Muslims view dogs as unclean, but tiny horse offers freedom to 28-year-old

Originally Posted by k9ruby
Ditto. Probably much cleaner than a horse as well. I know dog poop is bad, but at least you can pooper scoop it. What are horse owners supposed to do? Use bin bags?

Exactly.

Probably have a separate house for the horse to crap in...
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I've met dirtier humans than most dogs.

There are plenty of potential reasons. People liking it for its 'peace' message. People wanting to join an alternate culture. People trying to find God when they've failed with other religions. The list goes on, but none of this in any way negates the fact that Islam has many seemingly needless obligations.

The majority of both Sunni and Shi'a Muslim jurists consider dogs to be ritually unclean, though jurists from the Sunni Maliki school disagree.[19] However, outside their ritual uncleanness, Islamic fatwas, or rulings, enjoin that dogs be treated kindly or else be freed. [20]

Muslims generally cast dogs in a negative light because of their ritual impurity. The story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus in the Qur'an (and also role of the dog in early Christianity) is one of the striking exceptions.[21] Muhammad didn't like dogs according to Sunni tradition, and most practicing Muslims do not have dogs as pets.[9] It is said that angels do not enter a house which contains a dog. Though dogs are not allowed for pets, they are allowed to be kept if used for work, such as guarding your house or farm, or when used for hunting purposes.

According to a generally unaccepted Sunni tradition attributed to Muhammad, black dogs are evil, or even devils, in animal form. This report reflects the pre-Islamic Arab mythology and the vast majority of Muslim jurists viewed it to be falsely attributed to Muhammad.[19]

Another Sunni tradition attributed to Muhammad commands Muslims not trade or deal in dogs.[22] According to El Fadl, this shows the cultural biases against dogs as a source of moral danger.[19] However, the Hanafi scholars, the largest school of ritual law in Sunni Islam, allow all trading in dogs.

According to one story, Muhammad is said to have informed a prostitute who had seen a thirsty dog hanging about a well and given it water to drink. Allah forgave her because of that good deed. Sahih Bukhari 4.56.673 [9]

In a tradition found in the Sunni hadith book, al-Muwatta, Muhammad states that the company of dogs voids a portion of a Muslim’s good deeds.[23]

Dogs, outside the ritual legal discourse, were often portrayed in the literature as a symbol of highly esteemed virtues such as self-sacrifice and loyalty or on the other hand as an oppressive instrument in the hands of despotic and unjust rulers.[19]

The historian Montgomery Watt states that Muhammad's kindness to animals was remarkable for the social context of his upbringing. He cites an instance of Muhammed posting sentries to ensure that a female dog with newborn puppies was not disturbed by his army traveling to Mecca in the year 630