KUALA LUMPUR • The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) has criticised a Malay woman over a video of her and her pet dog Bubu, calling her actions an affront to Islam, reported The Malay Mail Online news site.

In a posting on his Facebook page yesterday, Jakim director- general Othman Mustapha said intentionally touching dogs was "highly disturbing" and went against Islamic teachings.

"We find her actions to be highly disturbing to Muslims here as they contravene our culture and the tenets of our school of jurisprudence," he said.

He said that while the religion provides procedures for Muslims to clean themselves after coming into contact with impurities such as dogs, this does not mean they may adopt the animals as pets.

He posted that "it's as if someone intentionally commits a sin with the excuse that he can repent later...

"Therefore, Jakim hopes the individual will stop her actions and repent to Allah. Her actions suggest she is trying to start a new culture that can be insulting to Islam".

In the video, the head-scarved woman, Ms Nurhanizah Abdul Rahman, talks about how she began feeding Bubu, a stray mongrel, and eventually adopted the dog after rescuing it from a mass culling operation in 2015.

The video was entered in a competition by pet lovers group SmartHeart.