which, properly treated, are the most gentle of dogs. I am sickened at the way these dogs, and pit bulls, are abused to make them savage.
@Broadsword. I don’t think you will be disappointed. Enjoy your week.
Getting a bit off topic here, sorry.
June 20th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
@Normand. You won’t get any disagreement from me on that. I am with you on dogs. The dog I read about was Greyfriars Bobby in Edinburgh. Maybe a dog hating researcher made up the story.
@Broadsword. Enjoy the book. And that seems to be my kind of holiday.
@alec s thompson. Great dogs rottweillers and terrific temperament. Absolutely agree on dog crap and no excuse for not clearing it up.
June 20th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
@Neil
Go be language pedant elsewhere.
For me the difference between piss and shit is irrelevant as long as I know it’s deposited on your doorstep.
June 20th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
The Koran does not explicitly prohibit contact with dogs, Shirazi said, but Islamic tradition showed it to be so.
We have lots of narrations in Islam that say dogs are unclean.
“He’s making it up as he goes along!”
June 20th, 2010 at 9:15 pm
Some good points made above. Totally sexist approach to the “problem” again, as per usual. Women treated as chattels. Buffy is spot on: whatever the “West” does is wrong per se and has to be banned. What next – no blinking because it is a “Western” custom? These people are actually stark, staring bonkers and the masses just can’t see it!
June 20th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Sorry, Thornavis, dogs are more likely to be found in an urban setting than a cat would. Dogs are thought to have been domesticated over thousands of years. The only way that could happen is for them to be urbanised.
June 21st, 2010 at 3:18 am
I’ve never really known dogs to be unclean unless you neglect them. Any domesticated animal that is neglected becomes unclean or feral, including cats.
Dogs are smart, affectionate, protective and fun to be around…
June 21st, 2010 at 3:38 am
No pigs, No shellfish, Now no dogs!!!
The menu is getting really slim.
Next it will be no cats and I hate lamb!!!!
The KaKaKoran doesn’t say anything about the burqua,
it don’t say nothin about dogs…
But some smelly asshole ugly duds say they are unclean
and the silly religidiots follow along.
Its good to know the xtians don’t just follow want their religious leaders say ;-}
June 21st, 2010 at 4:32 am
Dogshit wasn’t a problem 30 years ago when it had a higher proportion of bone mixed in; those of us old enough to remember will recall it just dried up and disintegrated.
Pity that religiots can’t do the same.
June 21st, 2010 at 11:56 am
L.Long: You’re right. The more vociferous and extreme the crazy mullahs become (because that whips up their supporters into a mad frenzy of self-righteous indignation) the more extreme the Chritians become. That is what is behind all this anti-gay legislation in Nigeria and Uganda. The churches are losing members hand over fist to the more fundamentalist and controlling Muslim faith, and they are just aping them in an effort to plug the leak. Just read the comments on this item on Ghanaweb!
http://ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomeP.....ment=0#com
PS This one is supposed to have been posted by an enlightened American reader!!
Author:JOE SANTANA, USA.
I THINK HOMOSEXUALITY IS IMMORAL, AND VERY DISGUSTING PRACTICE !! IN MY OPINION, THE ALL HAVE MENTAL ISSUES AND NEED DEVINE DELIVERANCE,PERIOD !! FUCKY ARSEHOLES MOTHERFUCKERS, GET LOST !!!