Telegraph UK: Blind Man's Guide Dog Barred From Restaurant

[Kyuuketsuki]

Blind man's guide dog barred from restaurant for offending Muslims
A blind man has been turned away from a fashionable Indian restaurant because his guide dog offended Muslim staff.
John Bingham
8:47PM GMT 15 Dec 2008

Alun Elder-Brown, a recruitment executive, said he was left feeling "like a piece of dirt" after being barred from bringing the animal into Kirthon Restaurant in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on religious grounds.

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association said the decision was illegal under the Disability Discrimination Act and Mr Elder-Brown, 51, is now considering suing the establishment in The Pantiles.

It follows a series of successful prosecutions of Muslim taxi drivers who refused to carry guide dogs in their cars because they considered them unclean on religious grounds.

Mr Elder-Brown was taking his girlfriend out to celebrate her birthday with her five year-old daughter last week when he was told he would have to leave his dog, Finn, tied up outside.

He showed a card issued by the Institute of Environmental Health Officers certifying he and his dog were allowed into any premises but an argument ensued and the owners threatened to call the police if he did not leave.

"It was humiliating and degrading, especially as there were a lot of people around me," he said.

"I was made to feel like a piece of dirt. They told me I couldn't come in because it was against their religious beliefs to have a dog in the restaurant.

"They then said I could leave Finn tied up outside. I stayed calm but when they threatened to call police I left."

He added: "It was horrible. It put a dampener on the whole celebration."

Under the Disability Discrimination Act it is illegal to refuse to serve a disabled person of give them a diminished level of service because of their disability.

My personal feeling, and feel free to call it bias against religion if you wish, is that religious views should not be allowed to dictate anything at all. I believe in treating all religious views the same ... pretty much with contempt.

That said, whilst animals should not normally be allowed into restaurants, this is wrong IMO because the man could not realistically get around without the dog and such animals are usually very well behaved.

Thoughts?

Kyu

[curiosityandthecat]

It sounds like it's no different than it is here in that the only place a guide dog isn't really allowed is an operating room. Aside from that, they're treated, quite literally, as a part of the person they're guiding. The restaurant owners' religious beliefs make them bad business-people.

This is stupid.

[karadan]

I BET any court action which comes from this leads to nothing.. The UK authorities in general seem to be terrified of Islam..

[SSY]

It sounds like it's no different than it is here in that the only place a guide dog isn't really allowed is an operating room. Aside from that, they're treated, quite literally, as a part of the person they're guiding. The restaurant owners' religious beliefs make them bad-people.

This is stupid.

fixed.

also, this is disgusting, too bad nothing will be done about it, it makes me sick that the superstitions and fairytales of others can be enforced on how I live my life.

[Tanker]

I know from personal experience in Iraq, that dogs are often kept by muslims. I don't get what their problem was. I know that in Muslim countries dogs are not held in the same place as they are in the west, but still they should not have made such an issue out of it I hope they loose their license for discrimination.

[VietnamVet-BRIGHT]

Blind man's guide dog barred from restaurant for offending Muslims
A blind man has been turned away from a fashionable Indian restaurant because his guide dog offended Muslim staff.

This is the problem of religion ... numerous doctrines and traditions are generated from scripture and their interpretations -- in this case, the Qur'an & the hadiths -- that may lead to ambiguous, conflicting and frustrating results (and sectarian splits) ... in this case it is the Muslim perception of dogs.  The below demonstrates a contrasting philosophical twist by a Muslim which could have been used to counter the Muslim staff's concern over the dog in the restaurant:

To the literalists, the prohibition against dogs as pets is clearly delineated in one of the hadiths, the traditional accounts of the life and sayings of the prophet Mohammed. In their view, the hadiths and the Koran unambiguously set forth the laws of sharia. But as Abou El Fadl points out, determining which of the tens of thousands of hadiths are authoritative requires both knowledge and critical analysis. One must evaluate the reliability of the sources and assess how consistent the hadiths are with the moral vision of the God who speaks in and through the Koran. In the case of the dog hadith, Abou El Fadl found it hard to believe that the same God who created such companionable creatures would have his prophet declare them "unclean."

Investigating the sources, he discovered that the hadith in question not only derived from an unreliable chain of sources but reflected views far more consistent with pre-Islamic Arab customs and attitudes. What's more, he says, he found that a hadith from one of the most trustworthy sources tells how the Prophet himself had prayed in the presence of his playfully cavorting dogs.

http://www.islamicconcern.com/dogs.asp

Bottom line ... if the staff doesn't want seeing eye dogs in their establishment for whatever reason then thinking, mindful potential patrons just need to boycott that facility: money talks and BS walks.


