If keeping a dog in the house is forbidden except for protection and hunting, is buying and selling a dog also forbidden?

Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh — Buying and selling a dog and taking its price is absolutely haram and impermissible, whether the dog is an ordinary one or is for hunting/protection. The permissibility of acquiring (a dog) by sale is not established from the concession of keeping one.

1. The prohibition of the price: (a) Abu Mas'ud al-Ansari, may Allah be pleased with him: «نَهَى رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ عَنْ ثَمَنِ الْكَلْبِ، وَمَهْرِ الْبَغِيِّ، وَحُلْوَانِ الْكَاهِنِ» (Sahih al-Bukhari: 2237, Sahih Muslim: 1561). (b) Rafi' ibn Khadij, may Allah be pleased with him: «ثَمَنُ الْكَلْبِ خَبِيثٌ، وَمَهْرُ الْبَغِيِّ خَبِيثٌ، وَكَسْبُ الْحَجَّامِ خَبِيثٌ» (Sahih Muslim: 1568). (c) Abu Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him: «لَا يَحِلُّ ثَمَنُ الْكَلْبِ» (Sunan Abi Dawud: 3484).

2. The exceptional narrations about a hunting dog ("إِلَّا كَلْبَ صَيْدٍ") are weak — the research of al-Nasa'i, al-Bayhaqi, Ibn 'Abd al-Barr and al-Albani; therefore the general ruling of prohibition applies to every dog. In the Shariah a dog is not recognised property (mal mutaqawwam) — its sale is void; breeding and regular trade in it is haram earnings.

3. The lawful way of acquiring one: (a) Asking for it as a gift/present or free of charge — the best method. (b) The concession of severe compulsion: If there is a genuine Shariah need and no one is ready to give one free, it becomes permissible for the buyer to give money and take one out of need — the sin is on the seller, and for the seller eating the price will in any case remain haram and impure (khabith).

(c) Keeping a dog in the house without need is also a cause of a decrease of one or two qirats of rewards every day.

Translated from the original Urdu fatwa.