The majority of both Sunni and Shi'a Muslim jurists consider dogs to be ritually unclean (Najis).[1] Most practicing Muslims do not have dogs as pets,[2] though dogs are allowed to be kept for guarding the house or farm, or when used for hunting purposes. Outside their ritual uncleanness, individual Islamic fatāwā, or rulings, have expressed that dogs be treated kindly or else be freed.[3]
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Muslims generally cast dogs in a negative light because of their ritual impurity. Muhammad didn't like dogs according to Sunni tradition.[2] (However, this may simply reflect general cultural views of the time, rather than a personal animosity.[4]) It is said that angels do not enter a house which contains a dog. Though dogs are not allowed for pets, they are allowed to be kept if used for work, such as guarding the house or farm, or when used for hunting purposes.
In a tradition found in the Sunni hadith book, al-Muwatta, Muhammad states that the company of dogs voids a portion of a Muslim's good deeds.[5]
Jurists from the Sunni Maliki school disagree that dogs are impure.[1] The story of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus in the Qur'an[6] (and also the role of the dog in early Christianity) is one of the striking exceptions.[7]
Dogs, outside the ritual legal discourse, were often portrayed in the literature as a symbol of highly esteemed virtues such as self-sacrifice and loyalty or on the other hand as an oppressive instrument in the hands of despotic and unjust rulers.[1]
According to one Sunni tradition, black dogs are evil, or even devils, in animal form. Although this tradition has been attributed to Muhammad, the vast majority of Ulema (Muslim jurists) view the attribution to be false; rather, it apparently reflects pre-Islamic Arab mythology.[1]
Another Sunni tradition attributed to Muhammad commands Muslims not trade or deal in dogs.[8] According to El Fadl, this shows the cultural biases against dogs as a source of moral danger.[1] However, the Hanafi scholars, the largest school of ritual law in Sunni Islam, allow all trading in dogs.
According to one story, Muhammad is said to have informed a prostitute, who had seen a thirsty dog hanging about a well and given it water to drink, that God forgave her because of that good deed.[2][9]
The historian William Montgomery Watt states that Muhammad's kindness to animals was remarkable for the social context of his upbringing. He cites an instance of Muhammad posting sentries to ensure that a female dog with newborn puppies was not disturbed by his army traveling to Mecca in the year 630.[4]
Because Islam considers dogs in general to be unclean,[1] many Muslim taxi drivers and store owners have refused to accommodate customers who have guide dogs.[10][11] In 2003, the Islamic Sharia Council, based in the United Kingdom, ruled that the ban on dogs does not apply to those used for guide work.[12]
However, many Muslims continue to refuse access, and see the pressure to allow the dogs as a restraint upon religious liberty.[13] Ibrahim Mogra of the Muslim Council of Britain has argued strongly that Sharia does not preclude working with guide dogs, and it is actually a duty under Sharia for a Muslim to help the visually impaired.
In July 2011, two Islamic groups based in Lérida (a city in the northeastern region of Catalonia, Spain) asked city officials to regulate the presence of dogs in public spaces so they didn't "offend Muslims." [14]