Thesis statement in the title

In Islam, dogs are not allowed to be kept inside your house as the angels of mercy do not visit a house with dogs (or paintings of living beings in them) and good deeds from your prayers are deducted if you keep a dog inside your house. When a dog licks something, you're supposed to, according to Islamic scriptures, wash the object 7 times with water, and the 8th time with soil. Also if a dog walks in front of you while you're praying, the prayer will be annulled. Dogs can be kept as pets in Islam, but they cannot enter your house and you have to have them for protection or hunting, they must have some kind of purpose or service to provide. Prophet Muhammad ordered the killing of dogs and frequently called the black dog "the devil" and ordered them to be killed.

So I am a former Muslim, so I know very well that in Islam and MOST muslim families, dogs are not allowed to be inside your house and dogs are considered impure and dirty (some only consider the saliva of a dog impure). The rules concerning dogs are not some fringe radical thing that's only observed in Saudi Arabia, most Muslims all around the world observe these rules, some do not observe these rules and do have a pet dog and treat them well. But these are rules are backed up by the Islamic scriptures, which I will cite.

Keep in mind, I am quoting Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim and Sunan Abu Dawood, and they all are considered sahih (sahih hadiths are regarded as the most authentic and trustworthy reports about Muhammad's life and sayings by Islamic scholars and jurisprudence)

Most important hadith regarding dogs:

From Muslim #5248

Maimuna reported that one morning Allah’s Messenger was silent with grief. Maimuna said: Allah’s Messenger, I find a change in your mood today. Allah’s Messenger said: Gabriel had promised me that he would meet me tonight, but he did not meet me. By Allah, he never broke his promises, and Allah’s Messenger spent the day in this sad mood. Then it occurred to him that there had been a puppy under their cot. He commanded and it was turned out. He then took some water in his hand and sprinkled it at that place. When it was evening Gabriel met him and he said to him: You promised me that you would meet me the previous night. He said: Yes, but we do not enter a house in which there is a dog or a picture. Then on that very morning he commanded the killing of the dogs until he announced that the dog kept for the orchards should also be killed, but he spared the dog meant for the protection of extensive fields or big gardens.

From Muslim #3813

Abu Zubair heard Jabir Abdullah saying: Allah's messenger ordered us to kill dogs and we carried out this order so much so that we also killed the dog roaming with a women from the desert. Then Allah's apostle forbade their killing. He said: "It is your duty to kill the jet-black (dog) having two spots (on the eyes) for it is a devil.

From Bukhari Vol. 4, #540

Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar: Allah's Apostle ordered that the dogs should be killed.

From Abu Dawud #2839

Abd Allah B. Mughaffal reported the apostle of Allah as saying: Were dogs not a species of creature I should command that they all be killed**; but kill every pure black one**.The Hadith's note for #2839 says, "The prophet did not order the killing of all the dogs, for some are to be retained for hunting and watching. He ordered to kill the jet black ones. They might be more mischievous among them.

From Muslim #3814

Ibn Mughaffal reported: Allah's messenger ordered the killing of dogs and then said, "what is the trouble with them (the people of Medina? How dogs are nuisances to them (the citizens of Medina)? He then permitted keeping of dogs for hunting and (the protection of) herds. ...[and for] for the protection of cultivated land.

From Muslim #Number 055

Ibn Mughaffal reported: The Messenger of Allah ordered killing of the dogs, and then said: What about them, i. e. about other dogs? and then granted concession (to keep) the dog for hunting and the dog for (the security) of the herd, and said: When the dog licks the utensil, wash it seven times, and rub it with earth the eighth time.

From Bukhari Vol. 3, #515

Narrated Abu Huraira: "Allah's Apostle said, "Whoever keeps a dog, one Qirat of the reward of his good deeds is deducted daily, unless the dog is used for guarding a farm or cattle." Abu Huraira (in another narration) said from the Prophet, "unless it is used for guarding sheep or farms, or for hunting." Narrated Abu Hazim from Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "A dog for guarding cattle or for hunting.""

From Muslim Number 3815:

Ibn Umar reported Allah's Messenger as saying: He who keeps a dog other than that meant for watching the herd or for hunting loses every day out of his deeds equal to two qirat.

From Muslim Number 2062:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger as saying: He who attends the funeral till the prayer is offered for (the dead), for him is the reward of one qirat, and he who attends (and stays) till he is buried, for him is the reward of two qirats. It was said: What are the qirats? He said: They are equivalent to two huge mountains. Two other narrators added: Ibn 'Umar used to pray and then depart (without waiting for the burial of the dead). When the tradition of Abu Huraira reached him, he said:" We have lost many qirats."

