The history of creation is not confined to this world or to planet Earth. It stretches back into the distant past, and its geography lies beyond the bounds of the material universe.
There is no doubt that, at the beginning of their creation, all beings were in their own most perfect form. Once they had been endowed with the capacity to choose and the freedom to decide, differences and distinctions arose among them. Their ranks and degrees, their beauty and ugliness, came to reflect the goodness or corruption of their choices.
The material form of each being corresponds to the spirit it has cultivated through its choices. This applies to all beings: insects, grazing animals, predators, reptiles, birds, fish, plants and inanimate things.
A being’s appearance, form and other characteristics are a record and testimony of its inner nature.
The dog’s impurity and its status as unclean testify to its inner nature and transformed spirit. In its life before this world, through a corrupt choice, the dog turned away from the path of purity and beauty and followed the path of filth and ugliness; it came into this world in the form it now has.
The dog has a close kinship and particular connection with Iblis, pointing to qualities it shares with the accursed Satan.
The dog’s particular condition in this world is a kind of chastisement and spiritual discipline, yet it has the possibility of making amends for its canine nature and returning from impurity—just as the dog of the People of the Cave attained a special station and underwent transformation.
Impurity is associated with polytheism; through divine unity, it is transformed into purity.
The dog’s material form comes from Satan’s saliva. God Most High created the dog from Iblis’s spittle, while also ordaining that it should serve the benefit of His creatures. In truth, the dog is carrying out a particular mission on Earth, and the way it fulfils that duty will determine its otherworldly origin: in the world beyond this life, it will either be more deeply transformed or more beloved, and more beautiful in appearance.
فإن الله تبارک و تعالى لم یخلق خلقا أنجس من الکلب و إن الناصب لنا أهل البیت أنجس منه
علل الشرائع، ج1، ص: 293
God, Blessed and Exalted, has created no creature more impure and unclean than the dog, and one who bears enmity toward us, the People of the Household, is more unclean than a dog.
علی بن أبی طالب ع أن النبی ص سئل مما خلق الله تعالى الکلب قال خلقه من بزاق إبلیس ...
It is related from ʿUmar ibn ʿAlī, from his father, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, peace be upon him, that he said: The Noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, was asked, “What did God create the dog from?” He replied, “The Almighty created it from Iblis’s spittle.”
He was asked, “Messenger of God, how was that?” The Prophet replied: “When God Most High sent Adam and Eve down to Earth, they trembled like two frightened chicks. Iblis went to the wild beasts that had been on Earth before Adam and said to them, ‘Two birds have come down from the heavens. You have never seen any larger than these. Let us go and devour them.’
“The beasts set off toward them, while Iblis kept urging them on and shouting, driving them close to Adam and Eve. As he spoke in his haste, his saliva flew from his mouth. From it, God Most High created two dogs, one male and one female. The two stood guard around Adam and Eve: the female dog at Jeddah, and the male in India. They kept the beasts from coming near them. From that day on, dogs and beasts became enemies of one another.”
علل الشرائع / ترجمه ذهنى تهرانى، ج2، ص: 588
عن أبی سهل القرشی قال: سألت أبا عبد الله ع عن لحم الکلب فقال هو مسخ قلت هو حرام قال هو نجس أعیدها علیه ثلاث مرات کل ذلک یقول هو نجس.
عن الحسین بن خالد قال: قلت لأبی الحسن یعنی موسى بن جعفر ع أ یحل أکل لحم الفیل فقال لا قلت و لم قال ع لأنه مثله و قد حرم الله عز و جل الأمساخ و لحم ما مثل به فی صورها.
عن أبی عبد الله ع قال: سألته عن أکل الضب فقال إن الضب و الفأره و القرده و الخنازیر مسوخ.
عن أبی سهل القرشی قال: سألت أبا عبد الله ع عن لحم الکلب فقال هو مسخ قلت هو حرام قال هو نجس أعیدها علیه ثلاث مرات کل ذلک یقول هو نجس.
الکافی (ط - الإسلامیه)، ج6، ص: 246