Currently the residents of a village in Pendang, Kedah are up in arms over the relocation of an embattled animal shelter with some 300 rescued animals, mostly dogs, to their kampung nestled in a padi field.

A village chief handed over a protest note to their assemblyman Dr Mohd Hayati Othman, who chairs the state executive council’s health and local government committee.

Let me tell you the history about dogs in Islam. Dogs are conventionally thought of as ritually impure. This idea taps into a long tradition that considers even the mere sight of a dog during prayer to have the power to nullify a pious Muslim’s supplications.

Prophet Muhammed and his cousins raised dogs.

Muhammad is traditionally born in 570 in Mecca and died in 632 in Medina. There is, however, quite a different unknown strand of thinking about dogs in Islam, a long history of positive interactions between Muslims and dogs that goes back to the religion’s very beginnings. According to several authoritative accounts of his life and teachings, Prophet Muhammad himself prayed in the presence of dogs. Many of his cousins and companions, the world’s first Muslims, raised young puppies. In the Mosque of the Prophet in Medina, the second holiest site in the world for Muslims after the Kaaba, dogs were regularly seen frolicking about during the prophet’s life and for centuries after as well.

It’s no surprise that the first Muslims had so many dogs. Most of them kept large flocks of sheep and goats, and dogs helped to manage and protect these other animals, preventing them from running away and scaring off would-be thieves and predators. Sheep and goats were these early Muslims’ food and capital, and dogs helped to protect these investments.

1,450 years ago, even Prophet Mohammad and his cousins kept dogs, why should the current Muslims be afraid of dogs???

According to modern science, there are many benefits of having a dog.

Dogs make us feel less alone. ...

Dogs are good for your heart. ...

Dogs help you stop stressing out. ...

Dogs help us cope with crisis. ...

Dogs encourage you to move. ...

Dogs make you more attractive—even virtually. ...

Dogs make us more social. ...

Dogs are so adorable they make us love them.

An old English saying “A dog is a man’s best friend”. Even if you come home late at night your dog will wag his tail to welcome you home.

As far as I can remember I always have 1 or 2 dogs. I am nearly 89 years old and I can vouch that having a dog has definitely prolonged my life.