From Bukhari Vol. 1, #490

Narrated 'Aisha: "The things which annul the prayers were mentioned before me. They said, "Prayer is annulled by a dog, a donkey and a woman (if they pass in front of the praying people)." I said, "You have made us (i.e. women) dogs. I saw the Prophet praying while I used to lie in my bed between him and the Qibla. Whenever I was in need of something, I would slip away, for I disliked to face him.""

From Muslim Number 1032

Abu Dharr reported: The Messenger of 'Allah said: When any one of you stands for prayer and there is a thing before him equal to the back of the saddle that covers him and in case there is not before him (a thing) equal to the back of the saddle, his prayer would be cut off by (passing of an) ass, woman, and black Dog. I said: O Abu Dharr, what feature is there in a black dog which distinguish it from the red dog and the yellow dog? He said: O, son of my brother, I asked the Messenger of Allah as you are asking me, and he said: The black dog is a devil.

From Abu Dawud Number 0704:

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:Ikrimah reported on the authority of Ibn Abbas, saying: I think the Apostle of Allah said: When one of you prays without a sutrah, a dog, an ass, a pig, a Jew, a Magian, and a woman cut off his prayer, but it will suffice if they pass in front of him at a distance of over a stone's throw.

From Bukhari Vol. 4, #448

Narrated Abu Talha: "I heard Allah's Apostle saying; "Angels (of Mercy) do not enter a house wherein there is a dog or a picture of a living creature (a human being or an animal).""

From Bukhari Vol. 7, #843

Narrated Salim's father: "Once Gabriel promised to visit the Prophet but he delayed and the Prophet got worried about that. At last he came out and found Gabriel and complained to him of his grief (for his delay). Gabriel said to him, "We do not enter a place in which there is a picture or a dog.""

From Muslim, #5276:

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger as saying: Angels do not accompany the travelers who have with them a dog and a bell.

THESIS ARGUMENT: People in the past used to be more weary of dogs than we are today as dogs may have been more prone to carrying and transmitting diseases and also because of aggressive traits and behavior displayed by certain dogs, particularly stray and undomesticated. Therefore, some Islamic rules may have been culturally relevant and a manifestation of 7th century Arabian culture, norms, technology, and knowledge, however in the 21th century, we vaccinate our dogs and can easily ensure that they do not carry any harmful or transmissible disease, we can also train our dogs and the vast majority of dogs today do not harm their owners or other human beings. Dogs are an incredible net benefit to humanity, and we shower our love and care on to them for a reason. However, Islam did not seem to foresee 21th century technology and norms, despite claiming to be a perfect religion for all time, and therefore these rules and scriptures put unnecessary restrictions and rules on our interactions with dogs, not only for the 21th century, but these rules were harsh even for the 7th century.

Some Muslims I have met have told me that dogs are allowed to come inside your house but they are not allowed inside your prayer room; however this is just whitewashing and trying to distort Islam to make it fit their lifestyle. That is not what Islam says, Islam is very clear that it does not allow dogs to come inside your house at all.

MY DEBATE PROPISITION: I am open to arguments as to why these rules put in place by Islamic scriptures are a net benefit to society, how these rules should be observed even today despite our much more advanced technology and culture, any refutations to the quotes from the Islamic hadiths

I'm a revert in the US, and I wanted to make my first post on here to talk about dogs, specifically how they should be viewed and also if we should keep them as pets, as I know many struggle with it like myself. I know many conservatives/Wahhabis/Salafis will say that I have no authority to speak on this, but after doing talking to an Imam/Mufti and reading and pondering myself, I've come to this conclusion.

Before reverting, I had a dog, and he was truly one of my best friends and helped me a lot emotionally, even now he does. After reverting, I used to have quite a bit of guilt having him, and I thought that in the future, I wouldn't be able to have another dog when I'm older (For context I'm a uni student and live with my parents)

I just want to point out a couple things. As Muslims, we SHOULD

1. Have the Quran as the primary source of what we can and can't do (Doesn't say to kill all dogs here and it also doesn't say you will go to hell for having a dog)

2. Follow the five pillars that Rasulallah ﷺ mentioned before passing away in his final sermon: O People, listen to me in earnest, worship Allah, say your five daily prayers (Salaah), fast during the month of Ramadhaan, and give from your wealth in Zakaat. Perform Hajj if you have the means. So these are what makes one fundamentally Muslim. Even if you believe Hadiths are infallible like our Salafi friends and should be followed word for word across every era, a Muslim is not a kafir for having dog and won't be thrown in hell simply based off that.

