Importance of a Dog in Zoroastrian religion

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DrShabbir
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Importance of a Dog in Zoroastrian religion

Post by DrShabbir »

Importance of a Dog in Zoroastrian religion
by yazdi

In Zoroastrianism, the dog is regarded as an especially beneficent, clean and righteous creature, which must be fed and taken care of. The dog is praised for the useful work it performs in the household, but it is also seen as having special spiritual virtues.
A dog's gaze is considered to be purifying and to drive off daevas (demons). It is also believed to have a special connection with the afterlife: the Chinwad Bridge to Heaven is said to be guarded by dogs in Zoroastrian scripture, and dogs are traditionally fed in commemoration of the dead. Ihtiram-i sag, "respect for the dog", is a common injunction among Iranian Zoroastrian villagers.
Detailed prescriptions for the appropriate treatment of dogs are found in the Vendidad (a subdivision of the Zoroastrian holy scripture Avesta), especially in chapters 13, 14 and 15, where harsh punishments are imposed for harm inflicted upon a dog and the faithful are required to assist dogs, both domestic and stray, in various ways; often, help or harm to a dog is equated with help and harm to a human.
The killing of a dog ("a shepherd's dog, or a house-dog, or a Vohunazga [i.e. stray] dog, or a trained dog") is considered to lead to damnation in the afterlife. A homeowner is required to take care of a pregnant dog that lies near his home at least until the puppies are born (and in some cases until the puppies are old enough to take care of themselves, namely six months). If the homeowner does not help the dog and the puppies come to harm as a result, "he shall pay for it the penalty for wilful murder", because "Atar (Fire), the son of Ahura Mazda, watches as well (over a pregnant dog) as he does over a woman".
It is also a major sin if a man harms a dog by giving it bones that are too hard and become stuck in its throat, or food that is too hot, so that it burns its throat.Giving bad food to a dog is as bad as serving bad food to a human. The believers are required to take care of a dog with a damaged sense of smell, to try to heal it "in the same manner as they would do for one of the faithful" and, if they fail, to tie it lest it should fall into a hole or a body of water and be harmed.
Both according to the Vendidad and in traditional Zoroastrian practice, dogs are allotted some funerary ceremonies analogous to those of humans. In the Vendidad, it is stated that the spirits of a thousand deceased dogs are reincarnated in a single otter ("water dog"), hence the killing of an otter is a terrible crime that brings drought and famine upon the land and must be atoned either by the death of the killer or by the killer performing a very long list of deeds considered pious, including the healing of dogs, raising of puppies, paying of fines to priests, as well as killing of animals considered noxious and unholy (cats, rats, mice and various species of reptiles, amphibians, and insects).
Sagdid is a funeral ceremony in which a dog is brought into the room where the body is lying so that it can look on it. “Sagdid” means “dog sight” in the Middle Persian language of Zoroastrian theological works. There are various spiritual benefits thought to be obtained by the ceremony. It is believed that the original purpose was to make certain that the person was really dead, since the dog’s more acute senses would be able to detect signs of life that a human might miss.
A “four-eyed” dog, that is one with two spots on its forehead, is preferred for sagdid.
The traditional rites involving dogs have been under attack by reformist Zoroastrians since the mid-19th century, and they had abandoned them completely by the late 20th century. Even traditionalist Zoroastrians tend to restrict such rites to a significant extent nowadays (late 20th - early 21st century).
SHARIA: Hating Dogs by invading Muslim Arabs was to Hate the Holy Persian Zoroastrian Dogs used in Funeral Rites. ie. Dog Statue to the right of the Persian Immortal Guard.
yazdi | 9 August, 2021 at 7:38 pm | Tags: featured | Categories: Latest, Rituals and practices | URL: https://wp.me/p6TVE-7x8

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1RationalThinker
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Re: Importance of a Dog in Zoroastrian religion

Post by 1RationalThinker »

On the contrary, dogs are considered unclean by Muslims. According to some ahadiths in Bukhari and Muslim, the exalted prophet had a strong aversion to dogs because a puppy kept the arch angle Gabriel from visiting the prophet on one occasion. I do not know if this is a strong or a weak hadith.
jawaidahmed
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Re: Importance of a Dog in Zoroastrian religion

Post by jawaidahmed »

There is no such thing as strong or weak hadith, they are all forged.
The Qur'an states that we should judge everything we believe and do by its Teachings and avoid those from the devoid of wisdom ancestors/modern 'scholars'.
If we can get back to the Qur'an alone as evidenced from the Qur'an then our deen base to build upon would be on solid foundations.
mrafi
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Re: Importance of a Dog in Zoroastrian religion

Post by mrafi »

10 QUALITIES OF DOG


https://youtu.be/uKIbNtNE_oI
1RationalThinker
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Re: Importance of a Dog in Zoroastrian religion

Post by 1RationalThinker »

I am still hoping that some knowledgeable individual from the Forum will come up with a logical rationale behind the Muslims' hatred for dogs as a domestic animal, without using the stories of N2ism from Bukhari and Muslim.
jawaidahmed
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Re: Importance of a Dog in Zoroastrian religion

Post by jawaidahmed »

The rational for their hatred comes from the hadith as abu huraira, father of cats, hated dogs so wrote fairy-tale hadith to that effect.
This means the 'scholars' who find these hadith nonsensical have to get their teeth into some excuse like most animal attacks on humans in homes is by their pet dog, not cats, so ban them as pets but ok for guarding/hunting. When the owners go out hunting or to feed their guard dogs, they are just as likely to get attacked as in the home, so.....!

Cats can lie down in baby cots, smothering the child, so all is not safe the the feline world.
So there is no logical rationale.

Ban dogs, ban cats, better still, ban devoid of wisdom scholars.
mrafi
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Re: Importance of a Dog in Zoroastrian religion

Post by mrafi »

Dont forget the dog with Dwellers of the cave (Ashab e kaif)
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