THE Islamic Development Department (Jakim) today told a young woman to stop keeping a pet dog after she uploaded the story of her and her furry friend on Facebook earlier this week.

Nurhanizah Abdul Rahman had shared the story of her relationship with Bubu, a stray she rescued, on Facebook for a contest by pet food brand Smart Heart on July 1.

Her post, which also asked other Facebook users to vote for her and Bubu, had attracted some negative attention, and today Jakim director-general Othman Mustapha issued a statement telling her to repent.

“Jakim deeply regrets the touching of dogs on purpose like this without any reason that is permitted in Islam.

“Jakim hopes that the individual will immediately stop what she has been doing and repent. What she is doing is as if she is trying to start a new culture that can lead to insulting Islam,” he said in the statement he posted on his Facebook page.

Othman said Muslims in Malaysia followed the Shafie school of thought, which prohibits Muslims from touching dogs on purpose and keeping them as pets.

“This has created distress among Muslims, as it is forbidden in Islam to defile oneself without reason by touching dogs,” he said.

Othman said although Islam provided ways like “sertu” for Muslims to cleanse themselves, it should not be an excuse for Muslims to defile themselves on purpose.

He said it would be like committing a sin with the excuse of repenting later.

He also said in Islam, dogs are also God’s creatures and it is against the religion to harm, kill or be cruel toward them.

However, he still advised Nurhanizah to refer to Jakim on Islamic regulations for keeping dogs.

Evidently a animal lover, many of her Facebook posts and photos featured cats and dogs. She also shared postings about strays that needed rescuing, fostering and adoption.

Among the negative comments, one Yusof Hashim wrote: “I want to complain to UIA (International Islamic University Malaysia). Shameful to UIA for having such a stupid student.”

Nurhanizah’s profile says that she studied Communications at the International Islamic University Malaysia (UIA).

She did not respond to request for comments and has removed her Facebook postings of her contest entry. – July 5, 2017.