# Iran wants to ban cat ownership, but isn't that against Islam? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 13, 2021, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971 "2021-12-13T09:13:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/1 "2021-12-13T09:13:24Z")
According to recent news from Iran > The law, named [Protection of the Public’s Rights Against Animals], was proposed by 75 hardliner legislators and introduced in November, described people living with animals as a “destructive social problem,” and bans “importing, raising, assisting in the breeding of, breeding, buying or selling, transporting, driving or walking, and keeping in the home wild, exotic, harmful and dangerous animals,” according to [AFP]. However, the definition of “harmful and dangerous animals” does not strictly cover animals typically deemed as such. According to the AFP, the ban would affect “crocodiles, turtles, snakes, lizards, cats, mice, rabbits, dogs and other unclean animals as well as monkeys.” I was under the impression Cats are revered in Islam and that neglect of cats is even said to be a sin in the Quran. So how does forcing people to get rid of their cats gel with centuries of Islamic tradition? ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/2 "2021-12-13T09:37:35Z")
I am not a Muslim, but my Google-Fu informs me that cats are not mentioned in the Quran. According to the hadith, cats are not impure and one’s state of ritual cleanliness is not nullified by having contact with them, and it is sinful to keep a cat locked up without food and water or the ability to hunt. There is also some folklore that Muhammed kept a pet cat and once cut away part of his robe that she was sleeping on so he could arise without waking her, and there appears to be a belief that cats will not walk on or over a Quran even if lead with string or bait. Based on that, I don’t necessarily think it would be impossible to argue that keeping a cat as a pet is not incompatible with cats being clean animals. I did encounter a statement to the effect that exchanging money for a cat is forbidden, which could possibly feed into the “treating animals as family members is decadent” mentality the hardliners seem to be going for. That being said, I certainly hope they don’t get their way. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/3 "2021-12-13T12:16:50Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > according to [AFP] I’d be a bit skeptical of anyone’s interpretation of anything Iranian. Did any Iranian officials specifically call for a ban on cats? Or is this just bait calling for outrage? ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/4 "2021-12-13T13:44:44Z")
[This article](https://www.france24.com/en/) (posted on “France 24” but originally from Agence France-Presse) implies that the ban is a law that is under consideration in Iran’s parliament: > [@](#): > > According to media reports, 75 MPs, or one quarter of parliamentarians, recently signed a text entitled “Support for the rights of the population in relation to harmful and dangerous animals”. > > … > > The proposed law would prohibit “importing, raising, assisting in the breeding of, breeding, buying or selling, transporting, driving or walking, and keeping in the home wild, exotic, harmful and dangerous animals”. > > It lists the animals to be banned as “crocodiles, turtles, snakes, lizards, cats, mice, rabbits, dogs and other unclean animals as well as monkeys”. Agence France-Presse is, as far as I know, pretty reliable. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/5 "2021-12-13T18:10:26Z")
And the question about the reliability of the story could have been shortcut if the OP had included the source of their quote. That would seem to be a good standard to follow in Factual Questions. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/6 "2021-12-13T19:04:04Z")
My guess is that the legislators just decided to ban all cats to make sure that the movie Cats is never seen. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/7 "2021-12-13T19:10:40Z")
I would support the intent of that motion ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/8 "2021-12-13T19:41:37Z")
It’s not the cats and dogs themselves that are impure: it’s any human contact with their saliva. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/9 "2021-12-13T22:24:09Z")
That is not categorically true according to e.g. [https://www.prophetmuhammad.com/nasai/340](https://www.prophetmuhammad.com/nasai/340) > [@](#): > > It was narrated from Kabshah bint Ka’ab bin Malik that Abu Qatadah entered upon her, then she narrated the following > > “I poured some water for him for Wudu’, and a cat came and drank from it, so he tilted the vessel for it to drink.” Kabshah said: “He saw me looking at him and said: ‘Are you surprised, O daughter of my brother?’ I said: ‘Yes.’ He said: 'The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: 'They are not impure, rather they are among the males and females (animals) who go around among you.” An Islamic scholar can then reason about the purity of the saliva of domestic cats from this. But this subject seems to have little to do with laws about keeping wild animals. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/10 "2021-12-13T22:58:38Z")
So maybe they have feral dog, cat and animal issue they are trying to address. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/11 "2021-12-13T23:03:28Z")
While buying a load of cat food at the grocery store the cashier remarked that as a Muslim he couldn’t have a cat because they licked themselves, but he could have a dog because it was OK if it protected his apartment. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/12 "2021-12-14T03:55:45Z")
See I always heard BECAUSE cats lick themselves and excessively groom themselves Muslims could own cats as indoor pets. ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/13 "2021-12-14T04:09:25Z")
There’s a wikipedia article, [Islam and cats - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_cats), that says “In Islamic tradition, cats are admired for their cleanliness. They are thought to be [ritually clean](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_hygienical_jurisprudence), and are thus allowed to enter homes[[1]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_cats#cite_note-Campo-1) and even [mosques](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque), including [Masjid al-Haram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masjid_al-Haram). Food sampled by cats is considered [halal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halal), in the sense that their consumption of the food does not make it impermissible for Muslims to eat, and water from which cats have drunk is permitted for [wudu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wudu) (the ablution that is done by Muslims)” ---
**Author:** ![Esprise\_Me](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/esprise_me/32/2947_2.png) [@Esprise\_Me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esprise_Me)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/14 "2021-12-14T06:02:16Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > There is also some folklore that Muhammed kept a pet cat and once cut away part of his robe that she was sleeping on so he could arise without waking her, This is so cute I really want it to be true. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/15 "2021-12-14T07:53:04Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > So maybe they have feral dog, cat and animal issue they are trying to address. In my experience, the concept of “feral cat” doesn’t really exist in the Middle East. Cats are cats. Some cats have human enablers, some don’t. Cats were never really domesticated, or more precisely, they were domesticated at the species level, not at the individual level. They live with us in our settlements, and some of them live with us in our homes, but the latter have never been the majority. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iran-wants-to-ban-cat-ownership-but-isnt-that-against-islam/955971/16 "2021-12-14T15:20:24Z")
I wonder if it’s a translation issue where “cats” is meant to mean wild cats like lions and tigers. I’m looking at you, Majid Exotic!