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Keeping Dog for Personal Protection: Allowed?

10 November, 2017
Q As-salamu `alaykum. I was wondering if it’s OK to keep dogs for personal protection purposes. I read on some websites that it’s OK to keep dogs for work or guarding purposes, if you really need it. But I was wondering about personal protection dogs, which are a bit different than guard dogs. With guard dogs, you just keep them outside and don't really interact with them much. With a personal protection dog however, you have to like play with the dog and always be interacting with it, because it has to bond with the family that it's protecting, otherwise it won't protect anyone. Thanks!

Answer

Dr. Wael Shehab
10 November, 2017

Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

In this fatwa

1- It should be known that it is not advisable for a Muslim to keep a dog except for reasonable reasons.

2- You are allowed, for a valid justification, to keep a dog for guarding, but you have to take every precaution not to have contact with its saliva.

Answering your question, Dr. Wael Shehab, PhD in Islamic Studies from Al-Azhar University and currently the Imam of the Downtown Toronto Masjid in Canada, states:

As you have said, a Muslim is not allowed to keep a dog except for an acceptable reason such as guarding.

You are allowed, for a valid justification, to keep a dog for guarding, but you have to take every precaution not to have contact with its saliva. You should also arrange for a separate living space for it.

Given the above, you may, in case of a real need, opt for a guard dog over personal protection dog in order to avoid direct contact with the dog.

Allah Almighty knows best.

Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.