Are dogs haram?

Avapxia

I heard keeping dogs inside is haram. Is this true? Because I keep my dog inside.

wes

I think only eating one would be Haram.

Suff

The issue with Dogs are:

1. The Dog Saliva/ Nose is considered unclean "Najes", the hair is not.
2. The Prophet (PBUH) kept a Dog once in his house and the Angel Gabriel didnt visit the Prophet until the Dog was out of the house.
Now I'm not sure as if that means that Angels wont enter a home if a dog is in it, reason for this thought is that:
-a. Gabriel is the head of the Angels and he only visit Prophets.
-b. Each human has two Angels, left 'n right "Ankar & Nakeer"

3. It is preferd to chosse a clean/clensed place to perform your prayers.
4. What is allowed in regards to what animals we can eat is:
-a. Any animal that is not a meat eater
-b. Have no fangs
-c. Not allowed to eat their Blood. (like white n' Black pudding)
-d. can eat anything from the sea with the exception for Sharks I think.

having said all that....

I have a dog in my house, she sleeps indoors (little room in the Kitchen). therefor I can pray only upstairs as she's not allowed upstairs at all.

Note:
In Islam every living thing has a Soul "rouh" given from GOD "Allah", so we must be kind to animals and treat them well as we have a duty towards them. They are a soul after all.

Dontico

Suff wrote:

-d. can eat anything from the sea with the exception for Sharks I think.

sweet.
i'm going to make a t-shirt saying, "protect our sharks. convert to islam today".

FriarMo

........As for the impurity of the dog, the scholar Ibn Taymiyyah mentions three views of jurists regarding the impurity of the dog:

The First View: The first view is that of the Maliki scholars, who hold that a dog is pure even its saliva.

The Second View: The second view is attributed to the Shafi`i school and one of two narrations from Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal. They are of the opinion that a dog is impure even its fur.

The Third View: The third view is ascribed to the Hanafi school and the other narration from Imam Ahmad. They maintain that a dog's saliva is impure while its fur is pure.

All three schools of jurisprudence mentioned are within Sunni Islam.

First Referencehttp://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503544896

Second Reference http://www.islam1.org/iar/imam/archives/2005/05/27/the_basics_of_fiqh.php

nando

I was interested to read this topic as I was unaware that certain aspects of keeping dogs were possibly an issue of debate in Islam. I am not a Muslim but I am a vet and I wonder if you could advise me on this question.

If a pet owner subscribed to the opinion, for example, that the dog's saliva was impure (as mentioned above) would it be offensive of me to ask them to carry out treatments such as giving tablets, cleaning out ears/nose/eyes, or even perhaps brushing teeth?

I do not wish to question any religious teachings on the matter and definitely do not want to offend my clients - so would it be best to ask first if they are happy to touch the dog in this way? Or to leave it unless they say something. It's just if the treatment, particularly giving tablets, was not to be done at home for these reasons (or any others!) I would rather know about it and come to some other arrangement. I assume the same would apply to cats?

Also, I read the links in the previous post and while I have no opinion either way on whatever any religion may teach regarding animals, I was a little surprised by the scientific information quoted by the site. I have tried in last half hour to research the quoted scientist and his article but it is not available anywhere I can find except for dozens of other islamic websites. I obviously would like to be aware of any such canine disease posing such a great risk to people! However, from what I gather, despite a complete lack of any references on the article, they are talking about a disease which is relatively rare in Western Europe and which does not exist in Ireland. Just in case anybody reads it and panics!

Suff

nando wrote:

If a pet owner subscribed to the opinion, for example, that the dog's saliva was impure (as mentioned above) would it be offensive of me to ask them to carry out treatments such as giving tablets, cleaning out ears/nose/eyes, or even perhaps brushing teeth?

Sure, you can ask people to do whatever in required to have the animal back in good health. like myself when I play with my Dog she lick and Game-bite me, after play time is over I wash my hands with antibacterial soap then rinse my hands under the water 7 times (as told by the Prophet) so I dont see any problems at all.

nando wrote:

I assume the same would apply to cats?

not really but you do need to wash afterward anyway dont you!

nando wrote:

Also, I read the links in the previous post and while I have no opinion either way on whatever any religion may teach regarding animals, I was a little surprised by the scientific information quoted by the site. I have tried in last half hour to research the quoted scientist and his article but it is not available anywhere I can find except for dozens of other islamic websites. I obviously would like to be aware of any such canine disease posing such a great risk to people! However, from what I gather, despite a complete lack of any references on the article, they are talking about a disease which is relatively rare in Western Europe and which does not exist in Ireland. Just in case anybody reads it and panics!

That's the thing that I'm not sure of, I need to reseach it better.
so I cannot give any info on this, I'd say you better do the research knowing you're in the field in question.

Avapxia

Thanks for the response... much appreciated

the_new_mr

My cousin was doing some research on this about 2 years ago and he found that the only basis that people say that a dog is impure is the hadith that says that if a dog eats from a plate/bowl then you should wash it seven times with water with the first time with dust/soil. This would be in keeping with the Maliki scholars' opinion. My cousin isn't a scholar or anything but that was all he could find and that there was no evidence of any other part of the dog being impure.

Must do some research on it myself some time.

Have to say nando, you're a very considerate person to find out what's okay and not okay to ask a Muslim dog owner to do. This kind of consideration all round would make for a much better functioning society.

