You would think that they were awake, when they were in fact asleep.
We turn them to the right side and the left side, while their dog
stretched out his forepaws at the entrance.
18:18

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Dogs

Are they dirty, prohibited animals?

Muslims all over the word are led to believe that the dog is a dirty animal and that the mere touching of a dog would void the wudu (ablution) and infect the one who touched it with 'nagasah' (dirty impurity)!

This non Quranic concept comes from a number of hadith. It is claimed that prophet Muhammad ordered the killing of dogs and gave numerous hadith that prohibit the keeping of dogs except for hunting and guarding, due to their dirty properties!

By studying the Quran we find no such truth. Nowhere in the Quran are dogs prohibited, nor is there any mention of any contaminating effect of these lovely animals who are man's best friend. Consequently, we must dismiss all these hadith that fabricate lies against the prophet.

1- God tells us in the Quran about the story of the Companions of the Cave (Surah 18). In verse 13 God tells us that they were good believers and that God guided them. In verse 18 God tells us that they had their dog with them.

If dogs were prohibited and dirty, would God speak of the Companions of the Cave (who had a dog) as good believers?

2- Traditional Muslim scholars claim that the saliva of the dog contains contamination. In 5:4 God tells us that it is okay to eat what the trained dogs catch (dogs are used in hunting). If the dog is an animal which causes contamination by mere touch, would God tell us that it is perfectly alright to eat what the dog catches with his mouth (let alone just touch the dog)?

3- The Quran contains a very important rule for all believers, and the rule is:

There is not one verse in the Quran where God prohibits the keeping of dogs, nor that dogs are dirty animals causing contamination.

4- Is it logical that God would create an animal to be man's best friend and serve him in many ways, and then prohibit us from keeping such an animal?

5- If this is what the Quran tells us about dogs, where does the prohibition of dogs come from? Where do the claims about contamination from dogs come from? As most other corruptions which have crept into Islam, the source is always the fabricated hadith which are falsely attributed to prophet Muhammad!

Hadith tell us that the prophet prohibited the keeping of dogs as pets. Other hadith tell us that angels won't enter a room where there is a dog. Other hadith tell us that if we touch a dog our ablution is void and we become impure, and that we have to wash seven times to clean this impurity, the final time in dust! Other hadith go even beyond that to say that we must kill all black dogs!

The following are some examples:

Malik's Muwatta, Book 54, Number 54.5.13:

"Malik related from Nafi from Abdullah Ibn Umar that the messenger of God ordered all dogs (other than sheepdogs or hunting dogs) to be killed".

Ibn Hanbal's collection: The messenger of God said:

"You shall kill all black dogs, because they are devils."

The questions that arise by reading such hadith are:
Did the prophet really issue these prohibitions?
Did the prophet have the authority to issue these prohibitions?

The answer is given in the Quran:

"O you prophet, why do you prohibit what God has made lawful for you, seeking to please your wives? God is Forgiver Merciful. 66:1

God did not include the words in 66:1 in the Quran to belittle the prophet in our eyes, but these words are placed in the Quran in order to confirm to all believers, across all times, that the prophet of God does not have the authority to prohibit anything which is not prohibited by God. God is the only Law Maker (6:114) and the only duty of the messenger is to deliver God's message (5:92).

The outcome of the above analysis is that we must discard all the lies attributed to prophet Muhammad regarding prohibiting dogs. We must be focused on the Quran as the only source of guidance and religious law.