The Truth About Cats and Dogs

A few months ago, Gerald and I really wanted to get the girls a pet. When an adorable little puppy became available, we felt like this was the one. Then, within about an hour, we heard from three separate people that dogs are offensive to Muslims. Having grown up in Muslim countries, I had never even heard some of these things, but they are stong opinions here held by only the most conservative... and the most conservative just happen to be in our building.

According to Islam, a house is unclean for prayer for forty days after a dog has been there. No angel enters a home if a dog is present. If a dog touches a Muslim, he/she becomes unclean and has to re-do all the ablutions (ritual washing) before the next prayer time. When I asked the reasons for this, one lady shrugged, "We don't know - we just have to obey. Perhaps science will reveal in time why dogs are unclean."

We had just been studying how our Lord set people free from their endless list of rules and that holiness and our relationship with God does not depend on such things. I was struck once again by the freedom we have.

Understanding we simply could not have a dog, and in spite of the fact neither of us actually like cats, we realized this was probably our best solution. So I prayed, "Lord, if we cannot have this puppy, please give him a home.... and give us a kitty."

The next day we found out the puppy had a home. The following day a friend brought by a tiny kitty! The little thing had crawled into someone's engine and had protested the entire way here although the car's owner, Fatima, kept stopping and looking for the source of the sound. When Fatima arrived here, she kept her hood open and sure enough, the kitty climbed out after a while and was discovered by the kindergarten class (I'm not sure which is more terrifying- being in an engine or being discovered by a group of 5-year-olds!).

So now we have "Tobila-" which is her name modified from Arabic meaning, "little car!"

A few days later, the neighbor from upstairs stopped to thank us for not getting the puppy. She said it meant a lot to her that we were sensitive to her beliefs and so we were able to have a nice conversation.

Oh- Gerald and I found out that maybe cats aren't that bad. And the girls? I think you can guess!