A popular saying holds that "keeping a dog is a sin, keeping a cat is sunnah". Prothom Alo's religion desk has set out what hadith and Islamic jurisprudence actually say. The starting point: Islam teaches kindness to all creatures and sets balanced rules for keeping animals.
Dogs: keeping a dog inside the home for hobby or show, without need, is forbidden. A hadith in Sahih al-Bukhari (3225) says the angels of mercy do not enter a house with a dog or pictures of people and animals. A hadith in Sahih Muslim (1575) says a person who keeps a dog for anything other than hunting or guarding livestock loses two qirat of reward each day.
But it is not true that keeping a dog is a sin in itself. Dogs may be kept for self-defence, guarding crops, protecting livestock, tracking criminals and hunting; verse 4 of Surah al-Ma'idah allows eating what trained hunting animals catch. According to the jurisprudence work Radd al-Muhtar, even then the dog should be kept outside the living quarters. Not keeping a dog indoors does not mean hating or hurting it: Sahih al-Bukhari (3321) tells of a sinful woman forgiven for giving water to a thirsty dog.
Cats: a hadith in Sunan Abu Dawud (75) says cats are not impure, being animals that move about among people. The Companion Abdur Rahman was called "Abu Hurairah" for his kitten. Imam al-Nawawi wrote that keeping a cat is permissible (mubah) and that feeding and caring for it earns reward. Nowhere, however, is keeping a cat called sunnah.
The duty of care: cruelty is a sin even where keeping an animal is allowed. Sahih al-Bukhari (3482) tells of a woman punished for shutting up a cat and starving it to death. Anyone who keeps a cat must see to its food, water and treatment.
In short, keeping a dog indoors as a hobby is forbidden but keeping one outside for a purpose is allowed; keeping a cat is permitted but is not itself sunnah. Respecting every animal's rights is a Muslim's duty.
Photo: a cat in Lamabazar, Bangladesh, Moheen Reeyad / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Source: Prothom Alo
Comments
(0)