Dogs in the Ancient Arabic Stories

For Arabs, the dog has a special status incomparable to any other animal. This is predictable as it is their companion in any place whether at home or on journeys. It is the guard of their homes and cattle. It protects not only their elderly but also the playgrounds of their children. It is described and well known as loyal. It is the perfect exemplar of loyalty. Traditionally, at the golden ages, Arabs discussed everything including dogs. In fact, dogs had a significant share in the Arab cultural heritage. Some wrote complete books on dogs, and some mentioned it in their books on animals. Dogs are always mentioned in stories and examples of loyalty. In this book, I have collected as many as possible stories on dogs in the ancient Arab cultural heritage. Unimaginable Stories of loyalty are collected here, and trusted scholars and writers told them all. In writing this book, I was also motivated by the stories on dogs' loyalty we often hear at present. For those two reasons, I embarked on this book. I organized it into five chapters: The first chapter includes stories on dogs written by one of the greatest Arab writers, Al-Jahiz, (death date: 869 AD) in his famous Book on Animals. The second chapter: tales, sayings, jokes, and poetry written by scholars and writers other than Al-Jahiz. The third chapter: dogs in Arab proverbs as it were the center of many proverbs as it was famous for loyalty. The fourth chapter: dogs superiority to many of those who wear clothes by Ibn Al-Marzban (Death date: 921 AD). To illustrate the age of writing the stories, I include the death date of the writers. when the death date is not stated, the source of the story will be our reference. I state the death date of all writers. Some stories were written during the life of the writer of this book, while others were written decades and centuries before the writer was born. I hope this collection is useful and I hope it achieves its purpose, which is to highlight the greatness of the Arab cultural heritage especially in the golden ages that started about fourteen and a half-century ago.