Rulings for Keeping and Trading Birds in Islam

Rulings for Keeping and Trading Birds in Islam

Rulings for Keeping and Trading Birds in Islam

It is allowed to keep bird as pet with some stipulations:

First: It should be fed properly

Second: The bird is not the kind of bird that will die if it is caged. As the experts explained, there are several kind of birds that would die if caged. Such birds should not be kept.

As for other kind of birds, they are allowed to be caged as long as they are fed properly. The indication is a hadith from Bukhari and Muslim from Abu Huraira, about a woman that was casted into the Hell because of a cat.

فلا هي حبستها فأطعمتها، ولا تركتها تأكل من خشاش الأرض

“She didn’t feed the cat when she wanted to cage it. Nor that she let the cat go so that it might find it’s own food.”

Some scholars said that the hadith showed that it is permissible to keep animal as pet as long as it’s need is fulfilled. Therefore if someone wants to keep a goat, a cat, or a bird, and he can fulfill it’s needs and care for it, he is allowed to keep it.

Another indication in this matter is a hadith narrated by Bukhari and Muslim from Anas, who told that the Prophet passed a little boy who was playing with his little bird. After that, the Prophet returned to see him, but he saw him crying. The Prophet said to him,

يا أبا عمير؛ ما فعل النغير؟

“O Father of Umair ( nickname of the boy, -ed), what is your little bird doing?”

In that hadith, the Prophet let the boy to keep and play with the bird that he kept. The Prophet didn’t order his family to free the bird.

This hadith contains many lessons. Ibn Al Qash Ash Shafi’i wrote a special book about the lessons taken from this hadith. He was able to write down around thirty lessons. Ibn Hajar in “Fath al Bari” added ten more lessons. Thus the total lessons are forty lessons. And one of it is that it is lawful to cage a bird.

If it is alright to keep birds, then bird is something valuable thus it is concluded that it is also lawful to sell or to buy it, moreover for consumptive purpose.

The conclusion is that it is lawful to trade birds.

But to run after the dove, take a dove that is not his or her, annoy the neighbor, climb to the roof and thus seeing the things that are not supposed to be seen, are among the dangers of keeping the doves or pigeons.

In his book, “Al Manar al Munif,”, Ibn Al Qoyyim classed good a hadith which told that the Prophet saw someone chasing a dove, and he commented,

شيطان يتبع شيطان

“A satan is chasing another satan”

Therefore, keeping the dove, stealing it, and busying oneself with it to the extent that the person leave many of his obligations and obediences are disgraceful things. Whereas merely keeping the bird by fulfilling it’s needs and rights without committing disgraceful things is alright. (A fatwa issued by Sheikh Mashur Hasan Salman, question no. 200)

Author: Ustadz. Aris Munandar, S.S., M.PI.
Article of www.syaria.com

4 thoughts on “Rulings for Keeping and Trading Birds in Islam

  1. very good effort.may Allah accepts

  2. izhar ul haq says:

    Kindly give reference in the light of islam about parrot taming

  3. kausam salam says:

    Some good humans will be suspect no matter what they do or how they respect all laws of the land..

  4. What about ZAKAT on birds which are kept for trade?

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