2971 — “He forbade the price of a dog and a cat.”

This is narrated from Jabir ibn ʿAbd Allah al-Ansari through three routes. The first is through Abu al-Zubayr. Four reliable narrators—with some weakness in their retention—reported it from him:

The first was Maʿqil ibn ʿUbayd Allah al-Jazari, who narrated from him: “I asked Jabir about the price of a dog and a cat. He replied, ‘The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, forbade that.’” It was reported by Muslim (5/35) and al-Bayhaqi (6/10).

The second was Ibn Lahiʿah: Abu al-Zubayr narrated to us, saying: “I asked Jabir about the price of a dog and a cat …” The hadith is similar. It was reported by Ahmad (3/386)—this being his wording—and by Ibn Majah (2161) in abbreviated form, though he did not mention the dog. Ahmad did mention it in another narration (3/339), as did al-Tahawi in his commentary (2/226).

The third was Hammad ibn Salamah, who narrated from him with the wording: “He forbade the price of a cat and a dog, except for a hunting dog.” Al-Nasaʾi reported it (2/196) and said afterward: “It is not authentic.”

I say: It seems that al-Nasaʾi meant the addition, “a hunting dog,” since Hammad ibn Salamah alone reported it, and since it conflicts with the preceding routes, with others that follow, and with the other hadiths that categorically prohibit the price of a dog, such as the hadith of Abu Masʿud al-Badri, which is documented in al-Irwaʾ