Question (Q-23):
What do the Respected Scholars say about the following issue?
A blind man attends the Masjid with a guide dog, and there is nobody available to assist him besides the dog. He ties it outside the Masjid. This is what the visually impaired do when they go to shopping centres and other such places. Is it permissible to attend the Masjid for the performance of Fardh prayers with congregation in this way?
Answer:
A blind person should try his utmost to find a means other than a guide dog to reach the Masjid in order to perform his Salāh. If he cannot find anyone to assist him then the obligation of attending Salāh with congregation does not apply to him. Nevertheless, it is not prohibited for him to attend the Masjid with the aid of a guide dog. If he does, he should tie it to one side somewhere outside the Masjid. This is because the saliva of dogs is impure. Therefore, to ensure the shoes or slippers of the attendees do not become impure and the area within the Masjid vicinity (Finā ul Masjid) remains pure, the guide dog should be tied outside.
It is completely permissible to possess a dog for hunting or protection of one’s house or shop. This is mentioned in several Sacred Ahādīth and Fiqhī (Jurisprudential) works.
To keep a dog inside your house is not a sin or Harām. However, it stops the entrance of Angels of Mercy and prevents the descending of Blessings and Spiritual Favours. Nevertheless, when a dog is kept due to necessity then this is an exception to that ruling,
فإن الضرورات تبيح المحظورات
“Indeed necessities permit forbidden actions.”
Al Imām Al Khitābī and other Scholars believe that keeping a dog in your house for necessity does not prevent the entrance of the Angels of Mercy. The leading Scholar of the Shāfi’ī school of Fiqh (Jurisprudence) and the master of Hadīth Sciences, Al Imām An Nawawī Ash Shāfi’ī (رحمهم الله) said,
والاظهر أنه عام في کل کلب وصورة وانهم يمتنعون من الجميع لاطلاق الأحاديث
“And the most authentic position is that the Hadīth (in relation to the Angels not entering that house in which there is a dog or a picture) is general in relation to every dog and every picture and they prohibit all of these due to the Hadīth being unrestricted.” (Al Mirqāt Al Mafātīh, Volume 8, Page 323)
In light of these statements, the safest opinion is to keep the dog outside the house or in a separate room.
Allah (تعالى) Knows Best.
Written by Muftī Shamsulhudā Khān Misbāhī (Allah preserve him)
