كلب
Kalb
Topic
The Quran allows hunting with trained dogs; hadith differ on the dog’s ritual purity, and the Prophet taught kindness to them.
What it means
“They ask you what is lawful. Say: the good things, and what you have taught the trained hunting animals” (5:4). The dog of the cave’s sleepers is mentioned in 18:18. The Prophet said a man was forgiven for giving water to a thirsty dog (Sahih al-Bukhari). The schools differ on whether a dog’s saliva makes things unclean, the Malikis holding that it does not.
What the sources say
A hadith says that angels do not enter a house with a dog (Sahih al-Bukhari), and that dogs which are not working animals are discouraged in the home. Many Muslim societies are unfriendly to dogs, and many Muslims keep them as guard dogs, shepherds, or pets.