I was walking in the park and a Muslim man became quite distressed by a dog that wanted to play. Whilst I understand the man's concern for religious cleanliness, I think perhaps if he was more aware of the facts he may be less inclined to overreact and avoid the ill feeling with the non-Muslim dog owners.Please note all mention below relating to cleanliness are in terms of ritual purity for prayer. Dirt, unhygenic or harmful substances and ritual impurity are separate things. Something we may consider dirty, such as soil is ritually pure and acceptable to pray in, whilst something hygenic like wine or sterile like urine is unacceptable to pray in and considered impure. Ritual purity is part of the acts of worship (ibadat) and beyond reason.
Dogs are Man's Best Friend
The most famous tale of a dog in the Qur'an is in the chapter of the cave (18, Surah al Kahf) where a loyal dog guards some companions who, trying to escape corruption and persecution, by a miracle sleep for one hundred years safely in a cave until the tyrants had passed:
{[Prophet], do you find the Companions in the Cave and al-Raqim so wondrous, among all Our other signs? When the young men sought refuge in the cave and said, ‘Our Lord, grant us Your mercy, and find us a good way out of our ordeal,’ We sealed their ears [with sleep] in the cave for years. Then We woke them so that We could make clear which of the two parties was better able to work out how long they had been there.} [18:9-12]
Al-Raqim in this verse has been interpreted as either the name of the mountain in which the cave was situated, the name of their dog, or an inscription bearing their names.
The famous Qur'anic exegete al Qurtubi (d. 1273 CE) in the commentary of 2:38 says: Wahb ibn Munabbih said: "When Adam descended to Earth, Iblis (the devil) said to the wild animals: 'This is your enemy, so destroy him.' They gathered and elected the dog as their leader, saying: 'You are the boldest of us.' When Adam saw that, he was confused. Gabriel came to him and said: 'Stroke the dog's head.' He did so. When the animals saw that the dog was friendly to Adam, they scattered. The dog sought security and Adam gave it to him and he remained with him and his sons from then on."
Dogs are generally seen in a positive regard as loyal animals, and it is well known that they were kept by the companions as guard dogs.
Dog's cleanliness
Abu Hurayrah has narrated a number of hadith concerning the washing of utensils licked by a dog. In one narration The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "the utensil licked by a dog is to be washed three times," [Dar'qutni]. In another: “The cleansing of the utensil belonging to one of you, after it has been licked by a dog, is to wash it seven times, using soil for cleaning the first time.” [Muslim]
The Hanafi's went with the first hadith; to quote Al Hidayah: "Its tongue has contact with the water and not the utensil, thus, if the utensil has become impure the water must be more so. This tradition conveys impurity and the number of washings." They interpret the second hadith of seven washes as that: "issued earlier in Islam" i.e. abrogated.
The Shafi'i's went with the second hadith in terms of washes and agree that a dog's saliva is impure (See Reliance of the Traveller). They went as far as saying the whole dog is impure since its impurity comes from inside the animal. The Hanafi's disagree here and say that it is only the saliva as the hair, nails, skin etc that come off a dog are pure along with all other animals.
The Malik's disagree and argues that the above hadiths are of recommendation and so the dog is entirely pure. The reason is that it seems to contradict the verse concerning lawful food, which states: {[This includes] what you have taught your birds and beasts of prey to catch} [5:4]. If the dog's saliva really were impure then the prey would also become impure as it touches it. They also argued that the number stipulate of three or seven is excessive as it is sufficient to remove impurity with washing something once, thus are a recommended act of worship only (see Bidayat al Mujtahid).
Owning a Dog
The Muslims have viewed dogs as working animals, the modern concept of pets was not familiar to the early Muslim community. Most scholars have ruled it impermissible - a minority more leniently say disliked - to have a dog except as a working animal owing to the hadiths:
The Prophet (peace be upon him said): “Whoever acquires a dog, with the exception of a dog for hunting, or guarding sheep, or protecting the harvest, then a large portion of his reward will be diminished every day.” [Bukhari]
the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “The angels do not enter a house that has a dog or a picture.” [Bukhari]
The Shafi’i's say: "It is permissible to keep a dog for hunting, agriculture, or herding without disagreement ... There are two positions ... concerning keeping them to protect homes and neighbourhoods and the most correct one is permissibility." The Hanafi's agree, al Hidayah says: "Having a dog is prohibitively disliked (makruh tahriman). However, there is no harm in acquiring a hunting dog, or a guard dog to protect one’s sheep or property."
The Maliki's say: “it is permissible to keep dogs for all beneficial purposes, and to ward off harm, even if it is not in the wilderness where thieves are feared."
Conclusion
Summarising the above we see that dogs are generally seen as problematic when wishing to pray either for ritual purity or for the more mystical reason of scaring away angels. However, they are loyal and trusted animals that perform all manner of useful functions and for this reason are permissible to keep for a need. Although it appears they should be kept outside or at least limit the rooms they go in (i.e. not the prayer room). I might just add that here in the UK where people love their dogs it might be wise socially to take the most lenient position and remember the positive view Islam has of dogs, since the rabid dogs that various hadith show enmity toward (some infamously have 'jet black dog' or 'al kalb al aswad al bahim,' whilst other versions have 'the dog that bites indiscriminately' or 'al kalb al 'aqur,' see here) are not on these shores. Also owning a rescue dog may be another reason for keeping one, since it has the beneficial purposes mentioned and is an act of charity.
And God know best
Very interesting article. I hadn't appreciated how dogs feature in Islam. As a dog owner I try to be as conscientious as possible of his behaviour and mine. For example, I "clean-up" after my dog so not to impact others, however I can understand how that could be viewed as unclean.
ReplyDeleteThe world today must present quite a pet challenge. There are so many pets one can have from rodents (including rabbits), fishy, birds and especially cats. Now cats have much more free movement than any dog and generally less well trained. For example, my dog is trained not go on my sofa, enter the kitchen or go upstairs. My neighbour's cat will happily enter my house, and I am allergic. Do you think the Islamic view of domestic cats will be the same a domestic dogs?
Hi Mike, thanks for the question. There is a hadith (saying of the Prophet): “It is not impure, it is of those [creatures] that mingle with you.” [Abu Dawud, al-Tirmidhi]. Cats are considered ritually pure it is just their faeces, blood vomit and urine that are not (like most things). Muslims are cat people :)
DeleteTo clarify then, cats were part of 7th century middle eastern home life but dogs were not? Therefore I assume dogs were working animals for hunting, guarding live stock and herding thus not living amongst the populace?
DeletePretty much...People owned dogs rather like horses and may have fed cats in a bit of a pet type way, but they generally just did what they wanted (as they do) and were welcome to keep the vermin away.
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