Guide dogs open Muslim leaders' eyes 

Source: ONE NewsPuppy

Islamic leaders are working to break down misconceptions about dogs after a spate of complaints that Muslim cab drivers are banning guide dogs.
  
Cultural and religious beliefs prevent Muslims from coming into contact with dogs' saliva because it is considered unclean.
  
Guide Dogs Queensland (GDQ) threw open its doors to a group of clerics from the Imam Council of Queensland (ICQ) in Brisbane, in an Australian and possibly world first to promote the value of dogs to vision-impaired Muslims.
  
While at the same time, through Muslim leaders, they hope to dispel some fears that Muslims may have of dogs.
  
GDQ Rehabilitation Service manager Bashir Ebrahim, a Muslim himself, said the belief about dogs came from religious and cultural upbringing but varied in extremes, depending on the individual.
  
"Dogs are regarded as unclean from the saliva," he said.
  
"When that fluid touches you then you are regarded as unclean, so you'd need to wash."
  
There are different schools of thought about touching, where some Muslims are happy to have the hair on them if they brush against a dog, others are not.
  
But it was important for those exposed to dog hair to clean themselves after, he said.
  
He said it was dangerous to assume that every taxi driver who rejected guide dogs from cabs was Muslim.
 
"It may be that there is a higher percentage (of Muslims not allowing dogs in taxis), but there are access rights that have been breached by all members of society," Ebrahim said.
  
Just last week, hotel owners on the Gold Coast banned a guide dog from their establishment, he said.
  
In Islam it is permissible to have working dogs, such as guide dogs, guard dogs or hunting dogs.
  
But in Australia, there is only one vision-impaired Muslim, from Victoria, who has a guide dog.
  
After watching the dogs at work, the Imams sang the praises of the dogs and pledged to work with GDQ.
  
Imam Mohammed Akram Buksh, who was part of the delegation, said special rooms had been set aside outside of mosques where Muslims could leave their dogs while they went inside to pray.
  
"If a person has a dog for a valid reason there is no problem at all," he said.
  
"At the end of the day I think these dogs are tremendous.
  
"God Almighty has created the dog and without a doubt this certain breed has changed many things in many people's lives and is a great benefit in society. Even in Muslim society."

Ebrahim said a national gathering of Imams was next on the agenda, as well as an education program for Muslim schools, which was supported by the Muslim leaders.
  
"The Imams Council of Queensland endorse what we are doing," Ebrahim said.
  
"They want to partnership with us in terms of getting the message across to the whole Muslim community as well as encourage (vision impaired) people to seek our services."