Animals In The Glorious Quran

The Dog of the People of the Cave

 

{And you would have thought them awake, while they were asleep. And We turned them on their right and on their left sides, and their dog stretching forth his two forelegs at the entrance [of the Cave or in the space near to the entrance of the Cave (as a guard at the gate)]. Had you looked at them, you would certainly have returned back from them in flight, and would certainly have been filled with awe of them.}

                                                                              (Al-Kahf: 18)

 

I am a very loyal creature and it takes very little to satisfy me. Yes, I am the loyal of loyalty! I am content with the minimum of loyalty if offered to me. I am Qitmir, the dog of the people of the cave that slept for three hundred and nine years and after that woke up as if he had slept for only half an hour. I thank Allah for making that happen, for I was on the verge of losing my faith that justice exists on the earth. Many people imagine that dogs are animals interested only in food and barking but this is only an illusion. Many people also think that a dog is something impure; a curse or an insult or something of the sort, to the extent that the human (whom Allah has created and honored) says to his fellow brother, "You son of ...!" with the intention of despising and insulting him. We dogs do not consider this as an insult, because if a creature is a dog, this does not mean that he has committed an act of disbelief.

It is a matter of destiny for Allah (Exalted and Glorified be He) chooses to create us dogs while choosing others to be humans. If the Almighty wants, He could turn a dog into a human being and vice versa and no one could, in that case, question His Wisdom and Choice. Why then do people treat us  badly and mention our name in insults?

I will bark in objection to what is happening. My bark will say, "This is unjust."

Anyway, this is not the only kind of injustice in which the human being is specialized, for this may be the simplest form of injustice he practices. I have experienced colors and forms of injustice from birth and throughout my life and if it had not been for the miracle that happened to us in the cave I would have kissed justice goodbye.

I was born one sunny day in a remote dump in the city of Afsus. My birth in that place had determined my future for the good. It was a matter of fate that I come out to life as a stray dog and live in an unjust kingdom ...black days! My mother nursed me then died before weaning me. I was stricken by her death.

Let me tell you how my mother died so that you can understand the cruelty of those black days we lived. Afsus was a city whose people worshiped their whims and desires. Its ruler was an atheist and most of its people were men of no character, it is a tragedy to he born in a city where its people are like that, for it means that you have been born in hell. In such a case you will be subject to injustice even if you are innocent, because if people disbelieve in Allah, then this means that every thing is permissible. After disbelief, one is expected to commit all kinds of sins.

The people of Afsus suddenly decided that our numbers had increased. So they said, "The number of dogs has increased, and they bark all day and night and so we cannot sleep. They eat our food, bite our children and make our temples filthy so we must kill them all."

That was what they said and Allah knows that they were exaggerating, for if each one of them, instead of hoarding all that food in his home till it became spoilt, were to throw us a piece of bread, we would have saved ourselves all that barking and lived with them in peace. What is important is that they had claimed that our barking interrupted their sleep forgetting that their insomnia was due to the barking of their consciences. Anyway, they decided to kill us. Men armed with swords went out to silence our barking. Look! They intended to raise their swords and strike us dogs so that our scream would be slaughtered before its coming out.

I was still an unweaned baby when they entered the dump with their swords raised high. I was sleeping between two stones in the dump, half asleep and half awake ...My mother had hid me along with two of my brothers and went to the market. When she came back, I saw her running and people were running after her while their swords were dripping with blood. The sword came down and chopped my mother's leg off, so she fell bleeding to the ground and barked weakly saying, "Hide well for the people of the city have gone mad and have set out killing dogs."

I saw my mother's brutal killing right before my eyes and I wished right then, despite the traditional enmity between us and wolves, to be a wolf that had a thousand fangs, claws, and souls.

I remained trembling where I was till my mother became still and the men went away. After that, I came out of my hiding place and called to my mother but she did not awaken.

I said to her, "I am hungry and I want to be nursed." But she did not answer. She was lying in a red pool and one of her feet was shaking inconsistently and the rest of her body was still.

In this way I became an orphan before I was even weaned. I faced life alone ...If it had not been for a she-dog that was a friend of my mother and if it had not been for her tender paws, I would not have been speaking to you today. My mother's friend nursed me till I grew up and I took care of her in her old age. I used to bury bones and bread for her, bring out this food for her when she came to visit me and sit watching her eat while wagging my tail.