Just on the subject of dogs, a relative of mine had a dog that was so funny She used to sit with us at the dining table She was very well mannered and would never come up onto the table but she would just sit there and look at us during conversations. You always thought that she was going to open her mouth and give you her opinion the matter at hand Not sure of the hygiene standards if you're eating at the table like that though. I'm more of a cat man myself but you could never get a cat to do that. They're too cheeky

RaiseTheBlinds

IN a climate like ours,.... to leave a dog outside for one single night would be cruel.
Do what you feel is right,... not because I say it , or you read that it can be interpretted that way, but do what you feel is the compassionate and loving thing to do. That goes for animals, friends, family and life.

the_new_mr

RaiseTheBlinds wrote:

to leave a dog outside for one single night would be cruel.

That didn't occur to me before. Best keep them indoors then. Maybe do what Suff does.

Haya

hi, im new here, i've read the comments above and honestly i understand why dogs were haram at the time of the prophet (unclean, contained fleas etc..) however, haven't scientists resolved these issues. now in order to insure that dogs don't contain internal parasites a de-worming tablet is given to them every 3 months. frontline is also applied to dogs every few weeks to insure that dogs are flea free. and with regards to cleanliness, now countries have issued policies that force dog owners to pick up their dogs poo, thus dogs cannot eat poo anymore. dogs now are given baths to insure their cleanliness and they no longer eat or drink from the same sources that humans use.
Dogs now are not let lose in the streets to go around sniffing and licking other dogs behinds, they are held with leaches by their owners and hence unwanted contact doesn't necessarily happen anymore.

so is it possible that if dogs were kept clean, in the ways that i have just described , they technically should no longer be considered haram?

hivizman

Haya wrote: »

hi, im new here, i've read the comments above and honestly i understand why dogs were haram at the time of the prophet (unclean, contained fleas etc..) however, haven't scientists resolved these issues. now in order to insure that dogs don't contain internal parasites a de-worming tablet is given to them every 3 months. frontline is also applied to dogs every few weeks to insure that dogs are flea free. and with regards to cleanliness, now countries have issued policies that force dog owners to pick up their dogs poo, thus dogs cannot eat poo anymore. dogs now are given baths to insure their cleanliness and they no longer eat or drink from the same sources that humans use.
Dogs now are not let lose in the streets to go around sniffing and licking other dogs behinds, they are held with leaches by their owners and hence unwanted contact doesn't necessarily happen anymore.

so is it possible that if dogs were kept clean, in the ways that i have just described , they technically should no longer be considered haram?

Assalamu alaykum and welcome to the Islam Forum. May I particularly commend you on your choice of user name.

You have raised an important issue in the interpretation of what is permitted (halal) and what is prohibited (haram) in Islam - does the identification of a practice (that does not relate to worship - ibadat) as halal or haram, based on hadiths transmitting sayings or actions of Muhammad, apply for all time, even if the circumstances in which the practice was approved or forbidden are significantly different from those obtaining today? In other words, can we re-interpret hadiths in today's circumstances, or are we bound by the interpretations of scholars that were promulgated perhaps a thousand years ago?

This is connected with another important issue - does God (either directly through the Qur'an or indirectly through the example of Muhammad) prohibit practices because they are undesirable (that is, we can rationalise the prohibition in terms of the undesirability of the likely consequences if the action were not prohibited), or does God simply prohibit things and we should not attempt to rationalise why?

According to Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qawadari, an eminent Muslim scholar, in his book The Lawful and The Prohibited in Islam, keeping a dog as a guard dog or a hunting dog is permissible. Keeping a dog in the house may not be permissible - there is a hadith that reports Muhammad as stating that the Angel Jibril (Gabriel) had told him that he would not enter Muhammad's house because there was a statue at the door, a curtain with figures on it in the house and a dog inside the house. Jibril suggested that the statue should be beheaded, the curtain cut up and made into pillows, and the dog taken out. I must say that I find this hadith implausible because I cannot see why Muhammad would have had a statue at the door of his house in the first place, but the hadith has been accepted by authoritative hadith collectors such as Abu Dawud and Tirmidhi. Anyway, Qaradawi comments: "This prohibition is limited to keeping dogs without need or benefit", and I don't see why this should exclude keeping a dog for companionship.

Dog urine, faeces and saliva are regarded as ritual impurities as well as undesirable in their own right.

Haya

al salam alaikum
I understand what you are saying. but can't you argue that at the time, dogs were merely animals roaming around in the streets eating feces and licking urine (which technically speaking is the reason behind their filthy saliva) which is evidently not the case now. I agree that some dogs constantly have saliva drooling out of their mouths but most dogs dont.

As for the hadith with Gabriel, i looked up why angles do not enter houses with dogs in them and discovered that its due to their filth. therefore Can't it be assumed that if a dog were kept clean, was potty trained, was cleaned after going to potty, was consistently de-flead and de-wormed then a dog becomes no different to a cat or a rabbit.

Do you think it is possible that the dog being haram is only mentioned in Hadiths as oppose to the Quran due to it merely applying to the time period where dogs were unclean and dangerous. because if it were an obligation (fard) or rule that dogs were haram then it would have been mentioned in the Quran.

Haya

al salam alaikum
I understand what you are saying. but can't you argue that at the time, dogs were merely animals roaming around in the streets eating feces and licking urine (which technically speaking is the reason behind their filthy saliva) which is evidently not the case now. I agree that some dogs constantly have saliva drooling out of their mouths but most dogs dont.

As for the hadith with Gabriel, i looked up why angles do not enter houses with dogs in them and discovered that its due to their filth. therefore Can't it be assumed that if a dog were kept clean, was potty trained, was cleaned after going to potty, was consistently de-flead and de-wormed then a dog becomes no different to a cat or a rabbit.

Do you think it is possible that the dog being haram is only mentioned in Hadiths as oppose to the Quran due to it merely applying to the time period where dogs were unclean and dangerous. because if it were an obligation (fard) or rule that dogs were haram then it would have been mentioned in the Quran.