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听From Remona Aly, Freelance journalist and editor:

Last weekend, I was at a massive Asian party and the room was lit with blinging shalwar kameezes, glitzy sequins, yards of silk - everyone was dressed to the nines, when an enormous dog plodded in from the rain - shaggy, soaked and wanting to say hello to all the guests. It was anarchy. Aunties bolted in different directions to save their saris. Kids burst out in uncontrollable laughter. My mum fled the scene in panic, all thought of her grandkids forgotten.

It鈥檚 not unfair to say that quite a few Muslims aren鈥檛 the biggest fans of dogs. Despite this, our canine friends have had some great PR in Islam. I recently came across a book composed in Baghdad that goes back 11 centuries. It鈥檚 entitled, 鈥楾he superiority of dogs over many of those who wear clothes鈥� and it features a collection of stories and poems bemoaning the decline in human behaviour, and celebrating all things dog.

It was written by dog sympathiser, Ibn al-Marzuban, and in one story he tells the tale of two men returning from war, when one of them steals the other鈥檚 possessions and throws him in a stream, leaving him to die. A dog finds this poor soggy guy, and brings him a loaf of bread every day until he regains his strength. Thanks to the noble dog, the man survives, takes the dog home and wraps it lovingly with his own cloak.

I think the expression 鈥榞one to the dogs鈥�, has a positive spin in a case like this. But amid the pressures in the age of 鈥楪eneration Me鈥�, there is a risk that some of us homo sapiens becoming less caring, less giving, less human. But who knew, I鈥檝e only to look at a neighbour鈥檚 labrador to understand how to be a better person.

Rumi, the 13th century Muslim scholar and poet compares the longing a worshipper has for the Divine to the love of a loyal dog. 鈥淟isten to the moan of a dog for its master,鈥� muses Rumi. 鈥淭hat whining is the connection. There are love dogs.听 Give your life to be one of them.鈥�

When I can鈥檛 find greatness in others of my species, I鈥檒l look for the love, the loyalty, and the lessons in our four legged friends.

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