Hadith 3203

Commentary

a. Hunting lawful animals is allowed. b. Using dogs for hunting is lawful. In his explanation for Musnad Ahmad (6:109) on the Hadith of 'Āishah, Sindi said: "Wide eyed." In his explanation on Ibn Mājah, Sindi quoted Damiri saying: "And for the explanation of 'Ein with walls there is a well-known disagreement." So it is clear that Muhammad bin Bashshār narrated the Hadith with the word 'Ein, since he gave an explanation for it at the end, therefore the change of the word from Ghanim to 'Ein must have come before Ibn Mājah, and before Muhammad if that is what has happened. For Ibn Mājah reported this through two chains, one from Muhammad from 'Uthmān bin 'Umar, and the other from Muhammad bin Walid from Muhammad bin Ja'far, both of them from Shu'bah, and he did not differentiate between the wordings of the two chains. But Muslim reported it through the route of Muhammad bin Walid with Ghanim so it is clear that the different word was narrated by 'Uthmān bin 'Umar, and Yahya bin Sa'eed was reported to have disparaged 'Uthmān bin 'Umar. And Allāh knows best. c. Keeping dogs for any lawful purpose is allowed. d. Two lawful purposes are mentioned in the Ahādīth: hunting or guarding a farm or cattle. Thereafter, some other lawful uses of dogs are introduced such as a watch dog, guide dog, etc. In the future if any other good uses of dogs are discovered then they may be used and raised for that purpose. e. Raising dogs only for amusement or fun and having them in the house is forbidden.