Question
Is it haraam to keep cats as pets? If not could u please give me some proof such as hadith. Also are cats considered unclean?
Answer
There is nothing in the Shari’ah (i.e. Islamic Law) that forbids anyone from having cats as pets. We are also unaware of any statement from the authentic sources of Islam that state cats are unclean. Rather, the opposite is true. The following hadith attests to this:
Yahya related to me from Malik from Ishaq ibn Abdullah ibn Abi Talha from Humayda bint Abi Ubayda ibn Farwa that her maternal aunt Kabsha bint Kab ibn Malik, who was the wife of the son of Abu Qatada al-Ansari, told her that once Abu Qatada was visiting her and she poured out some water for him to do wudu with. Just then a cat came to drink from it, so he tilted the vessel towards it to let it drink. Kabsha continued, “He saw me looking at him and said, ‘Are you surprised, daughter of my brother?’ I said, ‘Yes.’ He replied that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, cats are not impure. They intermingle with you .’ ” Yahya said that Malik said, “There is no harm in that unless one sees impurities on the cat’s mouth.”
The above hadith was reported in Malik’s Al Muwatta (Volume 2 Number 13) and in Sunan of Abu Dawood (Number 43). It is clear that cats are neither prohibited to have as pets nor are they considered unclean.
I hope I have clarified the issue.
God knows best.