Allah knows that I fed her when I myself was hungry. I did not feed her because she had nursed me and saved my life when I was little but I fed her out of loyalty to her connection and friendship to my mother (May Allah have mercy on both).

I faced many problems when I got older. I had to go out in pursuit of the sun, daily bread and love. The sun was the only creature that could be named generous in the kingdom, but daily bread was scarce while love was close at hand in a way that makes it utterly tasteless.

It is hard for any creature to imagine the nature of the hard life that stray dogs lead, for one has to contrive how to obtain his livelihood; how to get away at the right time ...Who knows ... The dog massacre may be repeated at anytime. Each day you sleep in a different dump than the one you slept in yesterday. There is no steadiness, and there is that anonymous, mysterious fear of tomorrow; and there is that constant feeling of being chased. To be always a fugitive means that you shed-off your traits and turn into a bulk of moving fear that is waiting for even the slightest signal of danger to flee. A scary life ...exciting ... but still scary: Amidst this life I came to know a man with whom I was fated to playa role in his life; and he was fated to playa role in mine.

We met and were introduced to each other in one of the dumps. I had noticed that there was a shepherd who took refuge with his sheep in one of the dumps where he left his sheep and prayed. One day I got close to him when he was praying and heard him glorify Allah and call Him the One and the Only Who has no partner.

My instinct told me that I stood before a pious believer. I sat next to him until he finished his prayer and turned to me. Honestly, I did not feel scared of him. He finished his prayer and brought out food and sat down to eat. He had a loaf of bread and a piece of meat. I looked at the piece of meat but could not find any bones in it. I was overcome with despair but in spite of that I wagged my tail. He saw me wag my tail and so took the piece of meat out of his mouth before he ate it and looked at me. I wagged my tail some more then he extended his hand with the piece of meat towards me and asked me gently if I felt hungry.

I wagged my tail even more but I did not move from my place. Who knows? His niceness might be a trap to catch me, maybe he was making fun of me. "There is no need to get my hopes up," I said to myself.

The shepherd extended his hand with the piece of meat and so I wagged my tail with joy. However, I did not move from my place. I wanted to bite myself to know if I was sleeping or awake. There is no doubt that I was dreaming. I have dreamt of this scene many times. A man sitting and has a piece of meat and bread in his hands, he eats the bread and offers me the meat.

"It is undoubtedly a dream. But the world around me is very hot and my tongue is hanging out of my mouth …how can someone asleep feel the heat while he is dreaming? Can it be that dreams have come true?” I thought.

The shepherd realized that I did not trust him so he threw me the piece of meat. There were about four meters between him and me the piece of meat flew in the air, I raised my head realizing that I was not dreaming and so I jumped up in the air and caught the gift.

My whole body was dancing ...My tail was dancing ...My mouth was dancing ... My teeth were dancing ... My stomach was dancing ...The sun was dancing ... And the whole universe was dancing. I yelled, "O meat … how sweet your taste is!"

I said to the shepherd while I was dancing and barking, "Another piece if possible ...this is the first time I have tasted meat in my life."

The shepherd smiled shyly so I realized that the piece of meat that I had eaten was all the food he had. I ran to him and started kissing his feet and smelling his scent. I registered his smell in my mind and swore eternal loyalty to this smell

The shepherd left and I left behind him. He tried to motion me to go back but I insisted on offering my service to him. I decided to guard him, bark for him, protect his sheep and stay-up at night, so nothing bad would happen to him. He tried to chase me away but I stuck to him. I was surprised to find him heading towards the king's castle. I was pessimistic because of that but I went with him.

As it turned out, he supplied the castle with sheep. That day in the king's castle I met with the love of my life. I met the she-dog of princess Priska. Wonderful... wonderful. I mean the king's castle from inside. I remembered the dump I live in and compared it to the garden of the castle, and my sense of the division of social classes was deepened .,. yes .,. I am a cultured dog. We have become cultured in the dumps where we theoretically and practically practice pain.

In the garden of the castle I saw a statue of the city's greatest god, but I suddenly remembered that I had drunk a lot of water so I ran towards the statue, raised my foot and passed water. A black she-dog came out of the garden and barked, with a spoiled, weak bark like those barks that come from castles.

