Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Are ones clothes considered ‘dirty’ if a dog has made contact with them. Can we pray in these clothes?
Walaikum assalam,
In the Hanafi school, the dog is not essentially filthy (najis al-`ayn), unlike pigs. [Haskafi, al-Durr al-Mukhtar]
- As such, if one’s clothes come into contact with a wet dog’s body, no filth will be considered to have transferred to one.
However, the saliva of dogs is filthy because the ruling of saliva follows the ruling related to the flesh of the given animal. [ibid. and al-Fatawaa l-Hindiyya, quoting Nasafi’s Kanz]
- As such, if a dog licks one’s clothes, the area licked would need to be washed three times or under flowing water, like other filth.
It would be recommended to wash it seven times, one of them with water admixed with soil, to follow the outward purport of the instruction of the Prophet (Allah bless him & give him peace), and to avoid the difference of opinion of the Shafiis and Hanbalis (Allah be well pleased with their scholars, and benefit us from the baraka of all the inheritors of the Prophet’s way). [Buhuti,Kashshaf al-Qina`; Nawawi, Minhaj al-Talibin] [The Hanafi imams understood the Prophet’s command to be for emphasis and recommendation, not obligation.]
[See attached answers.]
Keeping a Dog- Impermissibility Explained
Is there any benefit in trying to avoid differences of other schools? Why, and what are the limits?
The Path of Taqwa- Avoiding Differences of Opinion
And Allah alone gives success.
Walaikum assalam,
Faraz Rabbani.