Risala fi Hukm Thaman al-Kilab
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- Dār al-Lu’lu’ah lil-Nashr wa-al-Tawzī‘
Risala fi Hukm Thaman al-Kilab (A Treatise on the Legal Ruling Regarding the Price of Dogs) is a contemporary legal and Hadith treatise by Ahmad bin Awad, focusing on Islamic rulings concerning commercial and financial transactions involving dogs .
Scope and Subject Matter
The work investigates the permissibility of buying and selling dogs and examines related financial issues arising from their ownership and utilization . In addition to the primary issue of sales, the treatise explores several subsidiary matters, including:
- Fining a person who kills a dog its value or price (taghrim qatil al-kalb thamanahu) .
- Hiring or leasing dogs (ijarat al-kalb) .
- Remuneration for training dogs (thaman tadrib al-kalb) .
- Fees and compensation for treating and providing veterinary care to dogs (thaman 'ilaj al-kalb) .
Regarding veterinary medicine, the treatise affirms the permissibility of receiving payment for treating dogs brought to clinics, framing medical care for animals as an act of prescribed kindness (ihsan) .
Structure and Methodology
The author structures the inquiry by compiling textual evidence from the Quran and the Sunnah before examining the statements of the Companions (sahaba), Successors (tabi'un), their followers, and jurists from the four Sunni legal schools (madhahib) and other authorities .
Ahmad bin Awad applies Hadith criticism alongside jurisprudential analysis, sourcing each narrative directly from original works and evaluating the authenticity (sihha) or weakness (da'f) of reported traditions and historical reports (athar) . He presents the textual reasoning (wajh al-istidlal) underlying each legal position and outlines how contending jurists responded to opposing arguments .
In classifying the jurisprudential debate over the sale of dogs, the author outlines five distinct positions before consolidating them into broader overarching stances of prohibition versus permissibility:
- Complete prohibition of selling dogs under any circumstance, whether trained or untrained .
- Unrestricted permissibility of selling dogs .
- Permissibility of purchasing hunting dogs without permitting their sale .
- Permissibility of buying and selling dogs that are legally permitted to keep .
- Permissibility of selling trained dogs specifically .
Scholarly Review
The text was reviewed and introduced by the scholar Mustafa al-Adawi, who commended the work for its dual attention to Hadith verification and comparative jurisprudence .
Answer updated