Me & My
Guide Dog Documentary
Guide
Dogs are pleased to announce that
their TV documentary 'Me
& My Guide Dog' aired on ITV on
the 3rd of July, and is now available on ITV Player
here. The programme followed
owners and their guide dogs through their every day lives, including a
guide dog from Leicester that was the first dog to be allowed to enter a
UK mosque.
After months of
work by
Guide Dogs and The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), guide dog
Vargo became the first guide dog in the UK to enter a mosque after the
Islamic Shari’ah Council issued a historic fatwa stating “a blind
person, in the light of Shariah Law, will be allowed to keep a guide dog
to help him and if required to take him to the mosque for his prayers”.
In this momentous event (on Wednesday 24
September 2008), Vargo accompanied his 18-year-old owner Mahomed-Abraar
Khatri to his local mosque in Leicester, seen as a massive step forward
for other blind and partially sighted Muslims. Previously a guide dog
had not been able to accompany its owner into a mosque as the Islamic
faith recognises dogs as being used for guarding and hunting only.
However Vargo – and other guide dogs – are working dogs and so necessary
adjustments to encourage independent mobility are supported.
Mahomed-Abraar and his father Gafar attended
an event organised by
Guide Dogs and MCB in November 2007 – held to
increase awareness of how guide dogs help their owners and their high
standards of grooming and cleanliness – to ask if Mahomed-Abraar could
have a guide dog. Mahomed-Abraar was given the full support of local
mosque leaders and the partnership qualified in June 2008; the fatwa
allowing Vargo to enter the mosque was issued in September 2008.
Guide Dogs hopes the fatwa and
Mahomed-Abraar and Vargo’s story will set a precedent, encouraging other
blind and partially sighted Muslims to consider guide dog ownership. It
is also hoped that mosque leaders both in the UK and internationally
will now make similar adjustments to enable Muslim guide dog owners to
enter their mosque.
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