Short answer: cats have a warm place in Islam. The Prophet ﷺ said a cat is not impure, because cats are "among those who go around among you", and he warned that a woman entered the Fire for locking up a cat until it starved. Keeping a cat is allowed and caring for it is rewarded. Its hair or touch does not break wudu or make your clothes impure for prayer. The popular story that the Prophet ﷺ had a cat called Muezza has no source in the hadith books.
The hadith about cats
The Companion Abu Qatadah was making wudu when a cat came to drink. He tilted the vessel for it and let it drink, then explained:
إِنَّهَا لَيْسَتْ بِنَجَسٍ إِنَّهَا مِنَ الطَّوَّافِينَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَالطَّوَّافَاتِ
Innahā laysat bi-najas, innahā minaṭ-ṭawwāfīna ʿalaykum waṭ-ṭawwāfāt
It is not impure. It is one of those (male and female) that go around among you.
Sunan Abu Dawud 75, Jami at-Tirmidhi 92 and Sunan an-Nasa'i 68, from Abu Qatadah; at-Tirmidhi graded it hasan sahih
- The woman and the cat. The Prophet ﷺ said a woman was punished because of a cat she locked up until it died. She neither fed it nor let it out to eat from the creatures of the earth, and she entered the Fire because of it.1
- Reward for every living thing. A man who gave water to a thirsty dog was forgiven, and the Prophet ﷺ said: "There is a reward for serving any living being."2 A cat is no different.
- The father of the kitten. The Companion Abu Hurayrah, who narrated more hadith than anyone, got his name, "father of the little cat", because he used to carry a small cat with him while tending his family's goats.3
Is a cat pure? Its water, food and hair
The body of a living cat is pure. Its fur on your clothes, its touch, and its sitting on your prayer mat do not stop your prayer and do not break wudu. The one question the schools discuss is the water or food a cat has drunk or eaten from:
Water a cat has drunk from is pure, but using it for wudu is slightly disliked (makruh tanzihi) when other water is available, because cats do not avoid impurities. This is the view of Abu Hanifa and Muhammad. Abu Yusuf said it is not disliked at all. If you saw the cat eat a mouse and drink straight away, that water becomes impure. Food it ate from may be eaten.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali
- Water and food a cat has touched are pure and not disliked, following the hadith of Abu Qatadah, unless you see impurity on its mouth.
Cats in the masjid are a familiar sight from Istanbul to Cairo, and there is nothing wrong with a cat walking through a place of prayer.
Did the Prophet ﷺ have a cat called Muezza?
The story goes that the Prophet ﷺ had a cat named Muezza, and that he cut off his sleeve rather than wake her when she slept on it. It is a lovely story, and it is everywhere online, but it is not found in any of the hadith collections, with or without a chain. Scholars who searched for it found no source. We should not say the Prophet ﷺ did it.
What is authentic is enough: his teaching that cats are pure, his warning about the woman who starved one, and his Companion who was named after a kitten.
Can you buy or sell a cat?
A hadith in Sahih Muslim reports that the Prophet ﷺ disapproved of the price of a dog and a cat.4
Selling and buying a cat is valid and allowed, because a cat is pure and useful. Scholars explained the hadith as discouraging it, or as about cats with no benefit, not as making the sale void. Adopting a cat for free is still the more generous way.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i and Maliki
- Allowed, like the Hanafi view.
- Hanbali
- Two reports from Imam Ahmad. One allows it; the other forbids it on the strength of the hadith.
Is it haram to neuter a cat?
Scholars allow neutering an animal for a real benefit or to prevent harm, and Hanafi texts mention cats by name. Neutering to stop roaming, fighting, spraying or endless unwanted litters, done by a vet with anaesthetic, is a benefit to the cat and to people. What is not allowed is harming an animal for no reason. Some scholars of other schools disliked neutering animals that are not eaten, but many contemporary scholars allow it, especially to reduce the suffering of stray cats.
Caring for a cat the Islamic way
- Feed it, give it water, and keep it out of extreme heat and cold. The woman in the hadith was punished for neglect, not cruelty with her hands.
- Take it to a vet when it is ill. Leaving an animal in pain is a form of harm.
- Do not hit it, tie it up for long periods or let children torment it.
- If you can no longer care for it, rehome it with someone who can. Do not abandon it.
- Feeding street cats is sadaqah, and many Muslims leave water out for them, especially in summer.
Unlike the dog, there is no hadith saying angels avoid a house because of a cat. For the rulings on dogs, read dogs in Islam.
FAQ
Is it sunnah to have a cat?
Keeping a cat is allowed and caring for it is rewarded, but there is no hadith saying the Prophet ﷺ owned one, so it is not called a sunnah as such.
Did the Prophet ﷺ have a cat?
No authentic report says so. The popular Muezza story, including the cut sleeve, has no source in the hadith collections.
Can a cat be in the room when I pray?
Yes. A cat is pure, so its presence, its fur or its touch does not affect your prayer.
Does a cat's saliva break wudu?
No. Nothing a cat does breaks your wudu. In the Hanafi school, using its leftover water for wudu is slightly disliked when other water is available.
Is it haram to neuter a cat?
No, when it is done for a real benefit, such as preventing harm or unwanted litters, and done humanely by a vet. Hanafi texts allow it.
Sources
- Sahih al-Bukhari 3482 and 2365, and Sahih Muslim 2242, from Abdullah ibn Umar.
- Sahih al-Bukhari 2363, from Abu Hurayrah.
- Jami at-Tirmidhi 3840, from Abdullah ibn Rafi; graded hasan.
- Sahih Muslim 1569, from Jabir ibn Abdullah.
- On a cat's leftover water: al-Marghinani, al-Hidayah, chapter on water; on neutering: al-Fatawa al-Hindiyyah, book of disliked matters.
- On the Muezza story: no chain or source in the collections of hadith; see SeekersGuidance, "Did the Prophet have a cat called Muezza?"
The rulings on this page are pending review by the scholars on our team.