"The Black Dog is the Devil" - Divine Guidance from Allah?

 

When I eventually got myself my dog, I wanted to make a point, so I got a black dog.

I was still Muslim at this time but I had rejected the orthodox Sunni position on dogs in Islam. I felt confident enough in my knowledge to argue against it.

Why a black dog? Well simply because of the hadith that says...

"The Black Dog is the Devil"

A few days ago it was #NationalBlackDog day and I discovered that black dogs are the least adopted dogs from shelters and they are also the most likely to be put down. It's actually got its own name - Black Dog Syndrome.

What is it with black dogs?

Which got me thinking - why did Muhammad also have a thing about black dogs? It seems to be something deeply ingrained in our shared human experience.

So, me being me, I needed to find out more.  

I can't accept the idea that any black dog is the devil. Come on, let's be a bit sensible about this - you're telling me I have been walking, feeding and picking up the devil's poop for the last 2 years?

So where does that leave Muslims in terms of the meaning of the hadith? 

Well you could dream up all sorts of reasons behind it - there are many. One of the funniest I read was that someone said Muhammad meant dogs with "black hearts", i.e. naughty dogs but this is simply silly as dogs don't have a moral compass and I'm sure Islam doesn't teach anything about animals being accountable for their actions.

Or you could maybe accept that Muhammad wasn't actually giving any sort of divinely inspired understanding of the inner dimensions of black dogs and was simply relaying superstition and folklore around black dogs that was common at the time or he picked up on his travels to Sham (Syria) for trade.

Black dogs in other religions

As I explained in my blog about Judaism's influence on Islam in respect to dogs, Islam did not happen in a vacuum. 

If anything, once you spend some time reading and learning, you realise that Islam was to a large degree shaped by the religions before it and around it at the time.

And this becomes even more apparent when you look at black dogs. 

Here's a few examples:

Ancient Egypt: Anubis was an ancient Egyptian god of the underworld who guided and protected the spirits of the dead. He was generally depicted as a black jackal-headed man, or as a black jackal. It's thought the connection was originally made as jackals, or wild dogs, used to roam graveyards in search of food - this is how the link between the animal and the dead was formed in their minds. 

Ancient Greece: In Greek mythology, Cerberus, the "hound of Hades", is a multi-headed dog that guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent the dead from leaving. In some accounts, he is black. Sounds familiar right?

Zoroastrianism: The black dog was heavily associated with magic and witchcraft - in fact, they thought witches would ride dogs rather than broomsticks. Zoroastrians actually feared dogs  as they believed spirits would move through them and that they also had the evil eye. This is why they were so well looked after - to keep evil away. In Khorosan around the time of Islam it was common to believe that killing a dog would bring 7 years bad luck. Interestingly, it was also common belief that carrying the tongue of a black dog would ward off attacks by rabid animals.

Hinduism: According to some Hindu beliefs, black dogs are said to be the reincarnation of the fearsome god, Bhairava, who is associated with annihilation. Even today Hindus still carry beliefs around black dogs, for example, astrologists might advise people suffering from the negative effects of certain planets might find some respite when they feed black dogs.

Basically, it seems, throughout history man has had an issue with black dogs. Across all cultures and religions the black dog has been demonised. 

The examples above are just a few to give you a taste - you can find similar sorts of ideas specifically around black dogs in China, The UK, Nordic culture, Catalan culture and many more. 

The interesting thing they all have in common is that the black dog is consistently associated with death, the devil, spirits, shape-shifters and all things bad.

So did Muhammad come to teach us all about the evils of black dogs or did he simply repeat what everyone else thought at the time and still, it sadly appears, believes today?