IRAN: Pet-product advertising banned as dog owners come under fire

Iranian authorities are cracking down, but this time their target isn't political dissidents or drug traffickers. It's dogs.

Or rather, pets in general. This week, Ayatollah Nasser Makkarem Shirazi, a powerful cleric, issued a fatwa that was later passed into law banning any advertisements about pets or alluding to the buying, selling or keeping of pets, according to the Mehr news agency.

The fatwa was issued in response to a question by the country's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which serves as Iran's censor. 

The ministry's Advertisement and Information Dissemination Office  vowed to crack down on ads promoting pet foods, especially for cats and dogs.

In June, Shirazi issued a fatwa against keeping dogs as pets, although that ruling was not made into law. At the time, Shirazi slammed dog owners for "blindly imitating the West," which, he said, would result in "evil outcomes."

"Many people in the West love their dogs more than their wives and children," he said.

The fatwa cites Islamic tradition, which dictates dogs are unclean based on testimonies from the followers of the prophet Mohammad known as hadith.

Keeping dogs as pets has become fashionable among Iranians in recent years, especially among well-to-do urban families. Although pet dogs are not technically illegal, walking a dog in a public place like a park can earn the owner a hefty fine.

A report on Shirazi's fatwa against pet dogs that appeared in the Abu Dhabi-based National newspaper speculated that the crackdown on pets may have more to do with class politics than Islamic law. The ruling conservative party has traditionally championed the working class while painting opposition activists as frivolous, corrupt cosmopolitans.

“The authorities can’t stop people from buying expensive cars or clothes and jewelery,” an unnamed analyst in Tehran told the paper. “But they can prevent them from displaying their wealth by keeping pet dogs on the grounds that they are unclean.”

But  rather than discourage people from buying dogs, one pet-shop owner reported an increase in the sale of small dogs that are easy to hide.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Photo: Pet owners at a veterinary clinic in Isfahan. Credit: Mehr News

Comments

[patrick]

I'm guessing there aren't many dog parks in Tehran.

[Bobbi]

Unfortunately, I have to side with the Iranian clerics on this one.
I am amazed when I see white people who believe that dogs and other animals are their children.
Last week I saw a woman in orange county, Ca who had a small dog in a child carrier on her chest.
There was a recent tv program that showed white people dressing up monkeys in children’s clothes. They called the monkeys their monkchildren. That is soooo sad.
Everyone always forgets that Americans spend 10s of millions each year to dispose of unwanted pets. When ever the going gets rough, like the current Depression, many people just dump off their dogs at the pound it’s that easy. When the economy improves they just get another “pet child”.

[Scott]

As one who has experienced "evil outcomes", such as a dog in the unit above us that regularly pees on our deck, 2 dogs next door that bark incessantly at all hours, 2 friends who have recently been bitten by dogs they were only trying to pet while the owners stood by, I applaud this action. It's only dog owners that think peeing, crapping, barking, and biting are cute. The rest of us are sick of it.

The statement "Many people in the West love their dogs more than their wives and children," is true, and we all know it.

[tomK]

This is the SAME so called peaceful religion that the left wants so much tolerance for, a system and world view that if it makes inroads into THIS country will be making demands and using our own laws against us to push this type of control on US citizens. Unless we WAKE up, we will find ourselves back in the dark ages. All religions are NOT the same, Islam is as much a political system as it is a religious one, and it's spreading just like Hitler's Nazi's did sixty years ago.

[johnjasonchundotcom]

2x4 stuck up the wrong hole! Very Sad Society! My Iranian friends say the same! Their country is really messed up, but they have to "be Quite" about it! Sad sad sad!

[Anonymous]

Can't we just bomb them already?

Though, on second thought, let's face it -- dogs can be pretty filthy.

I guess the scriptures were right! (but can we still bomb them?)

[keane]

Persians! Please stand up to your dictators. They are not even Persians. You are a proud people and no one else can do it but you. Make Islam proud because you are the most educated ones! Put their heads on spikes!

[howardx]

just more anti iran propaganda designed to soften us up for israels inevitable attack.

[TerryDarc]

The religious right in the USA and the cleric Shirazi must both be working for the Newt Gingrich and the end-times-gang. Good grief!!!

[Kris]

I thought I read somewhere once that Muhammad himself was really fond of cats? So what's with all this anti-pet garbage?

[dan]

OK...this is the point I'd pack up and leave. Unbelievable how (and why) the general population of Iran allows this level of control. I once read that Tehran used to be one of the most sophisticated, educated cities in the world.

Amazing. Sad. And very, very creeeeeeepy.

[Steve]

Maybe a fatwa will be issued against wiping one's rear after a bowel movement. We do that in the west, after all. THE GREAT SATAN WANTS YOU TO WIPE!

[mark feigin]

This is just more proof that islam is the most evil religion on the planet..

[isAmericaStupid?]

Down with Muhammed!!! What an ignorant miserable bunch of sheep those islamics

[david Gallardo]

I dont care if the Iranians can have pets or not. The Times doesnt care either. This is all just part of a grand campaign to whip up war hysteria with Iran. People like Mr. Lutz are hell bent on starting a war with Iran. The sad thing is that even though most Americans are sick and tired of the middle east, we will probably be fighting there for a very long time.

[leo]

sdrawkcab ginkniht elpoep!

[Rudi Moschitz]

I got another great headline:
Americans care more about their dogs and cats than their homeless population

[Pizzedoff]

"Fatwa" coming soon... TO AMERIKA! Uh, huh... Pizzedoff is being crazy as usual! OKaaay;
First we have; 'we're gonna shove our mosque right up your infidel 'kazoo' Amerika, Ground Zero be damned' (by Allah of course)... 'It’s our First Amendment right'!
Sooo... then what's to prevent some local based 'Mullet' from issuing a 'FatwaD' here, then petition the US courts to further protect their First Amendment rights? The Muslim fatwa you cannot misplace IS A RELIGIOUS DICTATE NOT a secular option.
People, I'm NOT trying to encourage, oh, what's the media darling buzz-word for it... oh, right "ISLAMOPHOBIA". But SERIOUSLY, you need to do (in the least) some rudimentary historical study of Islam vs. 'The Infidels' and get a very thorough understanding as to what is at stake and what they intend. Throughout the ENTIRE history of Islam and Muslim expansion, their conquered captives were ONLY given the choice between conversion or a little off the top 'haircut'... all the way down to the neck!
Back to these Iranian psychos, what do they intend to do next, behead all the dogs... AND their "evil" corrupted 'westernized' owners?
It appears that these kooks lately signed up for some New-Mental-Illness-A-Day subscription plan.

[Heisenberg]

"Many people in the West love their dogs more than their wives and children," he said.

Guilty as charged, Ay-ayayatollah!

[SLS]

How horrible--- And now innocent, loving animals are being attacked. It's disgusting and cruel.