Seeing a dream about dogs while in Makkah

20-9-2010 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalammualaikum wbh Recently I performed the Umrah. While in Mecca I dreamt a few incidents. Are dreams in Mecca can be believed and cosidered guidence from Allah? I hate dogs. To me dogs are dirty animals. In Mecca I dreamt that i reared a lot of dogs and they are very intimate to me. Did this dream try to show to me that dogs are also God's creation and should not be hated? Please answer. Thank you.

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

We are not aware of any evidence that dreams in Makkah are of special excellence; rather, it appears that dreams in Makkah are like dreams in any other part of the world. However, if a person hates dogs, he is not to be blamed because the dog is used (in the Quran and Sunnah) to give a bad example, Allaah Says (what means): {So his example is like that of the dog: if you chase him, he pants, or if you leave him, he [still] pants.}[Quran 7:176] Moreover, it is confirmed in Saheeh Al-Bukhari  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him that Ibn ‘Abbaas  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him narrated that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: “The bad example is not for us. He who takes his gift back is like a dog that swallows back its vomit.” However, one should abide by the Sharee’ah towards animals including dogs, so a dog should not be killed or harmed just because it is a dog. Anas  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him said: “The Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) forbade torturing animals until it dies.” [Muslim]

Also, Ibn ‘Abbaas  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him narrated that the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said: “Do not take anything in which there is a soul as a target.” [Muslim]

An-Nawawi  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him said: “The scholars  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  them said: “Torturing an animal until it dies means to tie it while it is alive and throw arrows (and the like) at it until it dies; this is the meaning “Do not take anything in which there is a soul as a target” Meaning, do not take a living animal as a target to throw at it, like throwing an animal [to kill it] just for its skin and the like, and the forbiddance here indicates prohibition; because the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) said in the Hadeeth narrated by Ibn ‘Umar  may  Allaah  be  pleased  with  him after this Hadeeth: “Allaah cursed whoever does so.

Moreover, this is torturing the animal and spoiling it, and wasting the chance to slaughter it according to Islamic rites if it is an animal whose meat is lawful to eat, and if it is not an animal whose meat is lawful to eat, then it can be useful otherwise.

Therefore, it is not permissible to transgress the animal by any form of harm, as this is a forbidden injustice, unless there is a religious text about the permissibility of doing so (of killing it), like the saying of the Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ): "There are five harmful things which should be killed whether or not one is in the state of Ihraam: a snake, a speckled crow, a rat, a voracious dog, and a kite." [Muslim] The Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) also said: “Was it not that the dogs are a nation among other nations, I would have ordered you to kill it, so kill from it any pitch-black dog.” [Ahmad]

Finally, we apologize for not interpreting your dream as our site is not specialized in interpreting dreams. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 83830, 86844 and 81421.

Allaah Knows best.

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