Place of cats and dogs in Islam.

Depends on which brand of Islam you look at. The Koran talks about a dog with the dwellers (sleepers) of the cave (8:9-8:24). The dog was their companion.

18:18 And you would think they are awake while they are asleep. And We turn them on the right-side and on the left-side, and their dog has his legs outstretched in their midst. If you looked upon them you would have run away from them and you would have been filled with terror from them!
18:22 They will Say: "Three, the fourth is their dog." And they Say: "Five, the sixth is their dog," guessing at what they do not know. And they Say: "Seven, and the eighth is their dog." Say: "My Lord is fully aware of their number, none know them except for a few." So do not debate in them except with proof, and do not seek information regarding them from anyone.

A different excerpt:

5:4 They ask you what was made lawful to them, Say: "All the good things have been made lawful for you, and what the trained dogs and birds catch, you teach them from what God teaches you." So eat from what they have captured for you and mention God's name upon it, and be aware of God. God is quick in reckoning.

In some of the Hadiths you will find negative sayings about dogs.

Hadith - Bukhari 3:515, Narrated Abu Huraira

Allah's Apostle said, "Whoever keeps a dog, one Qirat of the reward of his good deeds is deducted daily, unless the dog is used for guarding a farm or cattle." Abu Huraira (in another narration) said from the Prophet, "unless it is used for guarding sheep or farms, or for hunting." Narrated Abu Hazim from Abu Huraira: The Prophet  said, "A dog for guarding cattle or for hunting."

Hadith - Bukhari 3:515, Narrated Abu Huraira

I heard Allah's Apostle saying; "Angels (of Mercy) do not enter a house wherein there is a dog or a picture of a living creature (a human being or an animal)."

Hadith - Mishkat, Transmitted by Abu Dawud and Darimi

The Prophet said, "Were dogs not a species of creature I should command that they all be killed; but kill every pure black one." [Muslim, Narrated AbuDharr: "...The black dog is a devil."]

No foul play with dogs in the Koran. You be the judge!

Quite briefly, both Cats and Dogs are to be treated with equal respect. Thus respect should be given to all of the lords creations. However the diffrence comes in due to the diffrence in their physical and mental charectaristics.

A cat is naturally a clean animal, even instictively a cat will lick it self to stay clean. It is due to this that a cat is allowed inside the house, if ofund in a Mosque one should not kick it out either.

A dog however differs since it is a dirty animal. A position is that it is not allowed inside ones house. This does not mean howver that they do not deserve respect.

Qur'an~e~Kerim

Hadith/Sunnah    

Not trying to get to religious, so here a quick quote from the Qur'an:

"And whatever the Messenger gives you, take it, and whatever he forbids you, leave it. And fear Allah: truly Allah is severe in punishment. " [Qur'an 59:7]

Quran + Sunnah = Sharia

My fathers family kept 2 dogs in Afghanistan.  They were for Gaurding only.  In Afghanistan, (and I"m not speaking for the entire Islamic world here), Dogs were not used as pets.  Dogs were dangerous, they DID carry diseases, and they DID attack people if they were hungry.  Some would use their dogs in dog fights, but the majority would use them as guard dogs.   

Cats on the other hand, in some houses were allowed inside, in others, they were cast outside as well.  Birds on the other hand were definitely used as pets.  Especially singing birds, doves, and parrots.

I personally love dogs, and if I were to ever purchase one, it would never step inside my house. 

i dont see how some of you guys are thinking that the Hadith contradict with the Quran !

in the three verses Seko posted above, the first two are from the story of people of Al Kahaf that they had a dog which was with them and Guarded them, and in the second one is clearly talking about Dogs used for Hunting.

The hadiths are saying the same,

so to sum up Dogs in Islam are not Pets, they must be for benifit such as guarding or Hunting.

also as per the Hadiths the Dog's saliva is considered not Clean "Najas", and if a Dog drank from a water this water cannot be used for prayer washing "Wodo"

while cats saliva is considered clean.

so what happens mostly is that cats are used inside the home for hunting harmfull animals such as mice and insects.

also having a dog and cats for the above reasons obligate a person to treat them nicly and play with them and have fun which equal to what most pets about.

also there are many hadiths about animal treatments, from what i remember in brief there is a hadith about a woman went to hell for prisoning her cat.and a man went to heaven for going down the well to get water to a thirsty wild dog.

I think this whole point is quite ridiculous.

Excuse me, could you show some respect towards my religion. I know that you said that you are a Muslim to, then you should know that Islam teaches respect.

Furthermore, there are people who can't live with cats inside their house. They are allergic to a substance of the cat's fur.

Whats your point? The Sharia does not say that you must have a cat, it up to the individual. If your allergic to cats dont buy one.

There are a lot of fatwas from here and there. If we was to follow all the fatwas we would be following Bin Laden. Follow Fatwas from knowlegeble people and not those Imam wannabe's. This is why we have the Hadith as a supplementary guide. The madhabs also show various interpretations to help the Ummah.

You can brush your teeth with a toothbrush, who said that you cant, Imam Al- Fred  Bin Flinstone? The Miswak however does have good effects for the teeth, which is why it is used in the ablution (Wudhu).

Pork and intoxicants are prohibited in the Qur'an. Dogs inside the house no. That's enough for me.

As for Osmanli, if you think that I've been disrespectful towards Islam just by stating my opinion on how useless this matter seems to me, I'm sorry but it seems that you're just too sensitive.

I showed some of them that, I think, speak for themselves. I'm sure we can find good stories and morals in some hadiths but you can also find awkward and non-sense stuff (and I'm talking about the sahih ones).

Do you agree with the ones I posted early on? The ones about the left-hand being the devil's hand or to grow a beard else you be wicked?

If you really follow such hadiths, then I am sorry if I offended you, but I just can't give any credit to these stories.

Ok, I'll accept that my understanding of the hadith is weak. But from what I've read so far, the knowledge in them is weak as well. And about the symbolic values, you're saying that not eating with the left hand, to grow a beard or women's salat being more valuable at home are just symbolic? If so, on what purpose?

Described by whom? By more hadiths?

That would depend on the person. There are some who use their left to clean themselves, others the right. There's also people who are left-handed and do most of their activities with the left. I can't see any point in this, I'm sorry.

I found such judgements in some muslim sites. Just type �islamic beard� in google to find them. But what disturbed me more were not those sites, whose authorship is always questionable, it was a discussion in a portuguese islamic forum where there was someone who brought this up and no-one, including people I know, questioned it (so far)!  

Regards Osmanli. Don't be offended, we are just trying to discuss some points here. Assalamu alaikum, peace be with you.