Saudi Arabia bans sale of dogs, cats in capital
By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writer
(07-31) 11:26 PDT RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) --
Every single man knows: Walking a dog in the park is a sure babe magnet.
Saudi Arabia's Islamic religious police, in their zeal to keep the sexes
apart, want to make sure the technique doesn't catch on here.
The solution: Ban selling dogs and cats as pets, as well as walking them
in public.
The prohibition went into effect Wednesday in the capital, Riyadh, and
authorities in the city say they will strictly enforce it — unlike
previous bans in the cities of Mecca and Jiddah, which have been ignored
and failed to stop pet sales.
Violators found outside with their pets will have their beloved poodles
and other furry companions confiscated by agents of the Commission for the
Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the official name of the
religious police, tasked with enforcing Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic
code.
The commission's general manager, Othman al-Othman, said the ban was
ordered because of what he called "the rising of phenomenon of men using
cats and dogs to make passes at women and pester families" as well as
"violating proper behavior in public squares and malls."
"If a man is caught with a pet, the pet will be immediately confiscated
and the man will be forced to sign a document pledging not to repeat the
act," al-Othman told the Al-Hayat newspaper. "If he does, he will be
referred to authorities." The ban does not address women.
The Saudi-owned Al-Hayat announced the ban in its Wednesday edition,
saying it was ordered by the acting governor of Riyadh province, Prince
Sattam, based on an edit from the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars and
several religious police reports of pet owners harassing women and
families.
Commission authorities often do not formally announce to the public new
rules that they intend to implement. Officials from the commission and
Riyadh city government could not be reached for comment Thursday, which is
a weekend day in Saudi Arabia. The English-language Arab News reported on
the ban Thursday.
So far, the prohibition did not appear to have any effect in Riyadh.
It's
extremely rare, anyway, to see anyone in the capital walking a dog —
much less carrying a cat in public — despite the authorities'
claims
of flirtatious young men luring girls with their pets in malls.
Salesmen at a couple of Riyadh pet stores said Thursday they did not
receive any orders from the commission banning the sale of pets. Cats and
dogs were still on display.
"I didn't hear of the ban," said Yasser al-Abdullah, a
28-year-old Saudi
nurse, who was at one pet store with his 3-month-old collie, Joe.
Al-Abdullah, who also owns an 8-month-old Labrador, said a couple of
Western friends had been told to get off the streets by the religious
police for walking their dogs.
"I won't allow the commission to take my dogs from me," he
said.
The religious police prowl streets and malls throughout the kingdom,
ensuring unmarried men and women do not mix, confronting women they feel
are not properly covered or urging men to go to prayers.
They also often make attempts to plug the few holes in the strict gender
segregation that innovations bring. In 2004, for example, they tried to
ban cameras on cell phones, fearing that men and women would exchange
pictures of each other — though the prohibition was quickly revoked.
There was no word whether commission authorities intend to expand the dog
and cat ban beyond the capital.
The prohibition may be more of an attempt to curb the owning of pets,
which conservative Saudis view as a sign of corrupting Western influence,
like the fast food, shorts, jeans and pop music that have become more
common in the kingdom.
Although it has never been common to own pets in the Arab world, it's
becoming increasingly fashionable among the upper class in Saudi Arabia
and other countries such as Egypt.
In Islamic tradition, dogs are shunned as unclean and dangerous, though
they are kept for hunting and guarding. In large cities around the Middle
East, stray dogs are considered pests.
The ban on cats is more puzzling, since there's no similar disdain for
them in Islamic tradition.
One of the Prophet Muhammad's closest companions was given the name Abu
Huraira, Arabic for "the father of the kitten," because he always
carried
a kitten with him and a number of traditional stories of the prophet show
Muhammad encouraging people to treat cats well.
Copyright 2008 AP