.

[Kylyssa]

It's sickening to think about.  People are doing this kind of thing all the time.  They are putting their religion before humane behavior.  It's hard enough for a blind person to fit into society and to do things most people take for granted without a bunch of idiots taking away their ability to move freely without human assistance.

To me, it's another agenda of religion - to fight anything that increases the quality of human life.

[samsara]

A scandalous occurrence, and totally illogical for a true follower of Islam. After all the Holy Koran considers dogs useful animals of great assistance to man. Mohammed even reveals in the Koran that it is permissible to eat food caught by dogs (Koran 5:5).

The confusion suffered by this restaurant owner arises from passages in the various Sunnah's, and particular that of Bukhari. If you read this Sunnah, you come across astoundingly contradictory views such as that angels will not enter a house in which there is a dog (Bukhari 54:450). However, and most amazingly we also read a passage in the Sunnah of Bukhari where a Bedouin is left in peace while urinating in a mosque:

Narrated Anas bin Malik: A Bedouin came and passed urine in one corner of the mosque. The people shouted at him but the Prophet stopped them till he finished urinating. The Prophet ordered them to spill a bucket of water over that place and they did so. (Bukhari 4:221)

Yet in another passage of Bukhari we read something very strange:

Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "A man saw a dog eating mud from (the severity of) thirst. So, that man took a shoe (and filled it) with water and kept on pouring the water for the dog till it quenched its thirst. So Allah approved of his deed and made him to enter Paradise." And narrated Hamza bin 'Abdullah: My father said. "During the lifetime of Allah's Apostle, the dogs used to urinate, and pass through the mosques (come and go), nevertheless they never used to sprinkle water on it (urine of the dog.)" (Bukhari 4:174)

The implications of these passages are strange indeed, and I leave it to the readers to determine the implications of these passages for themselves.

Suffice to say, the restaurant owner has a very misguided religious view of what his religion says about dogs.

These are the wondrous things taught us by religions. This restaurant owner should simply accept that both infidels as well as followers of Islam also require assistance from dogs.

[Kyuuketsuki]

A scandalous occurrence, and totally illogical for a true follower of Islam.

Um ... you have yourself labelled as a "free-thinker" yet you seem to come across as someone promoting the Quran as a good thing. I'm not sure why.

As far as I am concerned The Quran explicitly states a number of things that are ABSOLUTELY unacceptable by current day western moral standards. That means the religion of Islam is not a thing of beauty, it is a thing that may contain some beauty but viewed as a whole is a bankrupt ideological code and the ONLY way to view it as positive is through rose tinted spectacles (the "pearl in the dung" syndrome). That is true of most (perhaps all) religions.

Kyu

[Wechtlein Uns]

That man was a true follower of islam.

[SSY]

Um ... you have yourself labelled as a "free-thinker" yet you seem to come across as someone promoting the Quran as a good thing. I'm not sure why.

As far as I am concerned The Quran explicitly states a number of things that are ABSOLUTELY unacceptable by current day western moral standards. That means the religion of Islam is not a thing of beauty, it is a thing that may contain some beauty but viewed as a whole is a bankrupt ideological code and the ONLY way to view it as positive is through rose tinted spectacles (the "pearl in the dung" syndrome). That is true of most (perhaps all) religions.

Kyu

Most muslims who want to promote a moderate facade employ judicious  use of the abrogate principle I find. It conveniently allows them to retcon anything they do not currently wish to endorse from the scripture.

[karadan]

If you read this Sunnah, you come across astoundingly contradictory views such as that angels will not enter a house in which there is a dog (Bukhari 54:450). However, and most amazingly we also read a passage in the Sunnah of Bukhari where a Bedouin is left in peace while urinating in a mosque:

The implications of these passages are strange indeed, and I leave it to the readers to determine the implications of these passages for themselves.

One of the millions of reasons i am atheist.

[Kyuuketsuki]

That man was a true follower of islam.

Most muslims who want to promote a moderate facade employ judicious  use of the abrogate principle I find. It conveniently allows them to retcon anything they do not currently wish to endorse from the scripture.

So samsara is not a free-thinker? Is a Muslim?

Kyu

[SSY]

So samsara is not a free-thinker? Is a Muslim?
Kyu

He certainly seems to be doing a good impression.