Dog Saliva For Muslim

although dogs are often vilified in many islamic cultures most of this hostility towards dogs has no basis in islam. the qur'anic narrative of the dwellers of cave casts their dog in a positive light. there are several traditions that note that dogs roamed the streets of medina, that many companions of the prophet (peace be upon him) owned puppies, a tradition that shows that the prophet prayed while a dog strolled near by, and even traditions that note that dogs strayed in to the prophet's mosque in medina.

the majority of muslim scholars (sunni and shi'i) consider dogs (or at least their saliva) "ritually" unclean. this conclusion is "inferred" from a tradition of the prophet (peace be upon him) which states that if a dog licks a container then the container needs to be washed seven times (five times, three times and once in other variations of the tradition). another tradition states that angels do not descend in a house where a dog is kept. according to these scholars dogs may only be kept for protection as guard dogs, for sheep herding, etc. but not as pets.


however, maliki scholars (the maliki school of jurisprudence is one of the four schools of sunni islam prevalent in north africa) maintain that dogs are not impure. they hold this opinion based on the juristic rule that all things are considered pure unless explicitly stated otherwise. they do not consider the the hadiths quoted above sufficiently authentic to overrule this general principle. furthermore, the washing of container they argue is not due to some "evil" associated with dogs but rather it is a means of preventing disease.

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