So even if you believe in the truthfulness of all Hadiths, we should follow these things.

For the main points of this post, I want to talk about how the role of dogs changed throughout human history. In the time of our beloved Prophet ﷺ, dogs kept by humans were mainly used for hunting and guarding. Back then, there was no hygiene for them and no way to ensure that they didn't carry any diseases or pests. Another point to note is that also back then, commoners and our Sahaba and Prophet ﷺ lived in very small houses as they lived like commoners too. So having an animal without any health precautions would increase the chance for disease and bugs inside of already tiny houses. Now this is my own take on this, but it is known that a prayer is not accepted if a dog comes in front of the prayer from Hadith. In small houses where you do everything in one room including praying, that dog will always be across your prayer. However, in bigger houses like we are able to have these days (Alhamdulillah) dogs won't be coming in front of you if you have a separate salah room which you don't allow them to enter. My local Mufti/Imam also said that if you keep a dog, to keep it in a separate room from your salah room and that it's not completely forbidden to have a dog inside your house, and I believe that his reasoning is what I've said in this paragraph.

Now the MOST important argument I have that we should keep dogs is that again in the time of the Prophetﷺ dogs along with other animals were allowed to roam freely throughout society as they didn't interrupt the happenings of society. People walked and used camels and horses for travel, and dogs and cats and other domestic animals running around towns posed no harm to them or us. However, in current society where cars and huge vehicles are the norm, if we let dogs run around, that is a harm to both them and us and can cause accidents and would impede the efficiency of our society. If we keep them in shelters without adopting them, they are euthanized, something that goes against the broader Islamic principles of being kind to all things and not killing another life unless absolutely necessary.

Finally, I know for sure that some people will say that it's allowed to keep a dog, just not inside the house even though they know what I mean by this post, and I want to address that as well. Dogs are social animals. Having a dog and keeping it outside the house will just bring it sadness as they also feel love and care for their owners. With the amount of hygiene and healthcare like vaccines we can afford for them now(Alhamdulillah) I want to say that it is fine if we keep them inside now, as long as they are not kept or let in the place that you do salah in. To the conservatives and Salafis that say Hadiths are perfect and unchanging, I want to remind them about how slavery was practiced in our religion, and it was slowly dragged out. I want to also start dragging out the exclusion of dogs from society as I believe we have been in place where having them won't cause harm. Dogs are beautiful creatures and they deserve the utmost care and respect, and I thank God for letting me have one.

Allah knows best and Jhazakallah for everyone that made it here to the end.

I had a couple of visitors to my office and, when my dog went to say hello to this one man, he was pulling his hand away, moving back, etc. So, I called my dog back and apologized with a "sorry, I did not realize you were afraid of dogs"

He told me that Islam does not allow domesticated dogs. Apparently, they do not use guardian or shepherd dogs either.

This really caught me by surprise, that even touching a dog seems wrong.

I've always found it deeply frustrating and honestly sad how dogs are viewed in many Muslim communities. They're seen as impure, avoided, treated poorly or outright neglected. But when you actually look at the Quran it only mentions dogs in a neutral or even positive light.

For example:

• 18:18, 18:22 describes a group of believers who had a dog as their companion. If dogs were truly impure, why would Allah mention a dog being with righteous people and also reside alongside them?

• 5:4 explicitly allows hunting dogs and states that the food they catch is halal. If their saliva was so “impure” why would eating food from their mouths be permissible?

Yet, despite these Quranic verses portraying dogs in a positive way, many Muslims today view them as filthy, impure or some cases even evil.

The "dog saliva is impure" argument is flawed

A common argument is that dog saliva is scientifically proven to be impure. But when you actually look into it, nearly all sources claiming this are Muslim sources with clear bias. This is a textbook case of confirmation bias where instead of asking whether dog saliva is truly impure, people look for reasons to validate their already established beliefs. It’s the same thing casinos did when they funded research trying to disprove that gambling is harmful, conflict of interest.

