Sometimes this dog wonders if religion has waged more wars, trickled more tears, and murdered more men than any weapons of mass destruction ever created. Quite an irony if you realise that all religions in their essence call for peace. Maybe its time to renounce the god-men who conveniently twist scriptures for politics and other propaganda, to embrace the true Gods sans any men or religion.
In Lombok, Indonesia, a brave Muslim woman looking after stray dogs for over 15 years now, has met with severe opposition online — but is refusing to let bullies discourage her.
Indonesia hero: Muslim woman dog lover
Desy Marlina Amin, chronicles her moments with the strays she cares for via her facebook page. Whilst her supporters encourage her to continue doing good work and call her an inspiration for all Indonesian animal lovers, there also exists a vehemently vocal audience which bullies her with all sort of obscenities and threats to thwart her efforts to help the dogs.
As per Desy’s detractors, dogs are considered “unclean” or ‘haram’ as per their interpretations of Islam. While many Muslims believe that cleaning themselves after interacting with a dog is permissible, this radical group believes that it’s wrong for humans to care for dogs in general. Desy’s critics have tell her that she’s offending Allah by doing so, but she, however, sees things differently — and she’s not backing down.
As a devout Muslim, Desy believes that it is her duty to show love to these desperate animals, who have no one else to take care of them. She began buying food for stray animals as soon as she could afford to.
“My faith, my charity, my actions, only God understands. I know God looks at me. I know God listens to me. He knows me. He smiles seeing me feeding the animals he created. I take care of what he created. He created this world not just for humans, but for every creature. I believe when I adopt and take care of a dog or cat or any animal that is injured, they pray for me. I get a lot of warnings in my inbox. People say they want to kill me. I don’t care. Some people talk badly because I help these animals.
I don’t care what the people say. I’ve never asked anything of the people who are angry with me. I don’t understand why we should be scared of dogs, as Muslims. If you think they are unclean, you can wash yourself. I always wash my hands before I talk to my God, then I keep working”
Every morning before starting her job as a taxi driver, Desy prepares healthy meals to ensure that more than 60 cats and dogs have enough to eat. Not only is this brave Muslim woman feeding the stray animals but also helping change many people’s perceptions about Islam’s views on caring for animals.
Give this dog something to write about you. Feed a dog, a cat or a kid that’s famished and helpless. Be the Desy in your community, and let this dog know about it! Apart from all the dogs and cats that will pray for you, this dog will too, with the thousand others who this dog reaches to.
I loved this story when I first saw it.
Very nice. Good to see like this.
a real human and angel for innocent buddies
Such a brave lady and a beautiful soul. I do despair about our world with man’s obsession to impose there doctrine and ideals on others.
Desy is an inspiration, “a decipial of God/Allah”
I have just returned from Lombok.
I do regret not knowing about Desy at that time as we would have loved to have helped with a donation.
Lombok is a very improvised land with a earthquake and then Covid for two years. They had no help, but this lady still found food and love for her animals.
Amazing! and feel so unworthy with show of internal love.❤