The Incident of the Dog
Moulana Abdul Hay رحمة الله عليه and Sir Sayyid Sahib
Moulana Abdul Hay Lucknowy رحمة الله عليه was travelling by train. Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan, who was travelling with his dog, happened to be on the same train and in the same compartment.
“What kind of a person are you that you keep a dog with you?” Moulana رحمة الله عليه snapped.
“I have heard the Ulama say,” he explained “that the angels do not come to a place where a dog is kept. I keep this dog with me so that the angel of death will not come near me.”
Moulana Abdul Hay رحمة الله عليه calmly replied, “A certain angel is appointed to take away the lives of dogs. That angel will take your life away.”
They both had heard of one another but they had not met before.
“Are you Moulana Abdul Hay رحمة الله عليه?” Sir Sayyid enquired.
“Are you Sir Sayyid?”
That was the first meeting between them. The matter was self-explanatory and did not require further clarification.
The Selfish hound
Someone asked Moulana Thanwi رحمة الله عليه the reason for the impermissibility of rearing dogs. Moulana رحمة الله عليهreplied that the angels of mercy do not frequent homes where a dog is kept. He could not digest this reason. His intellect failed to comprehend it.
So Moulana Thanwi رحمة الله عليه replied that a dog does not have a sense of well-wishing even for its own kind. It cannot tolerate another dog coming into its alley or lane, even though that dog may be from its own breed. The individual accepted this reasoning. This was the comprehensible reasoning, but not the actual reason, whereas the actual sensible reason he could not accept.