And if impurity is truly the concern, why aren't cats viewed the same way? Cat saliva can carry diseases like toxoplasmosis, which is especially dangerous for pregnant women, yet somehow cat saliva is okay, but dog saliva isn't? Scientifically, both animals can carry bacteria, but only one is demonized in Islam

And to the people that cling to hadiths to explain the impurity, there are hadiths that also state that the food they catch is halal despite their saliva: Sahih Bukhari 1:4:175, Sunan Abu Dawud 16:2851,16:2845, 16:2846,16:2850,Al-Muwatta 25:4,25:7,25:5

So, which is it?

How do you view dogs? Do you think the hadiths contradict the Quran on this matter? Should Muslims re-evaluate their stance on dogs?

In Islam we believe that raising or keeping a dog inside the house is not allowed in Islam under any circumstances, and even prevents the Angels of Mercy from entering the house, and deducts a large amount of a Muslim's worship reward on every single day. However, a dog may be kept and benefited from outside the house for permissible reasons, such as farming, guarding livestock/crops and herding, hunting, or service reasons (for the blind etc). Furthermore, dogs are regarded as ritually impure and their mucus membranes are unclean and carry disease. If a human were to make contact with a dogs saliva, they will have to wash their hand seven times with water, and then an eighth time by rubbing it in the Earth (natural dirt), this is the only way to counter the bacteria that is carried by a dogs saliva. If the person does not do this, their prayers will not be accepted. What do you think about this?

When I was a young child and I invited some of the Indian girls to my house to play, they looked as if they were frightened of my dog. No amount of me saying "Don't worry, he won't hurt you! He's very friendly!" would reassure them.

I happened to hear that there was an occasion when an Angel didn't enter a house because there was a dog inside it. That got me thinking- maybe the Indian girls weren't so much scared, they were perhaps disgusted because we kept a pet dog? Thanks in advance for your answer.

Any mentions of dogs in the Quran is in a positive manner.

So it’s weird that the Hadiths take a completely opposite stance and view.

Have there been any studies regarding how these negative Hadiths on dogs have developed?

Could someone provide me with a simple breakdown of rulings on dogs based on different schools of Islamic jurisprudence, please? I live in a small town in UK with high % of Muslims descending from South Asia. The only ones who are not bothered about a chance of being approached by my friendly, on-lead dog as they walk past us, are those who breed dogs. The rest shows some kind of apprehension, dislike or anxiety I would say, either by grabbing their children and crossing the street or stepping aside on the street and waiting for me to walk past before re-entering pavement. This behaviour led me to a belief that dogs are impure in Islam and Muslims are forbidden to touch them. I even started to cross the street when walking my dog so they don't have to - to aid their anxiety and to show respect towards their beliefs. Not long after, I touched on this subject on a Facebook group only to find out from Muslims commenting under my post from all over the world that dogs are not considered impure and that there is nothing stopping Muslims from being accepting and friendly towards dogs, other than personal preferences. Not going to lie, this statement was as shocking to me as my statement was to them. Fast forward to earlier this year. I visited Morocco and, to my surprise, stray dogs were very common sight. Not only that, Muslims were feeding these dogs, petting them and caring for them. Such a contrast to what I'm used to seeing in the UK. The whole thing kept bugging me so my next conclusion was that there must be different rulings on the subject depending on different schools of jurisprudence that Muslims follow in different countries. I am looking forward to hearing your input.

i am no scholar but i just wanted to share why i think this view is stronger. ibn hazm and dhahiris also have a similar view where they think the washing 7 times is only for vessels.

the hadith talks about a vessel, it doesnt mean it applies to everything. vessels are used for drinking and wudu, so cleaning them is important for this reason. doesnt mean anything a dog touches has to be cleaned the same way.

there is another hadith that anyone who wakes up should wash his hand three times before putting it in the wudu vessel. its an example of how the Prophet (saw) said such things due to cleanliness and precaution. but scholars dont say because of this hadith that our hands are najis in the morning and anything we touch becomes dirty before we clean it three times. the problem is some fuqaha seem to have taken general cleanliness advice by the Prophet (saw) and made their own extensions to it.

As per Sahih Muslim 1575, any muslim who keeps a dog other than for hunting or gathering livestock qualifies them to lose two qirats (good deeds) a day. Considering that a dog is one of the most loyal and loving creatures, why would Allah not want muslims to keep dogs?

I mean, most hadith accepting mainstream muslims believe that dogs are filthy, disgusting & evil; and angels will not enter into your home if you have a dog. Just want to know if you guys think the same or different.

Although dogs are God's creatures like any other, Islam teaches us they don't belong to homes or living with people.

