Thursday, February 14, 2013
Muslim couple gives shelter to 500 dogs and cats
Up north of Malaysia, in one of the small villages in Alor Setar, Kedah, a Malay couple (Pak Mi and Mak Intan) is giving refuge to up to 500 dogs and cats. This is quite unusual because many Malays, being Muslims regard dogs as untouchables and so stay away and end up hating dogs.
When asked why, she relates an incident when she was washing at the edge of the river, she fell in because it was soapy and slippery. A few puppies who saw what happened quickly barked and called out to the older dogs further in the village. She said 5 or more big dogs rushed down to the river and pulled her out! She was soooo grateful, she began to take care of them and any other stray dogs, no matter how badly hurt or diseased. Most are puppies whose parents were euthanised by dog catchers/the council.
Life, is of course not easy for them. As the number grows, they are in dire need of funds to feed and care for these animals. Due to obvious budget constraints, they r currently living & sleeping in their car (which they jokingly call 4-star hotel as it has 4 wheels and air-conditioning).
They have also been told to relocate because of complains.
They have also been ignored and received snide remarks by other fellow Muslims as what they are doing is seen to be wrong. But according to Pak Mi and Mak Intan, its a joy to see the animals get well and happy. They have so much love among man and animal. So, their reply is - its up to them and their maker (and refused to be judged by others). As u read the comments below the video, u get a debate about the rights and wrongs of this couple.. As usual, there r some supportive and some with silly ideas and comments displaying ignorance.
It is truly sad and heartwarming at the same time to hear of their kindness to these poor animals who now have a home and protector. Wasn't that one of Man's responsibility? - to care for the lesser able beings created by God? Wasnt that why Man was given the brains (intelligence) and power?
SO PLS DONATE TO THIS COUPLE TO HELP THEM HELP THE STRAYS
Updates :
You can follow their progress on Facebook :
https://www.facebook.com/pakmieshelter
Pak Mie Shelter has been given a new piece of land to house his rescued dogs and cats..(10 Jun 2013)
https://www.facebook.com/pakmieshelter/media_set?set=a.194689604023783.1073741832.100004482339945&type=3
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6 comments:
Very touching to see people with so much love. In this case even more challenging to go past religious hurdle and peer pressure
What a truly lovely couple they are and yes, rising above taught values and societal pressure makes their contribution to the safety and happiness of dogs even greater.
My students recently produced a short video about this couple. Although it was lacked of focus and technically there are a number of glaring glitches, the subject matter is still remarkable. I am a muslim and growing up with the religious conviction that dogs are forbidden to touch. but as i grow older,my views changed and i believe these creatures are created by God Almighty and why should we hate his creations? I don't think i can answer this as i am not an Islamic scholar. The video, despite its shortcoming won some prizes and shown to audience in an event. My boss however was not happy about this and she called a meeting and gave us the dressing down. she, being the last malay muslim woman, the defender of the malay rights and Islam said it was against the akidah to show muslims touching and handling dogs. I feel like puking as she obviously did not understand what akidah is all about but wanted to show off by talking about religion as if she is some kind of Uztaz Don! I stood up to her but my other muslim colleagues kept quite although some have gone for hajj. At the end i believe if you did not have the knowledge please don't talk about religion and as of the video and its subject matter lets just watch them and if you have the desire to help god's creations other than human please donate generously to Mak Intan and Pak Mi.
You can follow them on Facebook http://petcrazee.blogspot.com/2013/06/follow-pak-mie-shelter-on-facebook.html
Many people & groups came to help when the video of their plight went viral on FB. You can now follow their progress/situation on at
http://pakmieshelter.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/pakmieshelter
http://www.facebook.com/pakmieshelterpage
For those who don't know,the Quran does not regard the dog as a forbidden animal.Surah 5 verse 4 says that you can eat what your hunting dogs catch for you(dogs catch with their mouth with saliva and all).In Surah 18,some righteous youth slept with their dog in a cave.In Surah 10 verse 100 the Quran says that God will not guide those who do not use their common sense.Peace
I just saw this article and I find it quite sweet and sad at the same time. Despite being a Muslim and also a Malay, I was raised abroad and don't have the same mindset as most Malays in Malaysia. As far as I have learned in Religious class and etc, we can touch dogs as long as both the dog and us are dry. We can have them as hunting dogs or guard dogs not as pets. But due to our tropical weather of being hot and humid, we can not touch the dogs as they are dry but our hands are not due to sweat. Unlike the Muslims in the Arab world who live in a hot and dry weather, they can easily touch them with no qualms but here in Malaysia we can touch them but we still need to cleanse ourselves afterwards by doing "samak". I may not be a religion scholar but that was taught to me by both my teachers and parents. So I don't see any problems regarding about Muslims with dogs. As long as you don't provoke the dogs, they wouldn't bother you. And if you treat any animals with kindness, they will respond with kindness as well..
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