Puppy security

by Ahmed Tharwat | April 14, 2009 • If you were like the millions of Americans who are still wondering whether president Obama is a Muslim, wonder no more, he is not. The Obama family has just adopted a rescued Portuguese water dog' name Bo. Muslim don’t easily share living with dogs specially at home let alone rescue them. Having a dog in a Muslim household is an exhausting proposition. Who wants to wash or take a shower every time a dog touches or licks you, as I was brought up to do back home in Egypt? In Islamic tradition, Muslims are very meticulous when it comes to touching dogs and would avoid touching their saliva at any cost, which it is hard to avoid if you are a dog lover. If you do come in contact with a dog, you're supposed to wash your hands before you pray; some Muslims would do as many as the magical seven times washes. It is ironic this excessive washing ritual coming from people who were mostly living in places where water is hard to come by. Most Muslims will go to a great length to avoid dogs to stay clean for their daily prayers. There are a few closet Muslim dog lovers, but they stay in the closet.

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Still, after a long nagging from my daughter and a few Internet pictures of an angelic beagle puppy, I reluctantly agreed to let a dog into our home under a few conditions. The dog was to stay downstairs in what is now known in our house as the bunker, and my praying area would be designated a "no-fly" zone for the dog.

We brought home the 6-week-old, 3-pound beagle on a cold, crisp Saturday afternoon. We named him Oliver and until today I have no idea why. A few days after he had arrived at our house, I realize that I’m not a dog owner material, cat maybe; we both could agree to relax and ignore each other. But Oliver has a different idea of what our relationship should be, laying on the couch for more than five minute is not a masterful manner, he believes. If you want to be a master of a dog you have to be at least standing like a man and ready to do useless things like asking the dog to fetch for something you don’t really want. One day alone and hungry I had to take Oliver with me to the supermarket. I noticed something new was happening out there, something Muslim-Americans have rarely experienced since Sept. 11. People on the street, in their cars, in the parking lot, and at the supermarket were giving me a new look—a friendly one. Strangers who used to skillfully avoid eye contact now wanted to engage me in warm conversation. Patriotic national hotline tippers, who are usually more concerned about Muslim sleeper cells, now stopped me and cordially inquired about my puppy's sleeping habits, breed, and big black eyes. Families congregated around me with their children to see the cute puppy, and they talked to him as if he should know what they were talking about.

As a hyphenated-American, I discovered that owning a dog easily accomplished what many diversity training programs have failed to do for years. Regardless of our race, color, religion, or country of origin, we were one community of civilized dog lovers.

I now take Oliver everywhere I go. He is my post 9/11 homeland-security blanket. Muslim-Americans: if you want to get melted in the American pot; do what president Obama just did. Get a puppy, now that you need a real friend.

Ahmed Tharwat produces and hosts the Arab/Muslim-American television show Belahdan in Minnesota's Twin Cities.