It might interest you: In Islam, dogs are one of the only two inherently 'unclean' animals, i.e. their whole body shouldn't touch our clothes, or then we need to wash them. Even worse, if they lick something, cleaning it has a special rule in itself!

So it is refreshing to know people who see this dog-obsessed societies as they are and not being bullied by all the dog nutters!

I've seen Hadiths that do point out the Prophet Muhammad SAW ordered the killing of all dogs except for dogs used for work.

I have been told that no you are only allowed to kill animals for food or for self-defense.

So this makes me think as well. I remember being a kid and a dog just randomly showed up on our back porch and was barking at us and was indeed aggressive as my mom did approach it and it did bite. I wonder in a situation like this would it be justified under Islam to then kill this dog? This was back when I was a kid and basically, I don't know what happened but on the day that my mom called animal control, we saw the dog just run off and never saw that dog again. I don't know what happened if they got the dog or what but the dog got away without any knowledge of what happened next.

I understand laws prevent me from going around and killing dogs so I understand even Islam teaches you to obey the laws and I take this as just don't allow dogs in the house. My mom does have a dog and I have been tempted to kill it if I am being honest as it has licked my mouth which I will have to wash. I am worried about dogs licking as even I know of like 2 cases of bacteria that can be found in lakes where a dog lick has actually made people lose their limbs. But yeah I don't kill these dogs cause that will be something that will be hard to explain to my mom or my sister and just be a reason not to trust me around animals as I do love my cats and I have a cat who is getting put down. But yeah at the same time these Hadiths that do say things like angels will not enter houses where there is a dog and especially black dogs being of Shaytan and yeah my mom's dochin pure black and we also have a min pin that my sister takes because it's like I don't know my mom bought it and I named her but the first time we had a min pin it got ran over and killed and that was my first experience of what it feels like to hold a dead body and how limp a dead body really is. I do want to mention a min pin because I've also heard that the whole black dog being Shaytan also means they have to have 2 yellow spots above their eyes which is what min pins have.

And while yeah we had these dogs before I found Islam I don't know how to really explain it to my mom either that owning a dog is haram and in fact, there are hadiths that call for the killing of dogs. I do want to take a literal interpretation but I am also bound by my own country's laws. And even then animal cruelty is just a misdemeanor my state even takes marijuana as a more serious crime than animal cruelty and I mean the punishment and fines are less than getting a drug charge but I would also imagine I probably wouldn't be allowed to own animals either. But having bought animals and even the cat I have that's young he was only an abandoned animal so I got him for free so I know people can get access to animals without a background check.

Anyway, I've heard many interpretations and it does seem like this might be a Westernized view of Islam as even people who say the killing of dogs is only for dangerous dogs make me wonder. Countries like the UK make it illegal to own pit bulls in fact if pit bulls are found they will take them from the owner to have them euthanized. There was even that time when 2 pit bulls in the UK were killed on a public sidewalk and having seen that video I don't know if it was really justified. I know there is a group of people who want to call for the death of all pit bull breeds while hadiths on the other hand say all dogs should be killed unless for work. I understand yes you can own a dog for work so this gets to a level of police dogs are okay even though they can be trained to misrepresent things so cops can have a reason to do an unlawful search. I've seen it before. So it's like the only thing a dog can really be trusted for is if they are a service dog or a hunting dog and even then hunting dogs have to be trained not to eat the food cause it's a whole thing that if a dog starts eating then it's dirty food and it's for the dog.

I am just wondering what interpretation should I think of when I read hadiths that order the killing of dogs.

They're adorable and intelligent. 😭 Man's best friend. They feel joy, fear, anger, disgust, and love. They can also read our emotions through body language and etc. Religion is so stupid. Restricting ourselves for what? some schizophrenic shepherd was probably the one spreading ridiculous rumors and now look at us (us as in humans).

In islam dogs are considered najes due to their saliva being impure. However, i've tried googling what makes a dog's saliva so impure and I could not find any clear answer other than because allah said so. Also why do angels not enter the house where someone has a dog? I find that so cruel. And why is a cat's saliva considered okay but not dogs? Both are animals in the end so why so much discrimination towards dogs in particular? For the record I like all animals but it annoys me so much that dogs get so much hate just because of religion.

This is one topic I’ve been very confused about. Can I own a dog at all? Do I just have to keep it outside? Or is this whole thing just another Hadith that people claim as fact? Someone please help.