Al-Nawawī states in al-Majmūʿ that al-Ruyānī transmitted from Abū Ḥanīfah the view that it is permissible.
He adds: “It is unanimously agreed that a dog may be kept for hunting, for farmland, or for livestock.”
As for keeping a dog to guard houses or riding animals, there are two well-known positions:
- It is impermissible, because of the prophetic report to that effect.
- It is permissible, since the purpose is the protection of property, placing it on the same footing as farmland and livestock.
The jurists also differed about whether selling a dog is valid:
• Imams al-Shāfiʿī and Aḥmad held that the sale is void and forbidden, relying on the report in al-Bukhārī (5346) and Muslim (1567) from Abū Masʿūd ʿUqbah ibn ʿĀmir: “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade the price of a dog, the earnings of a prostitute, and the fee of a soothsayer,” along with other narrations.
• The same verdict—prohibition and invalidity—was adopted by al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, Rabīʿah, Ḥammād, al-Awzāʿī, and Dāwūd.
• Abū Ḥanīfah, however, deemed it permissible to sell any dog, to take its price, and to hold anyone who destroys it financially liable.
• Among the Mālikīs there is disagreement: some allow the sale of a dog whose keeping is permitted, while others do not.
Those who permit the sale cite Muslim (1569), from the ḥadīth of Jābir: “The Prophet ﷺ rebuked the price of a dog and a cat,” and argue that since benefiting from the animal is lawful, and one may transfer ownership of it and bequeath it, its sale is likewise valid—just like that of a donkey.
Among the early authorities who allowed its sale are Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, ʿAṭāʾ, and al-Nakhaʿī.