An Azhari scholar raises widespread controversy in Egypt regarding “the purity of the dog and the pig” .. Video

Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University, Ahmed Karima, confirmed, in a television interview, that “the dog is pure and may be raised in homes” and that “the pig is like a pure animal, but its meat is forbidden,” which sparked widespread controversy on social media.

Karima's fatwa provoked various reactions among those who objected to what he said and others supporting it, while some pointed out that it conveys only the opinion of Islamic law.

Karima’s speech came in response to a question by one of the viewers about the reason why the “People of the Cave” dog, which is one of the stories mentioned in the Qur’an, did not enter with them and slept outside.

Karima replied: “The task of the dog that followed the people of the cave was guarding, and the guard dog is usually present at the door, which indicates that the dog is not originally unclean, which is what Imam Malik bin Anas permitted because of the rule that says that every neighborhood is pure.”

Karima supported the statement of Imam Malik, saying: “Impurity is not original but rather accidental. The principle is in what God created the pure.”

He continued, "Inheritances exaggerate the issue of a dog's impurity even though it is one of God's creatures, and God does not create something unclean," stressing that "the impurity of a dog is in saliva only, and as for touching his body, there is no harm in it, and there is nothing wrong with a person raising a dog."

As for the “purity of the pig,” Karima quoted Imam Malik as saying that “the pig itself is a pure animal, but its meat is forbidden.”

He added, "The pig is pure in itself, in the body or in the body, because God did not create anything unclean."

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