Misconceptions about Dogs in Islam for BOTH Muslims and Non-Muslims.
What is permitted:
1. It is NOT haram (forbidden) to touch dogs. So yes you can touch it. There is no sin to touch any animal.
2. It is NOT haram to keep dogs (so long as they serve a purpose like guarding the home, catching game for food, rearing livestock like sheep and cattle, helping the blind etc). – So keyword is YES it’s allowed, BUT with conditions.
3. It is encouraged to treat dogs (and all other animals) well, feed it food, water and if you keep dogs (for the purposes above), give it shelter. (There are a few hadith about this)
What is NOT permitted:
1. It is NOT permitted to treat dogs with cruelty.
2. It is NOT permitted to confine dogs without any purpose.
3. It is NOT permitted to derive wealth from buying, selling and renting dogs. (There’s a hadith about this. Therefore the prophet considers it immoral and inhumane to create wealth selling dogs.)
4. Definitely cannot eat dog.
What is the ruling or fatwa (based on Islamic fiqh/jurisprudence) on the purity of dogs (purity here means in the context of najis [impurities like urine], therefore this is concerning hygiene. it is not about whether a dog is a good or bad animal):
First, islamic fiqh is the legalistic tradition based not just on holy scripture, but events of that time. Rulings or fatwa is dynamic and is adjusted according to situation and context. Therefore rulings describe both the norm and exceptions.
Second, islamic fiqh is not necessarily homogeneous. Legal traditions in Islam is rich. There are 4 schools of legal traditions. 5 if you include the Shi’a traditions (and these are further split to different sub-traditions). Therefore, please understand that just because one imam is in the opinion of something, another imam is in disagreement, does not mean one is right and the other is wrong. Islam doesn’t force someone onto a narrow view. Disagreements are human nature. And therefore, you choose what you feel is best for you without disrespecting the choice of others.
So for simplicity, in Southeast Asia, our legal tradition usually follow Imam Syafi’i. That does not mean there is no one who follows other imam. Indian Muslims tend to follow Hanafi. Arabs in the UAE follow Maliki. Arabs in Saudi tend to follow Hanbali. For Singapore, MUIS takes both Syafi’i and Hanafi to arrive at a fatwa. No, you are not obligated to follow a particular madhab/imam just because of your race, ethnicity or nationality.
What do the imams say:
Syafi’i – Dogs are impure. But it’s not a sin to touch. However it invalidates your cleanliness to perform prayer. If you touch it, you must perform ritual cleansing.
Hanafi – Only the flesh and saliva is impure but not the skin/fur. It is not a sin to touch. It does not invalidate your cleanliness to perform prayer. If you simply brush against a dog, you do not have to clean yourself. But if you intentionally touch a dog, you can just clean yourself with water. But if you come into contact with its saliva, you must perform ritual cleansing.
Maliki – Dogs are not impure. You can touch it. It doesn’t invalidate your cleanliness to perform prayer.
Conclusion.
For Muslims, you decide what is best for you. No one can say this is incorrect because there’s flexibility to every situation. Islam is meant to be simple. But Islam also says dogs are God’s creation. Treat it with kindness. So if a Muslim touches a dog, it’s perfectly fine guys. No one has their madhab printed on their forehead. Neither does everyone follow madhab strictly.
For non-Muslims, the Malays don’t hate dogs. Islam doesn’t hate dogs.
For both. Don’t get triggered because of a dog lah. There are so many beautiful and positive stories about dogs in the Quran and Hadith. The common ground is to treat dogs with kindness because the dog is mentioned in the Quran as loyal and loving animals, and mentioned in various hadeeth that Allah pardons your sins if you treat a dog with kindness. Also, wash your hands before and after touching any animal, even your pet cat. Cat cafes practice this. Hygiene is what all this hoo hah was all about anyway. It’s just good hygiene guys!
Source: Hazrul Azhar Jamari
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