Science in the Glorious Quran: Dogs’ Body Language – Stretching the Forelegs

“وَتَحْسَبُهُمْ أَيْقَاظًا وَهُمْ رُقُودٌ ۚ وَنُقَلِّبُهُمْ ذَاتَ الْيَمِينِ وَذَاتَ الشِّمَالِ ۖ وَكَلْبُهُم بَاسِطٌ ذِرَاعَيْهِ بِالْوَصِيدِ ۚ لَوِ اطَّلَعْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ لَوَلَّيْتَ مِنْهُمْ فِرَارًا وَلَمُلِئْتَ مِنْهُمْ رُعْبًا”(الكهف:18).

“And you would think them awake while they were asleep. And We turned them to the right and to the left while their dog stretched his forelegs at the entrance. If you had looked at them, you would have turned from them in flight and been filled by them with terror” (Qur’an, 18:18).

During the reign of a pagan Roman Emperor, some youths refused to associate the sun with God and decided to take a shelter in a cave away from their community.

They took with them their dog and slept by the will of God for about 300 years. In the above verse, God mentions that the dog took an attentive position by sitting with his forelegs stretched to give the impression that it would jump up at the slightest perceived threat. The body language of attentive stretched forelegs of dogs is mentioned in the verse above.

Dogs may have different positions during their sleeping; attentive on their stomach and with stretched forelegs (left pictures) and relaxed/ non-attentive as shown in the right pictures