Short answer
No. A cat's body, fur and sweat are pure, and you can pray with cat hair on your clothes. In the Hanafi school, water or food a cat has drunk or eaten from is pure but mildly disliked (makruh tanzihi) if other water is available. The other three schools say a cat's leftover is pure without dislike. Cat urine and droppings are najis.
The cat is not najis. Its leftover water (su'r) is pure but makruh tanzihi to use when other water is available, according to Abu Hanifa and Muhammad. If a cat has just eaten a mouse and then drinks, the water becomes najis. Cat urine and faeces are najasah ghalizah.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- The cat's leftover is pure and not disliked.
- Maliki
- The cat's leftover is pure and not disliked.
- Hanbali
- The cat's leftover is pure and not disliked.
Explanation
Abu Qatadah tilted a vessel for a cat to drink, and when people looked surprised, he quoted the Prophet ﷺ: it is not impure; it is one of those who go round among you. Cats live in our homes, and Islam does not make that a burden.
In practice, for a Hanafi:
- Cat hair on clothes or a prayer mat: pure. You can pray in it.
- Cat sitting on your lap or rubbing against you: no effect on wudu or on your clothes.
- Cat drinks from your glass or licks your hand: the water or your hand is pure. Using other water for wudu, or washing the hand, is better, since the Hanafi school calls the cat's leftover mildly disliked. If no other water is available, use it without any dislike.
- Cat eats from your plate: the food is pure; you may eat the rest.
- Cat just caught and ate a mouse or bird, then drank straight away: the water is impure, because of the blood on its mouth.
- Cat urine or vomit on carpet or clothes: najis. Clean it: see cleaning carpets.
The Hanafi dislike is light. Hanafi jurists explain it by the cat's habit of eating mice and other impure things, so caution is preferred, while the hadith shows it is not impure. The other schools see no dislike at all.
Keeping a cat is allowed and treating it kindly is rewarded: see can Muslims have cats. Dogs have different rules: see touching a dog.
The evidence
Sunan Abi Dawud 75
Graded hasan sahih... انها ليست بنجس انها من الطوافين عليكم ...
"It is not impure; it is one of those who go round among you."
States that the cat and its leftover are not impure.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Hidaya, Kitab al-Taharat, chapter on leftover water (su'r). The cat's leftover is makruh according to Abu Hanifa and Muhammad, not makruh according to Abu Yusuf.
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Taharah, chapter on su'r. The dislike is tanzihi, and the case of a cat that has just eaten a mouse.
- al-Mughni (Ibn Qudama), Kitab al-Taharah, leftovers of animals. The cat's leftover is pure.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.