I would like to read that to Hrnilakshi, please. To Hrnilakshi. Yes. The first subject is, isn’t it almost related that Gregor promised to visit the Holy Prophet but delayed and the waiting time was heavy on the Holy Prophet. When he emerged from his house he encountered Gabriel and complained to him of the delay. He answered, we do not enter a house in which there is a dog or a poultry. The second of these is, isn’t it almost related that he heard the Holy Prophet say, he who keeps a dog except for hunting or guarding cattle shall be deprived of two appearance of his very own hair. Could you please explain this? I have already explained it more than once.
Here in England, in the same session, you know the dogs are created for a certain purpose and if they are kept for a purpose they are good. And if they are not kept for a certain purpose, which they are created to perform, and only bark at the guests and are a source of danger to the callers, then no angel, that is, no angelic person, no gentleman would knock at such a door. Now this is much better understood in our country than here in England. Because here the penalty, if your dog bites someone, is so heavy, they have to train it so very well, it’s kept under its control.
But in our country, or in so many underdeveloped countries, in fact in the majority of the countries of the world, the dogs are a source of danger to the visitors if they are unchained. And sometimes, and many times, it so happens that people are bitten and sometimes the dog is proved to be a rabid dog. So because of that general, you know, situation of uncertainty and insecurity, the Prophet ﷺ discouraged keeping of dogs in the houses without a purpose.
Now as far as the pictures are concerned, the pictures are, by pictures he is referring to the pictures of imaginary idols. Because the camera pictures were not in existence in those days. Obviously he is not referring to photography. And as far as the painting goes, there is no trace, no evidence, that in Arabia at that time people were fond of painting sceneries or realities. Even living great men were not painted. The painting was entirely, or the drawing of pictures, was entirely devoted to the promotion of idolatry.
So if there was a picture of something, it was bound to be a picture of an imaginary god. So that is in direct clash with the Islamic concept of unity of God. So there it was obviously prohibited entirely. But you are looking at the same word in a different context now, in a completely different changed circumstances, where pictures are, well, not entirely devoted to realities, but most often they’re not. They pertain to the normal ways of life and the realities of life. And they are not devoted to Godhead alone. In some places still you find pictures and drawings of gods, so-called gods, and they are as much prohibited today as they were prohibited at the time of the Holy Prophet.