I said to her, "Why are you barking?"

She said, "How dare you ...you know that this is the statue of the greatest god in Afsus, don't you?"

I said to her, "Be he the greatest or the smallest god I had to pass water so there is no need to bark."

She said, "The castle's guards will kill you if they know that you have soiled their god."

I said (whispering), "You are a nice dog and you will not tell anybody. Do you believe in the tales people believe in? They are stupid to worship stones, aren't they?"

She said, "You are the first brave creature I have met in the city... please register my admiration for you."

I said, "I have registered it, thanks."

She said, "Where do you come from? Why are you so skinny? Your bones are sticking out of your body... You look funny."

I told her, "I come from the dumps. I have just been employed by the shepherd today. As to the secret behind my thinness, it is malnutrition, people's stinginess, expensive prices and the scarceness of meat. Can you imagine that today was the first time I have ever tasted meat in my life? The shepherd gave me his own share of meat."

She said, "Please do not talk about meat or mention its name in front of me ...I am sick of eating meat everyday and I yearn for a plain bone."

I began to think that she may be a little crazy and so I decided to treat her carefully.

I said, "You said that you eat meat every day... Is it really true?"

She said, "Yes."

I asked, "Would you have some extra meat with you?"

She said, "My lunch is still sitting on the plate. I have not touched it."

She told me to follow her and so I did till we got to a big plate filled with meat. She pointed to the plate and said, "Be my guest and eat it all."

I said, "I warn you against starting to bark after I eat it and accuse me of theft. I do not want any trouble for the shepherd."

She said, "You are speaking to Nahish, the she-dog of princess Priska ...Shame on you to say what you are saying."

I owed my head and gobbled down the meat in one gulp. I did not have time to chew for who knows what might happen the next moment. After a blink of an eye the food had disappeared.

She said, "How can you eat so fast ...you are a ravenous eater. I have decided to marry you. I realize that I love you. Can this be love at first sight?"

I told her, "I excuse myself from marriage and thank you for love but I have no place in my heart for love. After laboring hard for your daily bread and using-up all your energy it becomes hated to love. Love is an extravagance that poor people like me cannot afford."

She said (dreamingly), "Brave, thin, ravenous eater and a philosopher I love you even more. Here let me smell you ...You smell like violets."

I told her, "There is a violet tree in the dump. I thought that luxury had stripped your sense of smell."

She said, "My head spins when I see you standing next to me. Indulge me and marry me."

I said running away from her, "I hear my master calling to me ...so sorry." I ran to the shepherd.

The king was shouting at him furiously, "O shepherd I have not seen you even once prostrate to our god. I watched you pass by the god's statue in the garden and saw how you did not prostrate to it ...have you gone mad?"

The shepherd said, "I have poor eyesight my sovereign lord and I did not see your reverend god."

I trembled in my place. What if the king came to know that I had urinated on his statue that he worships?

The king said again angrily, "This is my kingdom and the only god that will be worshiped is what I specify. People have no choice except what I choose. Everyone will be held accountable for even the dreams and thoughts that go through their minds."

The shepherd said, "May Allah guide you to success in your future plans. Six gold pieces for the calves, sheep and goats. I have brought you a fat calf which I hope will warm my lord's stomach. "

The shepherd wanted to leave but the king slyly asked him, "O Shepherd, I have noticed that you talk to my minister a lot these days. What can a shepherd and a minister of the king possibly have to share?"

The shepherd trembled and I noticed it ...for his body secreted a scent of fears that I can make out. I realized that the shepherd was threatened by something I did not know. I stood and barked at the king. The shepherd shut me up with a motion of his hand and said to the king, "There is nothing between me and the minister, my king. He wanted ...he wanted ...yes ...I remember now... he wanted me to supply his house with meat."

The king was surprised and said, "I did not know that the minister wanted meat. He says that he is a vegetarian and does not eat it."

The shepherd regained his calmness and said, "But his family eats meat ...I did not know that the kingdom's minister is a vegetarian."

The king suddenly said, "You can go shepherd."

The king gave him money and we left. The shepherd did not go home directly. He passed by more than one home and knocked softly on their doors. After that, he put a brass collar around my neck and left me in the garden of his home. At midnight the shepherd crept out of his warm bed and I followed him. He left the city heading towards the nearest mountains and I walked behind him. He sauntered into a place located between two mountains and I followed him. There were six men ...some of which I had seen in the king's castle and some I had never seen before. They embraced the shepherd and kissed him, and began their secret discussion.

