But, as someone who has volunteered in a shelter, I have to say that simply carting your pet away to the shelter is no laughing matter. Even if it’s a religious issue. Actually, especially if it’s a religious issue.

Here’s why:

Most shelter animals are euthanized.

Many animals in “no-kill” shelters go insane, having spent too much time in a confined environment.

In shelters, disease tends to be rampant.

These are facts. Facts that may not be readily apparent to, say, someone who doesn’t keep pets anyway – facts that I want to highlight by writing this post.

If you own a pet, you have been entrusted with a life. I’m not Muslim, but I can’t imagine a loving and merciful God encouraging a believer to dump said life onto an already overburdened and necessarily cruel system. Even if you believe that having a dog in your house is horribly un-Islamic (I know a decent number of Muslims who keep dogs, but to each their own) – getting rid of it as if it was a piece of garbage should also be horribly un-Islamic. Interpretations of Islam differ, but without delving into which one is the “right” one (if Muslims can’t agree, how can “infidels” possibly know anyway?), I have to say that there is one thing that most people should be able to agree on:

If you are responsible for a living being, please do not dump said responsibility lightly. Search your heart (OK, delving into Bryan Adams territory here, but whatever) – and see. God doesn’t want you to cart off your pet toward an almost-certain death. Putting to sleep an old, suffering animal is one thing. Throwing an animal away (and this is what a shelter is – a kind of garbage dump of life, and I am saying this as someone who greatly admires the hard work of shelter staff, as someone who has adopted my former pet from such a dump, and as someone who believes in the mission of a shelter), letting it die alone, especially if it’s still healthy and viable, is not something you should encourage anyone to do.

I recently had to give up a dog. Not for religious reasons, obviously, but reasons enough.

I spent weeks looking for a new owner. Not a shelter. I made sure that my dog was psychologically stable and well-prepared for the adjustment. I, along with my boyfriend, had trained her.

I’m obviously coming off as a sanctimonious bitch here – but this is partly due to the fact that this isn’t the first time I’ve run into devout Muslims who think that giving up a dog is as simple as going to the shelter. It’s not! Don’t be fooled by the fact that a shelter is there, and can’t turn you away. Most shelters in the United States (Muslim Wife blogs from Florida) are already full to the brim with unwanted animals. If your animal is at least somewhat adoptable, please try to find it a new home.

Muslim Wife, if you truly believe that having a dog around is bad for your relative’s spiritual health, please help this person find the dog a new owner. Don’t recommend a shelter.

A shelter should be your relative’s last resort.