Sunday, October 30, 2011

Dogs as pets in Islam



As-Salamo Aleikom Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu

I've been reading many comments lately and then I read one which said there is confusion in hadeeths about keeping a dog in the house... subhanAllah...

So, here is some explanation about this matter inshaAllah.

It is not permissible for a Muslim to keep a dog, unless he needs this dog for hunting, guarding livestock or guarding crops.

Al-Bukhaari (2145) narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (salAllahu 'alayhi wa salam) said:

“Whoever keeps a dog, a qiraat from his good deeds will be deducted every day, except a dog for farming or herding livestock.” 

Muslim (2978) narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu 'alayhi wa salam) said:

“Whoever keeps a dog that is not a dog for hunting, herding livestock or farming, two qiraats will be deducted from his reward each day.” 

Muslim (2943) narrated from ‘Abd-Allah ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (salAllahu 'alayhi wa salam) said:

“Whoever keeps a dog, except a dog for herding livestock or a dog for hunting, a qiraat will be deducted from his good deeds each day.” 

‘Abd-Allah said: Abu Hurayrah said: Or a dog for farming. 

Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr said:
This hadeeth shows that it is permissible to keep a dog for hunting and herding livestock, and also for farming.

Ibn Maajah (3640) narrated from ‘Ali ibn Abi Taalib (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (salAllahu 'alayhi wa salam) said:

“The angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog or an image.” (Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Ibn Maajah.)

These ahaadeeth indicate that it is haraam to keep a dog, except for those which were exempted by the Messenger (salAllahu 'alayhi wa salam).

The scholars differed as to how to reconcile between the reports which speak of one qiraat being deducted and those which speak of two qiraats being deducted. 

It was said that two qiraats will be deducted if the dog is more harmful and one qiraat will be deducted if it is less so.

And it was said that that at first the Prophet (salAllahu 'alayhi wa salam) said that one qiraat would be deducted, then the punishment was increased after that, so he said that two qiraats would be deducted in order to put people off from keeping dogs even more. 

The qiraat is an amount that is known to Allah, may He be exalted, and what is meant is that some of the reward for a person’s good deeds will be deducted. 

(See Sharh Muslim by al-Nawawi, 10/342; Fath al-Baari, 5/9)

Shaykh Ibn ‘Uthaymeen said in Sharh Riyaadh al-Saaliheen, 4/241: 
With regard to keeping dogs, this is haraam and is in fact a major sin, because the one who keeps a dog, except those for which an exception has been made, will have two qiraats deducted from his reward every day.

So, these hadeeths are not weak AT ALL. They are from Bukhari and Muslim and all of them say the exact same thing: it's haraam. There's no confusion here in the fact that it's haraam.

If you're a revert, it's difficult. But if you don't have a dog and you want to have one, please consider these hadeeths and make your decision, of course I don't advise you to have a dog...

With regard to the liquids coming from the dog, such as saliva, there's this:

Al-Bukhaari and Muslim reported from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (salAllahu 'alayhi wa salam) said:

“If a dog licks the vessel of any one of you, let him throw away its contents, then wash it seven times.” 

Muslim added: “the first time with earth.” (Al-Bukhaari bi Haashiyat al-Sindi, 1/44; Muslim, 1/234).

The meaning of the word translated here as “lick” means if a dog puts its tongue into water, or whatever, regardless of whether or not it actually drinks. The hadeeth refers to vessels, but the scholars did not distinguish between vessels and other things in this regard.

Al-‘Iraaqi said:
Vessels are mentioned because this is the usual scenario.

Wa Salam
.

2 comments:

The Black Jubah said...

Assalamualaikum sis,

It's been a long time since I went through Google readers. Been really busy and I don't know what with. Here in Malaysia, we has been brought up to be scared of dogs. So we (Malay Muslims) do not have dogs. In my place here there are a lot of Iranians,one of them asked me if I am a Muslim? I mean, I dressed as a Muslim, it surprises me, unlike her, she is not a hijabi. She said she is a Muslim, fasting and all. One day I saw her kissing and hugging our neighbours dog, this surprises me more.

Jazakallah for article.

Unknown said...

wa aleikom al salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu

well if she is Iranian, then most probably (if not definitely) she is shi'a. And as we know, shi'a have different rulings since they reject a big part of the sunnah. some things they make haram and we know it's halal, other things they make halal and we know it's haram. in the end, Allah will judge us all on the Judgement Day and then we'll see who really was following the true message...

But unfortunately I also have seen some Muslims here in Egypt having dogs, not because they think it's halal, but because they want to follow the "western trend" and it makes me sad really.

I had a dog, my parents still have it. Of course I wouldn't throw the dog when I became Muslim, but I also would try my best to be away from it so that I would be purified for prayer.

Although dogs are not always bad, they are just bad in terms of purification. They are very loyal animals and they guard the person's belongings and they can even fight if the owner is in danger. But not having a huge house or even something like crops to guard, there's no point on having a dog. And, for my experience, as I've grown up with dogs in the family, I know that dogs deserve much more than a life in an appartment... They even develop diseases and end up being affected for not doing a lot of exercise. My cousins in the south of Portugal, for example, have dogs for hunting and guarding the farms. This is allowed. And dogs are much healthier doing this, mashaAllah.

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