The shepherd said, "I realized from the king's questions today that he knows about the connection between me and his minister ...It seems that the king suspects something. I think that we should act fast. "

One of them said, "The king has gone mad and tomorrow he will start his terrorism."

Another man added, "He has decided to tear to shreds anybody who worships a god other than his gods."

The third man said, "We are all in danger of being slaughtered or stoned."

And a forth asked, "What should be done?"

The shepherd said, "I think we should wait' till tomorrow then gather here at the same time. If the king carries out his threats, we will leave the kingdom and migrate. I know of a nearby cave in which we can spend the day and when night falls, we will silently creep out of the city."

The meeting was over and each left alone.

When the shepherd fell asleep, I went to Nahish in the castle and found her waiting. As I was about to leave she said to me, "Give me something my lover to remember you by to the day I die."

I gave her the brass collar around my neck, as it was bothering me and then I left. I did not know that this would be the last time I would see her.

Morning came and the sunshine reflected its light on the bronze swords as they chopped heads off for mere suspicion. The king had decided to convince people of his opinion using his soldiers' swords as a primary convincing device. The city's authorities arrested people and stoned them to death. Then they began to arrange fabricated, unjust trials for them where those already dead people were sentenced to death. If a judge asked where the accused was to be stoned, they would tell him that the king's sword had preceded the justice of the judges. The attendants would admiringly applaud the swift justice of the king, and in this way many heads flew-off, many people were stoned and I found myself in trouble. "The shepherd is in danger of being disclosed and stoned and my own neck would not be safe because I live with him," I thought.

"What should I do? Should I desert him? I would be a pig if I did that. Being a dog, my first trait is loyalty. I will not desert him even if my neck were to be cut into a thousand pieces," I said to myself.

On the contrary, my love for him increased but at the same time my amazement at the city's people increased also. They witnessed the noblest of them being killed without lifting a finger. Events developed fast and we heard a knocking on the shepherd's door so I barked. The shepherd opened the door. Six men entered and among them were two of the king's ministers.

The six men said to the shepherd, "Hurry up! Head to the cave ...there is no time." We followed the shepherd to the cave. The shepherd ordered me to sit at the cave's door from inside and guard them well; and to bark if anybody came near.

I did not want to sleep. This was the first official mission that the shepherd had charged me with and I had to prove my loyalty. I heard one of them say, "Our Lord! Bestow on us mercy from Yourself; and facilitate for us our affair in the right way!"

And I heard them further say, "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, never shall we call upon any ilah (god) other than Him, if we did, we should indeed have uttered an enormity in disbelief These our people have taken for worship aliha (gods) other than Him (Allah), Why do they not bring for them a clear authority? And who does more wrong than he who invents a lie against Allah. (The young men said to one another), 'And when you withdraw from them, and that 11-'hich they worship, except Allah, then seek refuge in the Cave, your Lord will open a way for you from His Mercy and will make easy for you your affair (i.e. will give you what you will need of provisions, dwelling, etc.).’”

The men scattered around the cave and slept. My job was to guard them, so I stretched forth my two forelegs in the watching position. I closed one eye and opened the other one and said that I would guard these believers in Allah. Then I found that my open eye was closing by itself.

I fell asleep. I was the first to awaken. I found myself dying with hunger; and my hair had grown to a length that amazed me.

"What is this? Could we have slept for a week!" I thought.

I barked to awaken them and when they came out of the cave's' door and I saw them in the light I was even more amazed, for their beards had reached their feet and their hair was hanging down their backs to the floor like a bride's veil. They looked terrifying ...I wanted to flee from them except that I had smelled their scent and found that it had not changed.

They started asking each other, "How long have you stayed (here)? They said, 'We have stayed (perhaps) a day or part of a day.’ They said, 'Your Lord (Alone) knows best how long you have stayed (here). So send one of you with this silver coin of yours to the town, and let him find out which is the good lawful food, and bring some of that to you, And let him be careful and let no man know of you. For if they come to know of you, they will stone you (to death or abuse and harm you) or turn you back to their religion, and in that case you will never be successful).”’

