The Ruling on Keeping Ornamental Birds
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
May Allah reward you with good and do you well. What is the ruling on keeping ornamental birds? Knowing that they may be a good means to distract children and keep them quiet.
The Shaykh:
If by birds you mean live birds, then there is nothing wrong with keeping them, provided one secures what they need of their food and drink, prepares a suitable place for them, and does not harm or distress them. If one does these things and no harm comes to the birds, then there is nothing wrong with it. However, if one keeps birds and mistreats them in their sustenance, their drink, or in a place that is not suitable for them, then this is not permissible; because they are living beings and they feel pain just as a human feels pain. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) exhorted kindness to animals and securing for them what they need. It came in the hadith that And what is that, O Messenger of Allah? He said: She imprisoned it, Sunan Ibn Majah 4256Sahih (Darussalam) she did not let it eat from the insects of the earth. Likewise, keeping birds and other animals requires securing what they need, and requiring that they be at ease in their place and not be mistreated, because they have sanctity, and because they are living beings that feel pain just as a human feels pain. As for if you mean by birds pictures of birds or stuffed birds, then this is a matter that is not permissible. Because if they are pictures, it is not permissible to keep pictures in houses. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: The angels do not enter a house, Sunan Ibn Majah 3649Sahih (Darussalam). And when he saw a curtain of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that she had used to cover a niche, meaning an opening in the wall, and it had pictures in it, he (peace and blessings be upon him) was angered. And he refused to enter that place until these pictures were torn down and removed?
The questioner:
Who is the one feeding?
The Shaykh:
And if they are stuffed birds, then they are also not permissible; because they are impure carrion, and it is not permissible to keep them, and they are impure carrion. Yes.
May Allah reward you with good and do you well. What is the ruling on keeping ornamental birds? Knowing that they may be a good means to distract children and keep them quiet.
The Shaykh:
If by birds you mean live birds, then there is nothing wrong with keeping them, provided one secures what they need of their food and drink, prepares a suitable place for them, and does not harm or distress them. If one does these things and no harm comes to the birds, then there is nothing wrong with it. However, if one keeps birds and mistreats them in their sustenance, their drink, or in a place that is not suitable for them, then this is not permissible; because they are living beings and they feel pain just as a human feels pain. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) exhorted kindness to animals and securing for them what they need. It came in the hadith that
A woman entered the Fire because of a cat, it was said
امرأة دخلت النار في هرة، قيلand did not feed, or
فلا هي أطعمتها، ولا هيThe angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog or an image.
لا تدخل الملائكة بيتا فيه كلب ولا صورةThe questioner:
Who is the one feeding?
The Shaykh:
And if they are stuffed birds, then they are also not permissible; because they are impure carrion, and it is not permissible to keep them, and they are impure carrion. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 4921- حكم اقتناء طيور الزينة - الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.