Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
Islam forbids Muslims to keep dogs, and the punishment for
that is that the one who does that loses one or two qiraats from his
hasanaat (good deeds) each day. An exception has been made in the case
of keeping dogs for hunting, guarding livestock and guarding
crops.
It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased
with him) that the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: Whoever keeps a dog, except
a dog for herding, hunting or farming, one qiraat will be deducted from
his reward each day. Narrated by Muslim, 1575.
It was narrated that Abd-Allaah ibn Umar (may Allaah be
pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: Whoever keeps a dog, except a dog for herding livestock
or a dog that is trained for hunting, two qiraats will be deducted from
his reward each day. Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 5163; Muslim,
1574.
Is it permissible to keep a dog to guard
houses?
Al-Nawawi said:
There is a
difference of opinion as to whether it is permissible to keep dogs for
purposes other than these three, such as for guarding houses and roads.
The most correct view is that it is permissible, by analogy with these
three and based on the reason that is to be understood from the hadeeth,
which is necessity. End quote.
Sharh Muslim, 10/236
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him)
said:
Based on this, if
a house is in the middle of the city there is no need to keep a dog to
guard it, so keeping a dog for this purpose in such situations is haraam
and is not permitted, and it detracts one or two qiraats from a persons
reward every day. They should get rid of this dog and not keep it. But
if the house is in the countryside and there is no one else around, then
it is permissible to keep a dog to guard the house and the people who
are in it; guarding the members of the household is more important than
guarding livestock or crops. End quote.
Majmoo Fataawa Ibn Uthaymeen,
4/246
There are several scholarly views about reconciling the
reports which say one qiraat and those which say two
qiraats.
Al-Haafiz al-Ayni (may Allaah have mercy on him)
said:
(a)
It may be that they have to do with two types of
dogs, one of which could cause more harm than the
other.
(b)
It was said that two qiraats applies in cities
and villages, and one qiraat applies in the
countryside.
(c)
It was said that they were said at two different
times one qiraat was mentioned first, then the warning was made more
strict and two qiraats were mentioned.
Umdat al-Qaari, 12/158.
Secondly:
With regard to
the words of the questioner, keeping a dog is naajis. This is not
exactly correct, because the najaasah (impurity) is not in the dog
itself, rather it is in its saliva when it drinks from a vessel. If a
person touches a dog or a dog touches him, that does not mean that he
has to purify himself, whether with soil or water. But if a dog drinks
from his vessel, then he has to throw away the water and wash it seven
times with water and the eighth time with soil, if he wants to use it.
If he makes it just for the dog then he does not have to purify
it.
It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may
Allaah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: The purification of the vessel of one of you, if a dog
licks it, is to wash it seven times, the first time with soil. Nararted
by Muslim, 279.
And according to another report by Muslim (280): If a dog
licks the vessel of one of you, let him wash it seven times and rub it
with soil the eighth time.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on
him) said:
With regard to dogs, there are three views among the
scholars:
1 That they are taahir (pure), even their saliva. This
is the view of Maalik.
2 That they are naajis (impure), even their hair. This
is the view of al-Shaafai and is one of the two views narrated from
Ahmad.
3 Their hair is taahir but their saliva is naajis. This
is the view of Abu Haneefah and of Ahmad in the other report narrated
from him.
This is the most
correct view. So if the wetness of the dogs hair gets onto ones
garment or body, that does not make it naajis. End
quote.
Majmoo al-Fataawa, 21/530.
Elsewhere he said:
That is because the basic principle is that substances are
taahir, and it is not permissible to regard anything as naajis or haraam
without evidence, as Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning):
while He has explained to you in detail what is forbidden
to you, except under compulsion of necessity? [al-Anaam 6:119]
And Allaah will never lead a people astray after He has
guided them until He makes clear to them as to what they should avoid
[al-Tawbah 9:115]
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: The purification of the vessel of one of you, if a dog
licks it, is to wash it seven times, the first time with soil and in
another hadeeth, If a dog licks a vessel
All of the ahaadeeth mention
licking only; they do not mention any other part of the dog, regarding
them as naajis is based only on analogy.
Moreover, the
Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) granted a concession allowing people to keep dogs
for hunting, herding and farming. The one who keeps them must touch the
wetness of their hair, just as happens in the case of mules, donkeys,
etc. To suggest that their hair is naajis when touching them cannot be
avoided could impose undue hardship, which is not what the Lawgiver
intended for this ummah.
Majmoo
al-Fataawa, 21/217, 218
To be on the safe
side it is better, if a person touches a dog and there is something wet
on his hand, or if there is something wet on the dog, to wash his hand
seven times, one of which should be with soil. Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen
said:
With regard to
touching this dog, if there is no wetness then it does not make the hand
naajis, but if he touches it and there is any wetness, then this means
that the hand becomes naajis according to the view of many scholars, and
the hand must be washed after that seven times, one of which should be
with soil. End quote.
Majmoo Fataawa
Ibn Uthaymeen, 11/246.
Thirdly:
With regard to the
way in which purification from the najaasah of a dog is to be done, this
has been explained in the answer to question no. 41090 and 46314.
What must be done is
to wash off the najaasah of a dog seven times, one of which should be
with soil. If soil is available then it must be used, and nothing else
will do. If no soil is available, then there is nothing wrong with using
some other cleaning agent such as soap.
Fourthly:
What the
questioner mentions about kissing the dog is something that causes many
diseases. The diseases that people may get as the result of going
against shareeah by kissing dogs or drinking from their vessels before
purifying them are many, such as pasturella which is a bacterial
disease, the cause of which exists naturally in the respiratory systems
of humans and animals, but under certain circumstances this germ can
invade the body and cause disease.
Another of these
diseases is a parasitic disease that affects the intestines of humans
and animals, and usually affects the liver and lungs, the abdominal
cavity and the rest of the body.
This disease is
caused by tapeworms, which are small worms 2-9 millimeters long, which
are formed of three sections, a head and a neck; the head has four
suckers.
The adult worms
live in the intestines of their hosts, such as dogs, cats, crows and
wolves.
This disease is
transmitted to human who love dogs, when they kiss them or drink from
their vessels.
See: Amraad
al-hayawaanaat allati tuseeb al-insaan (Animal diseases that affect
humans) by Dr. Ali Ismaaeel Ubayd al-Snaafi.
Conclusion:
It is not
permissible to keep dogs except for hunting or guarding livestock and
crops, and it is permissible to keep them for guarding houses so long as
that is outside the city and that there is no other means of guarding
the house. The Muslim should not imitate the kuffaar by running with the
dog or touching its mouth and kissing it, which causes many
diseases.
Praise be to
Allaah for this pure and perfect shareeah, which came to set peoples
spiritual and worldly affairs straight, but most people do not
realize.
And Allaah knows
best.