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http://heshmael-saluki.com/index ... id=33&Itemid=51
I wrote an article in 2008, called "The Saluki in Malaysia" in the online magazine, SALUKI INSIGHTS. I just thought of using that article with some add-ons and create this note as a personal perspective towards the issues of being a Malay or "Melayu", with respect to dogs in general.
For those who have lived or are living in Southeast Asia, as it is in most parts of the Malay Archipelago: mainly Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia, may have already known or realised that it is indeed an environment where, culturally dogs in general are considered taboo, filth and unclean.
To understand this, it is best to explain about the culture briefly and hopefully, allow readers to digest further and understand the Malays and their culture, with respect to Man's best friend, the Dog.
The Malay Archipelago is located between mainland South-eastern Asia (Indochina) and Australia. It is located between the Indian and Pacific Oceans, comprising of about 20,000 islands and is the world’s largest archipelago in area. It includes the countries of Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Brunei, Malaysia, East Timor and most of Papua New Guinea.
However, the term "Malay" usually refers to the ethnic group living in the Malay Peninsula (which includes the southernmost part of Thailand) and east Sumatra as well as the cultural sphere that encompass a large part of the Malay Archipelago. Nonetheless, the concept of a "Malay race" which included the peoples of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines was put forward by European colonialists. The Malay ethnic group is the majority in Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam and a sizable minority in Singapore and Indonesia, and they form the majority in the five southernmost provinces of Thailand which historically made up the old Malay kingdom of Patani. These people speak various dialects of what is known as the Malay language. The ethnic Malay has had an Islamic culture ever-since the 15th century.
However, the term "layu" means wilt in English, the term wilting is also "layu". But personally it should have been "me-layu". In Bahasa Indonesia, as a verb "Melayu" means "wither", as an adjective it means "Malay". True this may be a very sensitive issue to mention to the Malays in general. But I wonder if the Malays realise that like the Jews who were scattered all over the MiddleEast during the the Pharoah's rule of ancient Egypt, the Jews were further scattered in Europe during the Byzantine/Roman Empire: similarly the Malays were scattered all over the Malay Archipelago, mostly by the sea, as fishing villages. They were not strong like the Javanese who had the powerful Srivijaya Empire, and further were pushed down from the north by the Siamese Kingdom.
Malay cultural influences filtered out throughout the Malay Archipelago, and included the monarchical state, religion (Hinduism/Buddhism in the first millennium AD, Islam in the second millennium), and the Malay language. The influential Srivijaya kingdom had unified the various ethnic groups in Southeast Asia into a convergent cultural sphere for almost a millennium. It was during that time that vast borrowing of Sanskrit words and concepts facilitated the advanced linguistic development of Malay as a language. Malay was the regional lingua franca, and Malay-based Creole languages existed in most trading ports in Indonesia. I think this is attributed to the fact that, most people who live by the coast were the" scattered" Malays.........thus enabling the Malay language to be used as a common language. But then again, the Malay language is a language that has been so influenced greatly by other languages: from Arabic to Javanese to Persian to Portuguese and so forth.
Although Muslims had passed through Malayan Peninsular as early as the 10th century, it was not until the 14th and 15th centuries that Islam first established itself on the Malayan Peninsular. The adoption of Islam during the 15th century saw the rise of number sultanates, the most prominent of which was the Melaka (Malacca). Islamic culture has had a profound influence on the Malay people, but has also been influenced by them.
In Malaysia, the majority of the population is made up of ethnic Malays while the minorities consist of southern Chinese (e.g. Hakka, Hokkien, Cantonese, Teochew), southern Indians (mainly Tamils, Telegus, Malayalees), non-ethnic Malay indigenous peoples (e.g. Iban, Bidayuh, and Kadazan), as well as Eurasians, Northern Indians (Bengalis, Sindhis, Punjabis, Gujeratis), Arabs and other minorities. However, most people who claim to regard themselves as ethnic Malays on their identity cards or passports, when they go through their family tree, they would realise that most would have had at least one ancestor from a non-Malay race. Malays today particularly in Malaysia and Singapore are a diversed race. Most of us are indeed very mixed in our racial background intentionally or unintentionally, but we still regard and claim ourselves to be Malay, or Melayu. Even those from Javanese, Minangkabau, Siak, Boyanese, Madurese, Sundanese, Siamese, Bugis, Acehese, Indian, Arab (and so forth) backgrounds or descent, would still regard themselves as Malays.
