Posted on 12/28/2006 2:30:19 AM PST by BlackVeil
From today's Telegraph the strange tale of how a stray dog (pictured) has gained a place in the country's [Iran's] affections. The creature, of a local breed employed to herd livestock and guard homes, appeared one day outside the tomb of Imam Reza, the eighth imam, in the town of Mashad, near the Afghan border.
Its arrival on November 15 was feted in the national press this weekend, and now visitors to the shrine can buy their own pictures of the hound. What made the dog so special was its apparent respect for Shia custom.
It had managed to find its way through the labyrinthine layout of Ostan-e Qods-e Razavi, the complex which houses the shrine of Iman Reza. It found its way to the tomb of Reza, and lay down, where it gave out a mournful howl. Additional rumour has it that the dog also "shed tears", and also carefully avoided treading on the carpets surrounding the tomb.
For a while the dog was allowed to remain in the shrine, which is out of bounds for non-Muslims, where it calmly lay looking up at the mausoleum before being lifted on to a canvas sling and taken away.
One guard at the complex said the dog would be treated kindly because "like many of those who come on pilgrimage here it has been called by Imam Reza and is seeking refuge."
Taking a photograph from his breast pocket, he said in a voice full of emotion: "I saw the way the dog behaved and it was like watching a miracle."
A charming story, and surprising in a country which, being Muslim, regards dogs generally as "najess" or "unholy". But many dogs, being descended from wolves, will howl when they hear singing, or howling. A customary occurrence at the Ostan-e Qods-e Razavi complex is for pilgrims to howl and wail as they approach the tomb. Maybe the dog was following its natural instincts and wanted to join in.
Hawkers outside the complex are now doing good business, selling DVD footage of the miraculous event. If it means softening people's prejudices against dogs, man's most noble animal ally, then it can only be a good thing. The Zoroastrians of Persia, who thrived in Iran before the arrival of Islam thought so highly of dogs that severe penalties were enacted upon anyone who harmed a dog, particularly a pregnant dog.
For those that can read Arabic (or is it Farzi?), an Iranian site, Entekhab has more on this story, and shows a picture (above) of the poor dog looking rather tired of the attention being paid to him.
He became quite a star in Iran, and some people made fake videos and were selling them to the public.
Finally some of the establishment mullahs stepped in and reminded fervent and supersistious Iranians that in Islam dogs are "haram." It is nice, however, that the doggy visitor to the shrine was treated kindly.
I cannot resist cat and dog stories.
However ... this particular story could only have happened in Iran. I think that in any other Islamic shrine, the poor brute might have been regarded as a sort of criminal.
In Iran, there is still the influence of Zorastrianism, which revered dogs. Also, that particular shrine is to a person called Imam Reza, who is credited with many mystical abilities, including being able to understand the speech of animals ... a sort of Narnia touch to his legend.
All this, according to mainstream Sunnis, and even more to Wahhabis, is supersitious pap.
There he is ... the celebrity dog who visited the shrine.
Imam Reza "the guarantor of the deer". Talking to a doe who is being shot at by a hunter. Wonderful tales.
But many dogs, being descended from wolves, will howl when they hear singing, or howling.
My five year old dog had never howled until recently.
Together we have seen wolves while on our canoe trips.
I had talked to him about wolves and demonstrated how they howl,
But I could never get him to howl.
Now I'm a big Steely Dan/Donald Fagen fan and have his disc Kamakiriad
on which there is a song named Snowbound that has the line...
"Snowbound, let's sleep in today.
Wake me up when the wolves come out to play."
I've played it literal hundreds of times while driving
and many times when that line comes around
I'll sing along and look at my dog, and he'll look at me,
but I could never coax him to howl along.
This Christmas while out shopping I ran across the DVD version of the album.
It has a couple of videos attached and I would be able to listen in 5.1 surround sound.
I eagerly snatched it up as a present for myself.
I got home, put it on and sat back to enjoy it.
Snowbound came on and to my utter surprise a howling noise came from behind me.
My dog was howling along!!!
Well I was pretty amazed by this.
My landlady upstairs thought it was me and called down to ask if I was okay. lol
I tried it again a little later and again he howled during that song.
As a further test I tried it days later while out driving,
he amazed me again by giving a little howl when that song came around.
Nice story, I am glad the dog wasn't harmed .
Speaking of the Mashad area:
October 2006 : (Iran : Projected date for Iran’s IRGC underground uranium enrichment plant 50 miles outside of Mashad to become operational; construction had begun secretly with Russian assistance in 2003 and was completed)-— IRAN COMPLETES SECRET URANIUM PLANT
NewsMax ^ | 4/21/2006
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