Rottweiler saves owner from cobra

Ben, the Rottweiler, killed a cobra that made it into his owner's garden before succumbing to its poisonous venom. ( Facebook pic)

To Muzaffar Kaisar Ishak, owning and caring for dogs is not a sin, unlike what other Muslims claim.

Recently, an old posting from his Facebook account resurfaced and started getting viral over social media.

The posting was about his Rottweiler, Ben, that died after eliminating a threat which came in a form of a cobra.

The incident took place at Muzaffar's home in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, when he was fast asleep after having just arrived from his overseas trip.

“I was terribly jetlagged. I woke up at 11.30am the next day only to find Ben dead.

“I found the cobra nearby, bitten and torn into three pieces. I figured that Ben must have been bitten by the cobra and probably put up a fight before succumbing to its poisonous venom,” Muzaffar said.

Calling Ben brave and strong, Muzaffar says dogs are special creatures that will even take a bullet for its owner.

Ben is not his only dog. Muzaffar also owns another older Rottweiler called Tony and recently adopted a seven-month old Tibetan Mastiff.

Interestingly, at one point, Muzaffar owned up to 50 dogs.

“I am a member of the Malaysian Kennel Association and my dogs and I used to take part in competitions organised by the association,” he says.

Until two years ago, he was breeding dogs at Janda Baik, Pahang.

Ben was the last Rottweiler litter before Muzaffar closed down his breeding kennel as he traveled a lot due to his career.

Muzaffar constantly faces criticism and judgments, from being a Muslim,  but that has never altered his feelings about dogs.

He follows the Maliki school of thought — one of the five schools of Islamic laws.

A lot of people follows the Shafi’i law that states that dog’s saliva is najis that makes one ritually unclean and those who come in contact with dogs will have to perform samak using water and earth — a cleansing ritual prescribed to rid oneself of impurities.

He says the Maliki teaching does not regard dogs as najis and he does not see any harm in caring for them just like any other animals as they are all God’s creation and God does not discriminate.

“What upsets me is that people will ask if I eat pork since I touch and play with dogs.

“The Quran clearly says that eating pork is haram and I follow it, but the Quran never says anything about man’s best friend,” says Muzaffar.

He feels that dogs are special beings because they can be trained to do anything and a dog’s loyalty is undisputable.