Saudi Arabia’s religious police have announced a ban on selling cats and dogs as pets, or walking them in public in the Saudi capital, because of men using them as a means of making passes at women, an official said on Wednesday.
…Othman said that the commission has instructed its offices in the capital to tell pet shops "to stop selling cats and dogs".
Here is the full story. This is, of course, a net benefit for the offenders to date. The newly created artificial scarcity increases the conversation value of the already owned animals and also confers a positive wealth effect on the wrongdoers. Is it not better to stop xxxx by giving everyone a pet and thus eliminating its conversational value? By the way, if this edict is enforced, we can expect an increase in the pet birth rate and also a greater number of abandoned pets.
The final question, of course, is how do you use a pet cat to make a pass at a woman? I’ve heard of people walking their cats, but I expect it is not an easy experience. To limit sex, cats should be subsidized, not taxed. No?
It may not be easy, but then that’s why I would be impressed by a man who could successfully walk a cat.
If you get them used to it, cats are okay with leashes. But you got to start them young, just like with toddlers and L.U.G.’s.
Forget using a cat to make a pass at a women–Has anyone ever actually seen a man walking a cat? Given the shorter stride length of cats (and longer stride of adult men) and the general unwillingness of a cat to maintain a consistent speed and direction, I’m really having a hard time visualizing this.
I have seen a man (as opposed to a woman) walk a cat.
Walking a cat doesn’t seem difficult, but they seem bad for meeting people, since they don’t like strangers the way a dog does.
Carrying your female hiking partner’s tired dog up the side of a mountain can transform you into marriage material.
I am surprised that they sell dogs in Saudi Arabia. I believe they are technically forbidden by religious law. In England for instance it has been decided that all British Police Sniffer dogs will wear boots from now on to avoid offending the local Muslim population:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4276489.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797084
I wonder if this “forbidden” aspect of dogs raises the profile of their owners in places like Saudi Arabia somehow? Perhaps scarcity already existed in other words.
Dogs aren’t actually “forbidden” (haramm), but they are considered dirty, filthy creatures. If a dog licks you, you are considered ritually unclean and have to go through a process to be clean again. The same goes for a dog licking your clothes. You can’t pray in them again until they have been washed several times. A couple of the times have to be with water, and there is at least one time you have to wash with sand. Muslims do use dogs as guard dogs in certain situations, but they’d never have them as a pet.
Isaac Crawford
Blogging in Yemen
http://www.isaharr.com
Is there a legal name attached to the author of this news
story somewhere? This sounds like bullshit, if it’s
a legitimate story i’d like at least a second source.
Muslim chicks do dig the beautiful cats–nice effort
gentlemen if true.
This was my favorite post in a very long time. Well done.
A guy walking a cat is clearly good marriage material… He’s already “whipped”, right?
Separation of church and state is a really good deal.
Arabs see the saluki as a noble dog, used for hunting, and many have them as pets. How they differentiate between them and other dogs always seemed like a bit of cognitive dissonance to me (not that there isn’t already an ocean of that in the Arab world.)
Also, the muttawa seem to have less real power with every passing day. They’re mostly ex-cons who join the muttawa to appear pious, but it’s basically an excuse to allow them to be petty thugs. Trouble is, too many people are ignoring them or fighting back.
If “because of men using them as a means of making passes at women” is the cause, they really need to stop cellphones, cameras and other modern devices and not cats.
Am wondering if the tents are not efficient enough?
My friend Michael walks his cat every day. He moved to a busy inner city street where it is too dangerous to let the cat run free as it had in his previous home. His cat is 6 years old, took immediately to the leash, no protest, loves his walks.
Cats are not fungible. That is the best blog comment I’ve read in a month.
Weren’t pet dogs prohibited by Islamic Law to begin with?
(http://www.answering-islam.org/Silas/dogs.htm)
Regards,
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Every success is based on continuous efforts. It is not possible be done over nigh. so you shoul keep on heart
…and responding to the rest of Scott’s comment, I think walking a cat is more letting the cat walk you.
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