They chose the shepherd to go and I went with him. Honestly, I had almost lost my mind. "What has become of

Afsus? What has become of the houses, castles and dumps ?" I was preoccupied with all such questions, for there was another city, other clothes and dogs that looked nothing like the dogs I had left before I went to sleep. People started to gather around the shepherd, pointing at his clothes and whispering, “Is he a new tourist? What is he wearing? Why has his bread grown so? Look at his dog? Look at his hair?"

Dogs went on barking around us, and then fled as if they were chased away by a thousand devils. We entered a restaurant that the people had recommended, to buy some meat and bread. The shepherd put his hand in his pocket and brought out a gold piece from the six that were given to him by the king before we had taken refuge in the cave and slept. As soon as the cashier saw the coin he screamed, "An ancient coin, where did you get it from ...O stranger? Did you find a treasure?"

Throngs of people gathered around the shepherd so I said to myself, "Let us go to Nahish. She is the only one that can tell me the truth." There was another castle in place of the king's castle that I had left behind. Its pillars were the same even though they were chipped and old.

I barked saying, "Nahish ...Where are you?"

A black dog came out saying, "Who is calling to my grandmother from amongst the dead?" I was filled with surprise, for she was none other than Nahish.

The she-dog said, "I am little Nahish."

I imagined that she was teasing me so I got closer to her but she backed away as if I was a ghost.

She asked, "What do you want. from me you strange dog that has come back from the past to the present. "

I was losing my patience and said, "O Nahish, why are you philosophizing in such a way? Where has your modesty of old gone? Where is the brightness of your eyes?"

She said smilingly, "Do not mention modesty and the brightness of eyes. Who are you and what do you want?"

I shouted furiously, "So that is the way of it … you have changed after one day? O, loyalty that has been falsely attributed to dogs, in which treacherous sea do you lie?!"

She said in surprise, "Why do you cry so? I have never even seen you before."

I realized that she had disclaimed me '" "That happens a lot in the world of dogs, " I said to myself.

I felt very hurt and said to her, "You disclaim me after all that has happened? The sky has shattered inside my heart and the stars are falling burnt. The sun has been put out. Has your love for me died before we had even digested our dinner? Thank God that I have not become ruined; have not broken down and have not shaken. I am still breathing; I am still alive because you are still alive ...OWWW ...OWWW."

      She was filled with ecstasy and said, "Despite the number of dogs I have known, no dog has ever spoken these words to me in all my life. What have I done to make you howl so? How could I have been disloyal to you while I have only set eyes on you now!"

She moved her neck and I saw the brass collar I had given her.

I said to her, "How can you bear the collar's touch on your neck? Does its brass not burn you? You betray the one who gave you the collar then you are brazen enough to wear it."

She started to back away and said, "Ah, I know your story '" this collar is not mine. It is the collar of princess Priska's she-dog, and she died three hundred years ago. We have inherited it generation after generation. Oh, God, you say you have given it to her. Are you Qitmir? Are you the dog she loved and died while swearing an oath of loyalty to you? Are you!"

I did not hear the rest of her words ...I felt that I was crumbling down to pieces, for the truth had started to dawn upon my mind and suddenly taken-over my being. "Because if Nahish had died three hundred years ago, this means that we have been sleeping for more than three-hundred years." I sank into deep thought.

Something inside me trembled and I started to think and understand ...The worshiped statue of the god in Afsus is no longer here and this means that belief has won. Could it be that we have been sleeping for three hundred years in order to discover this reality? For me Nahish was gone; lost; dead and      that is all the situation meant to me.

I started to cry and I buried my head in the ground and howled.

Nahish's granddaughter got closer to me and said, "O God, do you love her to this extent? I thought that you were talking to me. I thought that you were flirting with me. Why did my heart flutter so when I saw you? Can love continue despite time? Why are you not talking to me? Your avoidance of me is killing me. I am prettier than my grandmother Nahish. Look how my hair is fashionably cut."

Her words were entering my mind and became intertwined with the sound of my crying.

Nahish's granddaughter put her head on my chest and said, "Try to forget her. Look at me and try to forget her."

I pushed her away and returned to the cave. Nahish's granddaughter called out to me; barked lovingly to me; begged and wagged her tail, but I was drowned in a well of deep despair and dark sadness. "Nahish has gone ...I will not hear her voice after today. I will not smell her scent. Her eyes will not shine with love," I thought.