Islam is the official religion of Malaysia, and the Government actively promotes the spread of Islam in the country and friendship with other Muslim countries. All ethnic Malays are Muslim, there are also substantial numbers of Indian Muslims and a quite a number of ethnic Chinese/non-Malay converts. Islam is a religion, but to many Malays, Islam is a culture. It is a practice handed down by their fathers, and their father’s father before that. It is something they do out of habit rather than out of the education they have received. The majority of Malay Muslims confuse between what is religion and what is culture. They take both as one and the same and, on many an occasion, practice religion as if it was part of the Malay culture, or adopt some of the old cultures thinking they are doing an Islamic thing. Even some pre-Islamic Middle-Eastern culture, is regarded as Islamic in some cases. Even well educated Malays who have studied abroad, despite the broad spectrum of things they have undergone or are exposed to, a number of common cultural local Islamic norms/aspects are taken up blindly without much questioning.
I have always felt that if Islam came to Southeast Asia via the Silk Route, it might have been a slightly different scenario with regards to the canine scene here. The sea route was not similar to the silk route, the religion has always been the same, but the mode of understanding, the ways of believing may differ.
When the Malay Sultans were converted, the peasants and villagers were converted too, like a domino effect. Though I am not a historian, this was what I had understood from the readings that I had gathered. The major bulk of Moslems here are Sunnis, and follows the ways of the ultra-orthodox Syafiee/Shafiee, where dogs are just considered filth or popularly, "najis", and there is no mention of salukis. However people tend to forget about the special verse allocated for this special breed.
It has been made clear that in the Noble Quran that hounds are permitted for use in hunting:
(Surah Al-Maidah 5 Part 6 Verse 4)
"They ask you (O Mohammed) what is lawful for them (as food). Say: lawful unto you are At-Tayyibat {all kinds of Halal (lawful-good) foods which Allah has made lawful (meat of slaughtered eatable animals, milk products, fats, vegetables and fruits)}. And those beasts and birds of prey which you have trained as hounds, training and teaching them (to catch) in the manner as directed to you by Allah; so eat of what they catch for you, but pronounce the name of Allah over it, and fear Allah. Verily, Allah is swift in reckoning’’.
In the Quran, there is no say if dogs in general can be kept or not, whether they are filthy animals, NONE AT ALL.
PLEASE refer to my notes on "Dogs/Hounds mentioned in the Holy Quran".
There are four major schools of thoughts in Islam: Hanafi, Hambali, Syafiee and Maliki. The strictest and the most ultra-orthodox among the four is Syafiee of which most Moslems in the Malay Archipelago adhere to.
It has always been a generalization that when you go to a Malay-Moslem household be it in Malaysia or Singapore, cats would be the common household pet. We grew up knowing that the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon Him) loved cats. When you mention "dog", it has become taboo up to today among the local Moslem society. Even the word "dog" in Malay is "anjing" and like the Arabic word "kelb", "anjing" could be another way of saying "filthy". It fact it is definitely degrading to call one "anjing", the lowest.
But then again, history has indicated the Malays were mostly sea-farers, living off from the sea, and barter-trading with the proto-Malays/aboriginal Malays/orang asli, even during pre-Islamic periods. Dogs were never needed, as there was no need to. The aborigines had dogs, but the Malays need not need them. When the European colonialists open up the thick rainforest/inlands, they wanted the Malays to become farmers but without much success, though other migrant races seemed to venture into almost all forms of industry, but the Malays were stagnated and laid-back. The Malays were not nomadic people, that live off from livestock industry, agriculture was something foreign, and thus further adding the fact that that dogs have never been part of the Malay life culturally.
Like most Malays, I grew up not to like dogs, "keep away from them", that is what we were told to do: "Dirty animals they are!" "Can’t touch them!" While growing up in suburban Singapore, living in a multi-racial neighbourhood, there were neighbours with dogs and I was fascinated with the different appearances as I had a Eurasian neighbour with Dobermans and Chihuahuas. I remembered I had to wash myself with clayey water when my other neighbour’s spitz grabbed my legs and rubbed against them. It was also confusing that some elderly Moslems said, "we cannot touch or do whatsoever with dogs", and some said, "yes you may if and only if they are dry and NOT ever when wet", and some said, "yes but not the mucosa areas of the body meaning the mouth, nose and other parts that secrete bodily fluids". So for a growing child, it was indeed confusing and cast doubts on which is correct!
