It is for the most part no big secret that Muhammad was very hostile to dogs. He said that keeping a dog as a pet would get you two Qirat of demerits per day which lessens your chance of going to heaven (Bukhari 5480-5482), banned their sale (Bukhari 5346) and that they annul muslims prayers (Majah 950). However, he did not do a complete ban on all dogs as many still had them including family members, and he even praised a lady for saving a dog that was dying of thirst (Muslim 2245b).

However, Muhammads anti-dog policies soon took a very dark and authoritarian turn. One night according to the hadith, Gabriel was supposed to meet Muhammad in his house but he never came. The next day he realised that a puppy was in the house (belonging to his grandsons (Tirmhidi 2806)) and threw it out, he purified the spot it was laying and waited for Gabriel that evening. Gabriel comes and tells him angels do not enter houses with pictures or dogs. So Muhammad decides to initiate a genocide of all the dogs in Medina with the exception of the ones protecting big gardens (food).

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حَدَّثَنِي حَرْمَلَةُ بْنُ يَحْيَى، أَخْبَرَنَا ابْنُ وَهْبٍ، أَخْبَرَنِي يُونُسُ، عَنِ ابْنِ شِهَابٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ السَّبَّاقِ، أَنَّ عَبْدَ اللَّهِ بْنَ عَبَّاسٍ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَتْنِي مَيْمُونَةُ، أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَصْبَحَ يَوْمًا وَاجِمًا فَقَالَتْ مَيْمُونَةُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ لَقَدِ اسْتَنْكَرْتُ هَيْئَتَكَ مُنْذُ الْيَوْمِ ‏.‏ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏”‏ إِنَّ جِبْرِيلَ كَانَ وَعَدَنِي أَنْ يَلْقَانِي اللَّيْلَةَ فَلَمْ يَلْقَنِي أَمَ وَاللَّهِ مَا أَخْلَفَنِي ‏”‏ ‏.‏ قَالَ فَظَلَّ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَوْمَهُ ذَلِكَ عَلَى ذَلِكَ ثُمَّ وَقَعَ فِي نَفْسِهِ جِرْوُ كَلْبٍ تَحْتَ فُسْطَاطٍ لَنَا فَأَمَرَ بِهِ فَأُخْرِجَ ثُمَّ أَخَذَ بِيَدِهِ مَاءً فَنَضَحَ مَكَانَهُ فَلَمَّا أَمْسَى لَقِيَهُ جِبْرِيلُ فَقَالَ لَهُ ‏”‏ قَدْ كُنْتَ وَعَدْتَنِي أَنْ تَلْقَانِي الْبَارِحَةَ ‏”‏ ‏.‏ قَالَ أَجَلْ وَلَكِنَّا لاَ نَدْخُلُ بَيْتًا فِيهِ كَلْبٌ وَلاَ صُورَةٌ ‏.‏ فَأَصْبَحَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَوْمَئِذٍ فَأَمَرَ بِقَتْلِ الْكِلاَبِ حَتَّى إِنَّهُ يَأْمُرُ بِقَتْلِ كَلْبِ الْحَائِطِ الصَّغِيرِ وَيَتْرُكُ كَلْبَ الْحَائِطِ الْكَبِيرِ ‏.‏ Maimuna reported that one morning Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) was silent with grief. Maimuna said: Allah’s Messenger, I find a change in your mood today. Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said: Gabriel had promised me that he would meet me tonight, but he did not meet me.By Allah, he never broke his promises, and Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) spent the day in this sad (mood). Then it occurred to him that there had been a puppy under their cot. He commanded and it was turned out. He then took some water in his hand and sprinkled it at that place. When it was evening Gabriel met him and he said to him: you promised me that you would meet me the previous night. He said: Yes, but we do not enter a house in which there is a dog or a picture. Then on that very morning he commanded the killing of the dogs until he announced that the dog kept for the orchards should also be killed, but he spared the dog meant for the protection of extensive fields (or big gardens).

Muslim 2105

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Thus, the genocide began. And by the accounts of the dog killers, it was an extensive operation all across Medina. Ibn Umar says, retelling the order:

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“he sent (men) to the corners of Medina”.

Muslim 1570b

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With no hesitation and with an apparent deep disrespect for what the owners wanted, they massacred all dogs they found. Take for example the testimony of Ibn Umar:

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“we did not spare any dog that we did not kill, so much so that we killed the dog that accompanied the wet she-camel belonging to the people of the desert”.