I imagined that the city's roads were sobbing. The city's dogs chased after me. They barked and then fled frightened. My loneliness and despair increased and I found that my feet could hardly carry me back to the cave. I pushed myself until I got there. I saw that the people of the cave had suffered what I had suffered. They were exchanging inconsistent conversation interposed with strange silences.

I ran to the shepherd, threw myself at his feet and cried, "O shepherd, you are the only one I have in this world. Nahish has gone ...she is dead."

The shepherd patted my head with his hand. My head was spinning.

I heard the shepherd ask the minister, "How long did they say we have been in this cave?"

The minister said, "Three-hundred and nine years."

The shepherd asked, "How could we have slept for so long?" The minister said, "It is Allah's Will."

The shepherd then said happily, as if he had discovered something, "Allah has shown us what happens to those who do not believe in Him."

 

The minister said, "You have said the truth, shepherd. The king was defeated and his gods were deposed. Who would have imagined that?"

One of them said, "Now we know which of the two parties was best at calculating the term of years they had tarried!"

One of them said, "Let me tell you something. I felt alienated from the town. I returned to the cave as one returning to his home. My wife and children have died and my grandchildren's grandchildren never knew me."

His tragedy reminded me of my own, so I how led... I remembered the old Nahish and started comparing her with her granddaughter's granddaughter and my sadness at the lost of the old one increased. Many voices approached the cave so I forgot my sadness, jumped to the cave's door and barked.

The city's new king, his ministers and court were at the head of the people of Afsus. They approached the cave holding olive branches and flowers in their hands. To my surprise Nahish's granddaughter was with them.

As soon as I saw the crowd, I barked hard twice so they all c stopped. The king pointed at me, "They have a dog with them. How strange!"

One of his ministers said, "The dog slept along with these righteous men for three-hundred and nine years." I barked again so they stood frozen in their place. One of the guards raised his sword in order to scare me but my barking only increased.

The king blocked his guard's hand and said, "Do not touch this blessed dog ...he has been sleeping with them all this while.

We do not kill dogs without fault. Whoever believes in Allah does not harm His weakest creatures."

I realized that justice had made its way back to the earth and so I stopped barking. When faith in Allah prevailed, justice accompanies it.

The king cried out, "O pious men, will not any of you come out? Afsus's king is addressing you."

The shepherd came out and his companions came out behind him.

The king, his ministers, his court and the people bowed to us.

The king said, "O blessed men, we want to hear your story."

I know the story so I went and sat at the cave's door. Nahish's granddaughter came and said to me, "Why are you sitting here alone? Do you still remember her?"

I said, "I have only slept for one night. How can I forget in one night?"

She said, "You have been sleeping for many years."

I said, "My eyes went to sleep while my heart remained wide awake, so how can I forget.”

She said, "You are a philosopher, Qitmir."

I whispered, "She used to call me a ravenous eater and a philosopher.”

Nahish's granddaughter said, "What are you saying?"

"Never mind," I said.

She said, "I see that you are averting your head away from me.”

I said, "My heart is still drawn to her."

She said, "Loyalty is your trait ...but this loyalty is hurting my heart. Can it be that you are not a dog anymore."

I said, "I do not know. We have died and have not died. We have slept but how can we sleep for three hundred and nine years. I have closed my eyes and opened them and found another era, another city and another people. When Allah's miracle befalIs, it makes your head and heart spin. I do not feel that I belong to the species of dogs any more. Every time they see me ...they flee."

She said, "I have not fled from you. It is you who are fleeing from me."

I said, "We come down to the same result and alienation is still there. Their running away from me is the reason I run away from you. Sleeping in the cave separates us. I no longer belong to your era my barking companion."

I was separated from this era when I closed my eyes in the cave. I belong to history now. I, a mere simple creature, have become a miracle of Allah. I am trembling from alienation; from wonder and from the greatness of the whole situation. I do not deny that though my sadness for your grandmother Nahish is increasing, my happiness is also increasing. My happiness is born but why now. Can it be that I am on my way to her."

I imagined that we were entering the cave once more in order to really sleep this time. I imagined that Nahish was there in that wonderful dark spot.

I threw myself into the darkness of light.