Even when I was a veterinary student, whenever I went home for holidays and saw practice, there would always be a pail of clayey water left outside before I entered my house.
Growing-up with the presence of cats, I guess I have always been a cat person. However, I was more into pedigreed cats. I once bred and showed Birmans and Orientals. However as in any club or society with all the ugly politics, I lost interest in showing them.
I started working as a small animal practitioner in the year 2000, and eventually with the support from my family, I became busy running my very own practice from 2002 to-date. I bought a pair of German Shorthaired Pointers mid-2001, both as jogging companions and to understand what it was like to be a responsible dog owner. My German shorthaired pointers had that very distinctive doggie odour, the day you wash them, the very same day, you can smell the dog odour. This is very true in humid Malaysia. Also, true in many dog breeds including the local mongrels, where the dog odour is indeed obvious.
Then you have the stray dog issue which is everywhere in the world, especially in developing nations with poor garbage disposal. Stray dogs would come out at night, ransacking bins, and garbage, and also harassing cats and also stray cats that are more tolerated by the society. Dogs killing cats may not be something that appear peculiar, but cases of stray dogs entering peoples' homes and nipping at the cats that kept are in cages on the verandah, sadly killing some. I personally do feel both stray cats & dogs are a nuisance but at the end the blame goes to us humans.
Being "Melayu" and having dogs was not easy initially: I have settled in a nice corner-lot house (thanks to my beloved father), in Shah Alam-Malaysia, a suburb that has a large Moslem majority. I even had neighbours’ children throwing stones into the house, and of course my Moslem neighbours were not thrilled that I being a devout Moslem was keeping dogs. I received emails about that, blasting me about the ills of canines! However, there were also some that seemed very tolerant and understanding.
I was not going to give-in. I did my normal routine and eventually everyone just went back to their own daily chores. I picked up the dog poo, and made sure they did not make too much noise particularly at night. But I never did regard them as family. I never allowed them in as the smell and the drool and the hyper-excitability nature: so they were just outdoor dogs within the house compound.
One night, as I was flipping channels on my cable TV, usually flickering between AXN, Star World, Animal Planet, Discovery or National Geographic, I stumbled into this scene in National Geographic where you have an Arab man praying in the desert, and this stunning beautiful canine sitting close to him while he completed his prayer. I was so fascinated, and in fact I got excited! I even did some internet searching, and managed to email some breeders but without any avail. I was also contemplating about acquiring a saluki – but that would mean more responsibilities, and anticipating the worse: what happens if the German shorthaired pointers do not get along. Space and time, and I was a bit nervous about the idea of keeping the Saluki indoors. I often became too tied up at my clinic, and was I sure no breeder would want to send a special breed like a Saluki to the Far East. As I am certain, they must think Malaysia is either in the Indo-China region or may have presumed in some remote Chinese state, where there are cultures that do consume dog meat.
Eventually, after much thought and perseverance, I have salukis now, 11 in all and I LOVE them! I guess the reason why I have salukis is actually for companionship, a jogging partner, and being a cat person, I love the aloof independent character. I am not the agility trainer and do not expect my salukis to be the typical "Good BOY" doggie! They do take care of my house, but would not say they are superb guard dogs, though they will let us know if someone is outside the gate. They are good "alarm" canines, that do not attack unless provoked.
But still, I remembered my maid who is a devout Moslem from Jember: she wanted to see the maid of my neighbour but he disallowed this, saying that my maid is "najis" as we have dogs in our home. Sad but true.
I also remembered jog-a-running with my salukis, and this man in his white "jubah"/robe, calling me names..................... sad but true.
Sadly, to most Malays here, salukis/tazis are just dogs, or goat-looking dogs, but they will never understand that these beautiful hounds are mentioned in the Holy Quran (Sura Al-Maidah, "The Table" or "The Table Spread with Food", 5:4). Cats are never mentioned, and perhaps I am biased, I am certain that the dog that is referred to in Sura Al-Kahf, "The Cave" (18:18 & 18:22) must be a saluki-like canine, but Allah s.w.t. knows best. Amin.
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Post time 24-6-2014 08:12 PM
melayu sunni sentap.
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