Islamic Law (Sharīʿah) and Neutering Cats

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The Question / السؤال

al-Salāmu ʿalaykum Imam! Question for you: I’ll be getting a kitten in December in shāʾ Allāh and I was wondering if it is permissible to get it spayed/neutered?

Spaying or neutering your cat may seem like a modern concern but Muslim jurists (fuqahāʾ) have deliberated over this going all the way back to the classical period. We’ll summarize some of those classic positions and then I’ll give my own opinion/answer on the question.

Classical Terminology

Let’s first lay out how the fuqahāʾ described this issue (maslaʾah).

• Cat(s): there is sinnārah (سِنّارة) for singular and sanānīr (سنانير) for plural with qiṭaṭ (قطط) and qiṭṭah (قطة) for a more common usage (singular/plural).
• Castration: this has been called khiṣāʾ (خصاء).
• Sterilization: in modern terms you will also find taʿqīm (تعقيم) when it comes to spaying/neutering in veterinary nomenclature.
• Spaying: specific to female cats there is istiʾṣāl al-raḥim/al-mabāyiḍ (استئصال الرحم / المبايض) for what is essentially a hysterectomy/ovariectomy.

Positions of the Classical Scholars

Most classical scholars approach this topic as it related to livestock. The purpose was often for improving the quality of meat and controlling the temperament of cattle. At this time period such procedures on non-edible animals like cats and horses were frowned upon due to nuṣūṣ (proofs like aḥādīth from the Prophet ‎ﷺ) which prohibited mutilation or causing unnecessary agony to animals. While this topic has been debated I will summarize the positions of the Four Schools below. For those interested I will leave a bibliography of sources for further reading.

Ḥanafī School

In Burhān al-Dīn al-Bukhārī’s al-Muḥīṭ al-Burhānī fī al-Fiqh al-Nuʿmānī (died 616AH) he explicitly states that castrating a cat is permissible if it brings a clear benefit such as stopping nuisance spraying, preventing uncontrolled aggression or prevents other extent harms.

Shāfiʿī School

Imām al-Nawawī states in his al-Majmūʿ that the castration of edible livestock while young is permissible, the castration of animals whose meat is prohibited by Sharīʿah is likewise generally considered impermissible due to it inflicting (unnecessary) pain without a direct food-related benefit.

Mālikī School

In a similar vein, the Mālikī Schools sees the castration (khiṣāʾ) of non-edible animals as disliked (makrūh) – differing with the Shāfiʿī School in that they do not consider it impermissible. Remember: speaking in general terms, there is no sin for doing a thing which is disliked (makrūh).

Ḥanbalī School

Classically speaking, this school allowed the castration of sheep and cattle, but Imām Aḥmad strongly disliked (karāhah) castrating horses and other non-edible animals due to aḥādīth forbidding inflicting pain on animals without necessity.

Modern Scholarship

Without a doubt the impulse to countermand classical scholarly positions simply because they were classical (i.e., out of date) is a temptation far too often indulged today; nonetheless, as it relates to this topic, the reasoning for doing so — the ʿillah (علة) — is sound. Modern scholars have taken into account the changes and advances in veterinary medicine as well as the increasingly urban realities in which cats will be forced to live in and the dangers it presents.

Advances in Medical Safety and Anesthesia

It’s fair to say that classical scholars opposed castration largely on the grounds that it was unduly painful largely due to the limitations of the procedures at their time. In fact they were correct to take such positions but given that they can be safely and humanly implemented then at the very least these procedures such be eligible for new consideration. The severe pain, high risk of infection, and crude methods have been largely eliminated, making room for reconsideration of the benefits to be gained by such procedures and the harms they can mitigate. In essence, this alters the legal rationality (‘illah). This would extend to such issues as population control and stray welfare.

This position has been taken up in modern times by such scholarly bodies as Egypt’s Dār al-Iftāʾ invoking the legal (uṣūlī) maxim:

“The lesser of two harms is undertaken to ward off the greater harm” (أخف الضررين)

In summary, the vast majority of modern scholarly authorities have held the position that spaying and neutering cats is permissible (jāʾiz), provided the operation is conducted safely by a veterinarian, causes no permanent harm, and prevents greater negatives such as widespread stray suffering, homelessness, or euthanasia.

Classical Sources

• al-Bukhārī, Burhān al-Dīn (d. 616 AH / 1219 CE). al-Muḥīṭ al-Burhānī.
• al-Ḥaṣkafī, ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn (d. 1088 AH / 1677 CE). al-Durr al-Mukhtār.
• al-Nawawī, Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf (d. 676 AH / 1277 CE). al-Majmūʿ Sharḥ al-Muhadhdhab.
• al-Shirbīnī, al-Khaṭīb (d. 977 AH / 1570 CE). Mughnī al-Muḥtāj.
• Ibn Qudāmah, Muwaffaq al-Dīn (d. 620 AH / 1223 CE). al-Mughnī.
• al-Buhūtī, Manṣūr ibn Yūnus (d. 1051 AH / 1641 CE). Kashshāf al-Qināʿ.
• al-Ḥaṭṭāb, Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad (d. 954 AH / 1547 CE). Mawāhib al-Jalīl li Sharḥ Mukhtaṣar Khalīl.
• al-Dardīr, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad (d. 1201 AH / 1786 CE). al-Sharḥ al-Kabīr.

Contemporary Sources

• al-Zarqā, Muṣṭafā Aḥmad (1998). Sharḥ al-Qawāʿid al-Fiqhiyyah.
• Ibn ʿUthaymīn, Muḥammad ibn Ṣāliḥ (2006). Fatāwā Nūr ʿalā al-Darb.
• Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah. Fatwa on Ḥukm Taʿqīm al-Qiṭaṭ.
• General Iftaa’ Department of Jordan. Fatwa No. 3375 (2018): Ruling on Sterilizing Cats to Prevent Damage and Overpopulation.
• Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS). Contemporary Fatwa on Pet Sterilization and Urban Stray Management.