A cross-cultural observation about cats that I would love to get your thoughts on is cats' massive popularity vs. that of dogs in the Middle East.
Both Islamic and Hebrew texts condemn dogs as unclean, and "dog" is used as a bad insult in both Muslim and Jewish contexts. However, in Middle Eastern countries that are overwhelmingly Muslim (or, in the case of Israel, Jewish), cats are extremely popular pets, and feral "domestic" cats" are privileged to go where they want without harassment by people. In Islam, cats are ritually pure and inherently blessed, leading to the practice of letting feral cats freely roam on your property or even into your home in Muslim-majority countries; cats are welcome in the mosque. Meanwhile in Israeli Jewish homes, cats are similarly welcomed. (A personal anecdote: while visiting Orthodox Jewish friends in Israel a few years back, I was scolded for shooing a feral cat off a table from which he had already stolen one Hanukkah donut.)
I find this especially interesting since cats have food preferences that mean they often consume haram and/or not-kosher things--feral cats love pork and shellfish, as well as other animals forbidden from human consumption like rabbits and mice, and cats will scavenge off of animal corpses. Also, these are both religions that have a lot of emphasis on legalistic following of rules--which is not really a cat thing, as you've noted.
So what gives? Why are people so conflicted about cats and enamored with dogs in most of the world, but the reverse is true in the Middle East?
That's a really good question, and one I don't have the answer to, in part because I know very little about Islam and have visited few Muslim countries (although I loved Turkey for all the street cats, and first became aware of the phenomenon you mention then). I've only read a little about cats and Islam - and the reasons you mention definitely come up, especially cleanliness, along with stories about the Prophet Muhammad owning cats.
The religious aspects of the positive reception of cats also comes up in passing in the documentary Kedi, which is about the street cats of Istanbul (and well worth watching if you haven't seen it!). I just did some searches, and there does appear to be a bit of scholarship (albeit not much) on this - there's one interesting looking piece about the changing status of cats in Mali, which the piece suggests is partly due to cat-loving Muslims: https://brill.com/view/journals/soan/27/4/article-p452_5.xml.
It's a sad fact that cats are definitely understudied in comparison to dogs!
I can see why a bunch of folks with a religious tradition of loving cats moving to a place could shift the attitudes of people there to a more pro-cat position. And there are some adorable stories about Muhammad and his cats--but these are non-canonical folktales, not part of a religious text. And cats' future embrace by Muslims because Muhammad loved his pet cats wouldn't explain why Muhammad had pet cats to begin with. It also wouldn't explain why members of a different religion--one whose theological claims as well as practical interests are often at odds with those of Islam--also are felinophiles. So I think it must be the case that cat-fandom in the Middle East predates Islam endorsing cats. But why?
Perhaps, like cats themselves, this will remain a mystery. But anyway I have to go because my cat is mewing and I must take care of whatever is bothering her because obviously solving cat problems takes priority over all other things. :)
What Choupette? https://people.com/karl-lagerfeld-s-former-housekeeper-reveals-how-his-cat-choupette-lives-as-a-multi-million-dollar-heiress-11712255
My favorite cat to follow.
Fascinating! Reminds me a little of Leona Helmsley's (aka 'The Queen of Mean') dog 'Trouble', which she left most of her fortune to: https://abcnews.com/US/leona-helmsleys-dog-trouble-richest-world-dies-12/story?id=13810168
A cross-cultural observation about cats that I would love to get your thoughts on is cats' massive popularity vs. that of dogs in the Middle East.
Both Islamic and Hebrew texts condemn dogs as unclean, and "dog" is used as a bad insult in both Muslim and Jewish contexts. However, in Middle Eastern countries that are overwhelmingly Muslim (or, in the case of Israel, Jewish), cats are extremely popular pets, and feral "domestic" cats" are privileged to go where they want without harassment by people. In Islam, cats are ritually pure and inherently blessed, leading to the practice of letting feral cats freely roam on your property or even into your home in Muslim-majority countries; cats are welcome in the mosque. Meanwhile in Israeli Jewish homes, cats are similarly welcomed. (A personal anecdote: while visiting Orthodox Jewish friends in Israel a few years back, I was scolded for shooing a feral cat off a table from which he had already stolen one Hanukkah donut.)
I find this especially interesting since cats have food preferences that mean they often consume haram and/or not-kosher things--feral cats love pork and shellfish, as well as other animals forbidden from human consumption like rabbits and mice, and cats will scavenge off of animal corpses. Also, these are both religions that have a lot of emphasis on legalistic following of rules--which is not really a cat thing, as you've noted.
So what gives? Why are people so conflicted about cats and enamored with dogs in most of the world, but the reverse is true in the Middle East?
That's a really good question, and one I don't have the answer to, in part because I know very little about Islam and have visited few Muslim countries (although I loved Turkey for all the street cats, and first became aware of the phenomenon you mention then). I've only read a little about cats and Islam - and the reasons you mention definitely come up, especially cleanliness, along with stories about the Prophet Muhammad owning cats.
The religious aspects of the positive reception of cats also comes up in passing in the documentary Kedi, which is about the street cats of Istanbul (and well worth watching if you haven't seen it!). I just did some searches, and there does appear to be a bit of scholarship (albeit not much) on this - there's one interesting looking piece about the changing status of cats in Mali, which the piece suggests is partly due to cat-loving Muslims: https://brill.com/view/journals/soan/27/4/article-p452_5.xml.
It's a sad fact that cats are definitely understudied in comparison to dogs!
I can see why a bunch of folks with a religious tradition of loving cats moving to a place could shift the attitudes of people there to a more pro-cat position. And there are some adorable stories about Muhammad and his cats--but these are non-canonical folktales, not part of a religious text. And cats' future embrace by Muslims because Muhammad loved his pet cats wouldn't explain why Muhammad had pet cats to begin with. It also wouldn't explain why members of a different religion--one whose theological claims as well as practical interests are often at odds with those of Islam--also are felinophiles. So I think it must be the case that cat-fandom in the Middle East predates Islam endorsing cats. But why?
Perhaps, like cats themselves, this will remain a mystery. But anyway I have to go because my cat is mewing and I must take care of whatever is bothering her because obviously solving cat problems takes priority over all other things. :)