Saudi religious police outlaw cat, dog sales
By Donna Abu-Nasr
ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 9, 2006

JIDDA, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi Arabia's religious police, normally tasked with chiding women to cover themselves and ensuring men attend mosque prayers, are turning to a new target: cats and dogs.

The police have issued a decree banning the sale of the pets, seen as a sign of Western influence.
The prohibition on dogs may be less of a surprise because conservative Muslims despise dogs as unclean. But the cat ban befuddled many, since Islamic tradition holds that the Prophet Muhammad loved cats. the rest