The Ruling on Killing Harmful Animals
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
May Allah forgive you, O Shaykh! What is the ruling on killing animals that cause harm, such as cats and others?
Animals are divided into two categories: The first category: those whose nature is to cause harm. It is recommended to kill them, whether they are among those specifically mentioned by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), such as the scorpion, the mouse, and the biting dog, or whether they are others that share the operative cause of the ruling, which is harm.For this reason, the scholars said: It is recommended to kill every harmful creature. Such a creature is to be killed if it is its habit to cause harm, even if it has not caused harm in the present instance; for if it does not cause harm this time, it will cause harm next time.
The second category: As for that which causes no harm and no damage, it is not to be killed; however, killing it is not forbidden. Rather, the preferred course is not to kill it. If it harms you, you may kill it to ward off its harm.
Rather, we said: The preferred course is not to kill it if it does not harm you; for animals and insects, in terms of what the Shari'ah has legislated regarding them, are divided into three categories: 1- A category that one is commanded to kill.
2- A category that one is forbidden from killing.
3- A category regarding which silence is maintained (no specific ruling is given) on killing.
As for that which one is commanded to kill,For example: it is the scorpion, the mouse, the biting dog, the snake, the lizard, and the like.
And as for that which one is forbidden from killing,For example: it is the ant, the bee, and the hoopoe.
And that regarding which silence is maintained on killing is like: The remaining animals and insects are those regarding which silence is maintained. The preferred course is not to kill them, for the least that can be said about killing them is that it is extinguishing a soul without cause.
Then some scholars said: As long as it is alive, it is glorifying Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and when it dies, the glorification ceases.So your killing of it means: Destroying it in such a way that it no longer glorifies.
In any case, the ruling is that the preferred course is not to kill them unless they harm you. If they harm you, there is no harm in killing them.
Animals are divided into two categories: The first category: those whose nature is to cause harm. It is recommended to kill them, whether they are among those specifically mentioned by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), such as the scorpion, the mouse, and the biting dog, or whether they are others that share the operative cause of the ruling, which is harm.For this reason, the scholars said: It is recommended to kill every harmful creature. Such a creature is to be killed if it is its habit to cause harm, even if it has not caused harm in the present instance; for if it does not cause harm this time, it will cause harm next time.
The second category: As for that which causes no harm and no damage, it is not to be killed; however, killing it is not forbidden. Rather, the preferred course is not to kill it. If it harms you, you may kill it to ward off its harm.
Rather, we said: The preferred course is not to kill it if it does not harm you; for animals and insects, in terms of what the Shari'ah has legislated regarding them, are divided into three categories: 1- A category that one is commanded to kill.
2- A category that one is forbidden from killing.
3- A category regarding which silence is maintained (no specific ruling is given) on killing.
As for that which one is commanded to kill,For example: it is the scorpion, the mouse, the biting dog, the snake, the lizard, and the like.
And as for that which one is forbidden from killing,For example: it is the ant, the bee, and the hoopoe.
And that regarding which silence is maintained on killing is like: The remaining animals and insects are those regarding which silence is maintained. The preferred course is not to kill them, for the least that can be said about killing them is that it is extinguishing a soul without cause.
Then some scholars said: As long as it is alive, it is glorifying Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and when it dies, the glorification ceases.So your killing of it means: Destroying it in such a way that it no longer glorifies.
In any case, the ruling is that the preferred course is not to kill them unless they harm you. If they harm you, there is no harm in killing them.