Muslim 1570c

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Jabir Abdullah also had a similar testimony of events. Hadith scholar Shuayb Arnaut also directly linked these two events.

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The next morning, he ordered that all dogs be killed,’ which was first presented in narration 4744 within the chapter of hadiths containing the Musnad of Ibn Umar.” It was narrated from Ibn Umar that the Prophet ordered that dogs be killed, to such an extent that we even killed the dog of a woman who came from the desert.

Musnad Ahmad 44/385

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Following this, for a reason not one-hundred percent clear; Muhammad dumbed down the massacre and granted exceptions to hunting and sheep dogs. The statement he gave is incredibly vague, but reads as follows:

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‏ مَا بَالُهُمْ وَبَالُ الْكِلاَبِ “What is the matter with them and dogs?”

Muslim 1573a

Note: official translation somewhat distorts Muhammads statement.

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It seems to me, and this is complete theory as there is no information other than this statement: that either the people of Medina got angry at Muhammad for killing all their dogs; or someone from his own men told him that these dogs were essential for these people to make a living or something along those lines.

Recounting this new order, Ibn Umar summed up the genocide thusly:

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“The Messenger of Allah ordered killing dogs, except for the hunting dog, or the dog that guards livestock.”

Tirmhidi 1488

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There are also hadith that mention a third exemption, that being farm dogs. However, this to me is a very suspicious exemption. The reason being that of all the genocide exemption narrations in Bukhari, Muslim, Nasa’i, Dawud, Maliks Muwatta, Adab Al-Mufrad, Tirmhidi and Majah only 3 mention farm dogs (Tirmhidi 1490, Muslim 1571, Tirmhidi 1488). All go back to Abu Hurayrah. I mention this point because, as Ibn Umar put it when someone told him that Hurayrah said that Muhammad said farm dogs were exempt:

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“Abu Hurayrah had a farm” .

Tirmhidi 1488

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This could be a showcase of personal bias from Abu Hurayrah, deliberately embellishing commands to people who were sent out to tell people like Ibn Umar about the exemption, or maybe Muhammad added farm animals after a plea from Hurayrah. Alas, we will never know the real reason for this hadith discrepancy and meaning behind the words of Ibn Umar.

After this, Muhammad once again softens his stance on dogs and essentially calls off the genocide. His final saying on the matter being, quote:

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“Were it not that dogs are a nation among the nations, I would order that they all be killed. So kill every one of them that is all black.”

Tirmhidi 1486

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Okay, first of all, the obvious point: Muhammad already did order them all killed after Gabriels declaration so its an odd statement in of itself, but in any case Muhammad is quite clearly saying that if dogs weren’t a community created by God that he would order ALL dogs killed. Okay, i hear alot from apologists on this issue two things:

1. The genocide was because of a rabies outbreak (Demonstrably false as the Gabriel hadith clearly shows).

2. The reason it can’t be the Gabriel reason is because Muhammad is a compassionate and merciful person to animals. Okay, that argument is GONE now. When you say you would order all dogs to die you don’t get to be known as merciful and compassionate to animals by definition.

Second part of the quote is interesting; the black ones are to be killed but others aren’t. Now you would think that that might be slightly contradictory to what Muhammad said in the exact same sentence earlier, but as this narration shows he did not believe black dogs were like other dogs.

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“… Kill the black dog, for the animal is a devil”.

Hibban 5658

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And that’s all we have from Muhammad, just all black dogs are devils so kill them. This command was never abrogated by Muhammad thus it is still law. But, why are they devils? Well, we don’t know that either but Ibn Taymiyyah has a theory:

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The black dog is the Satan among dogs, and the jinn often appear in that form, and also in the form of black cats, because black is better able to harness Satanic power than other colors, and it intensifies heat.

Majmu Al-Fatawa 19/52

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To sum up this series of events, dogs were looked down upon heavily but allowed, even Muhammads grandsons had a puppy. Then they were all to be killed except guard dogs for big gardens, then he exempted hunting and sheep dogs (possibly also farm dogs). Then he didn’t order any more killed except the black ones. Should also note that thanks to these events, all dogs are banned under Islamic law except those that do serve a purpose like the exemptions.

Unfortunately, there are details and events not explicitly told in the hadith collections as i mentioned above. One of those being the fate of the puppy Muhammad threw out, well the only indication i have for this a narration detailing the ages of dogs that were allowed to be killed:

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“all dogs be killed, even small dogs.“

Nasa’i 4276