Here's the chronology:

When I first found out about the I Want to Touch a Dog event, first thing that came to my mind:
What a stupid event! Why do we even need such event! I am not scared of the dogs. I love the dogs. I know what to do if I accidentally touch a wet dog. Dogs are nice like cats.
Why do we need an event specifically to touch a dog? How stupidddd...
Why so jakun one?!!!

Then, event happened. Read the stupid comments.
Here's what I think:
The dog issue has been blown out of proportion.
Only in Malaysia.

"Haram sebab pegang anjing saja-saja."

What do you mean pegang saja-saja? The event was created to promote awareness. Tolonglah jangan pendek akal. The event was created to kill the stigma among non-Muslims have toward the Muslims. They think we are dangerous, we are terrorists, we hate the dogs!

Well, you know what? Islam doesn't hate the dogs. We love and respect all animals. We just can't touch them as freely as we want.

And you know what I hate even more?

That we needed to create an event just to prove this!

Arrgghhh!!! Tarik rambut...!

"Posing with the dogs is like posing with your own shit. Because dogs are najis. Would you like to peluk cium najis sendiri?"

OMG, no wonder we just had to organize an event like that!
Because of this kind of mentality lah.

I still can't believe this is happening in Malaysia.

When I was young, Father used to bring us visit his friends, the non-Muslims, and some of them had dogs. The dogs were their pets. When we arrived, sometimes, the dogs were running freely, but they would quickly restrain them and let us into the houses.
We respected each other.

My uncle and aunt have many cats. There were dogs in the neighbourhood. My uncle and aunt feed them sebab kesian. The dogs end up guarding the house for them. My uncle and aunt doesn't let the dogs inside the house compound, but the dogs think they are their masters. Some people call animal control to catch/ shoot the stray dogs. But my uncle wouldn't let them. He even paid the animal control people to not shoot the dogs!

I thought it was normal. Aren't those things normal to you, as well?
Apparently, not, sampai kena buat event besar-besaran gitu...

You kata, you live in the city. Takkan kawan you semua Muslim? You tak ada non-Muslim friends?

You kata, you live in the kampung. Orang dekat kampung kan are usually lebih mesra and neighbourly. Kampung you tak ada non-Muslims yang bela anjing ke?

Then, I went overseas and most of the dogs are very well-behaved (they are very smart indeed). No problem there. Tak pernah pulak ada complaint, there are too many dogs in the park, therefore, I won't sit on the grass. Tak pernah pulak, saya tak mau pergi rumah orang putih tu sebab rumah dia ada anjing, dia makan babi, rumah dia ada simpan arak. Pandai pulak dekat negara orang, duduk senyap senyap.

I don't understand us, Malaysians. Why are we okay with the dogs when we are overseas, but not okay with the dogs when we are in our own country? Because we like to show who's the boss?

And we always pride ourselves for the fact we live "dalam masyarakat majmuk". Tapi kenapa tak ada toleransi? Majmuk apa ni kalau some individuals don't even have friends from other races!
(True story. I once met an Indian girl who said, "Hi! What's your name, again? It's so difficult to remember your name. I never had a Malay friend before this!" We were 25 years old)

(Oh, and I remember I wrote here about the time I went hiking. And there was a dog. My friend and I didn't mind the dog, bukannya anjing tu kacau orang pun. And the Chinese auntie was like, "You are different. You aren't like the typical Malays." I was stunned by her comment, and I thought, "Well, it shows that you don't have enough Malay friends". Now, I am ashamed and now I understand what she meant by that!)

And why must we judge people?

"Mereka yang pegang anjing tu, belum tentu pernah pegang Al-Quran dan belum tentu pernah mengusap kepala anak yatim."

This upsets me so much! Kenapa sampai sebegitu hina sekali your assumption to those who touch the dogs?

I have a friend from the Borneo, whose parents are the first generation in the family to revert to Islam, and they still have dogs. The dogs live under his kampung house.

How would he feel after reading all of your stupid comments?

And the press photos! Why do they only show photos of Muslim women in their tudungs with the dogs? Weren't there Muslim men as well? Saja je kan nak tunjuk perempuan pakai tudung dengan anjing? Saja je kan nak bagi provokasi?

I'm glad my husband is with me in this case.

And together, we will teach our children, not to be afraid of dogs. Dogs are God's creatures.
Anjing bukannya haiwan yang hina.
Yang menjadi najis itu adalah apabila ia basah.

Buat apa nak lari bila nampak anjing? Kenapa nak tergedik gedik bila nampak anjing? Ada ke mak bapak ajar anak pukul anjing? Kalau dah terkena, tak ada hal, bukannya tak ada cara nak menyucikan!

And, I wrote here before too...About hunting dogs (as quoted from a Facebook friend of mine).

"From Ibn Qayyim- Dogs generally do not have a high status in Islam. Even the saliva of a dog is najis. However, God allows hunting dogs and consumption of animals hunted by the hunting dogs. Obviously, when the hunting dogs catch the prey, the saliva of the dogs will get stuck on the prey. How would this work then?

The difference between the hunting dog (al-mukallib) and the regurlar dog is the ilm of the dog. There are three prerequisites for the dog to be al-mukallib

- when the owner tells the dog to go, it goes

- when the owner tells the dog to stop, it stops

- it doesn't eat from the prey that it catches

The only difference between a dog and a hunting dog (al-mukallib) is the knowledge, and Allah even raises a dog in status because of its knowledge. So, what about human being?

Adapted from a tazkirah by Sh Omar Suleiman."

So, yeah.

As much as I hate all the stupid comments, I also hate that we had to come to this: Create a stupid event when we don't have to in the first place!
Sayangi semua haiwan. Common sense lah weih...
Yes, we have restrictions toward the dogs, tapi tak payah lah besar-besarkan hal kecil macam ni.
I malu lah!
Please don't embarass me...Don't embarass my religion.