Desirability of Household Pets

[Chapter] Miscellaneous issues concerning houses.

A man is reported to have come to Abu Ja'far [al-Baqir] (a.s.) and, complaining to him, said, “The jinn who share us with our house have forced us out of it.” The Imam (a.s.) instructed, “You may make the roofs of your houses less than seven cubits high and let doves live in the edges of your houses. The man said: Once we carried out his instruction, we had no longer seen anything that used to trouble us." [Makarim al-Akhlaq, Page 166]

(فيما يتعلق بالمسكن) عن أبي جعفر (عليه السلام) أنه أتاه رجل [فشكا إليه] فقال: أخرجتنا الجن من منازلنا يعني عمار منازلهم، فقال: إجعلوا سقوف بيوتكم سبعة أذرع واجعلوا الحمام في أكناف الدار. قال الرجل: ففعلنا فما رأينا شيئا نكرهه.

As quoted from man-lā-yaḥdaruhu'l-faqih, some man is reported to have complained to the Prophet (a.s.) about living alone and feeling loneliness. So he (a.s) instructed him to have a couple of doves in his house. [Makarim al-Akhlaq, Page 167]

من كتاب من لا يحضره الفقيه، شكا رجل إلى النبي (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) من الوحشة، فأمره باتخاذ زوج من الحمام.

Amir al-Mu'minin (a.s.) said: The rustling of the wings of doves drives Satan away. [Makarim al-Akhlaq, Page 167]

وقال أمير المؤمنين (عليه السلام): إن خفيف أجنحة الحمام ليطرد الشياطين.

He (a.s.) also said: Fear God as to what he has entrusted you with and the mute of your properties! "What are the mute of our properties?" The Imam (a.s.) was asked, and he answered: I mean a ewe, a cat, doves, and the like. [Makarim al-Akhlaq, Page 167]

وقال (عليه السلام) أيضا: اتقوا الله فيما خولكم (1) وفي العجم من أموالكم، فقيل له:
ما العجم من أموالنا؟ قال: الشاة والهر والحمام وأشباه ذلك.

[The Messenger of God] (a.s.) also said: A ewe in a house is a source of blessing; a cat in a house is a source of blessing; and a quern in a house is a source of blessing, too. One ewe is a blessing, two ewes are two blessings, and three ewes are many blessings. [Makarim al-Akhlaq, Page 167]

وقال (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم): الشاة في الدار بركة. والسنور في الدار بركة.

والرحا في الدار بركة. والشاة بركة. والشاتان بركتان. والثلاثة بركات كثيرة.

From Abu Abdallah [al-Sadiq] (a.s.) is reported to have said: No believer keeps a milch goat in his house but that the inhabitants of that house are sanctified and blessed. If there are two milch goats in a house, its inhabitants are sanctified twice every day. “How are they sanctified?” a man asked, and the Imam (a.s.) answered: The angels say to them: Blessed be you and purified be you as long as your meal is generous. [Makarim al-Akhlaq, Page 167]

عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام) قال: ما من مؤمن يكون في منزله عنز حلوب إلا قدس أهل ذلك المنزل وبورك عليهم، فإن كانتا اثنتين قدسوا كل يوم مرتين، فقال رجل كيف يقدسون؟ قال: يقال لهم: بورك عليكم وطبتم ما طاب إدامكم.

According to Țibb al-A'immah, the Messenger of God (a.s.) said: Have domestic animals in your houses; Satan shall be busily distracted with them from troubling your children. [Makarim al-Akhlaq, Page 168]

من كتاب طب الأئمة، قال رسول الله (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم): اتخذوا في بيوتكم الدواجن يتشاغل بها الشيطان عن صبيانكم.

From Abu Ja'far [al-Baqir] (a.s.) who said: He who loves us, the Ahl al-Bayt, loves doves. [Makarim al-Akhlaq, Page 168]

عن أبي جعفر (عليه السلام): من أحبنا - أهل البيت - أحب الحمام.

From Abu al-Hassan (a.s.) said: Your houses should not be empty of the following three things, which are the protectors of houses; cats, doves, and roosters. If there is a mate hen with the rooster, this is not bad, especially for those who cannot afford having these three animals altogether. [Makarim al-Akhlaq, Page 168]

وقال أبو الحسن (عليه السلام): لا ينبغي أن يخلو بيت أحدكم من ثلاثة وهن عمار البيت: الهرة والحمام والديك، فإن كان مع الديك أنيسة فلا بأس بذلك لمن لا يقدرها.

[The Messenger of God] (a.s.) also said: Whoever has a white rooster inside his house, will be saved from the evil of the following three categories of people: disbelievers, diviners, and magicians. [Makarim al-Akhlaq, Page 168]

وقال (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم): من اتخذ ديكا أبيض في منزله يحفظ من شر ثلاثة: من الكافر والكاهن والساحر.

Al-Ja'farī, reporting, said: I saw a couple of doves in the house of Abu al-Hassan (a.s.). The male was green and the female black. I also saw the Imam (a.s.) crumble some bread for them and say: When they move at night, they entertain (the inhabitants of the house). No flapping they make at night but that all those who enter in that house will be protected from the harmful insects living in the earth. [Makarim al-Akhlaq, Page 169]

روى الجعفري قال: رأيت أبا الحسن (عليه السلام) في بيته زوج حمام: أما الذكر فأخضر وأما الأنثى فسوداء. ورأيته (عليه السلام) يفت لهما الخبز ويقول: يتحركان من الليل فيؤنسان وما من انتفاضة ينتفضانها من الليل إلا اتقى من دخل البيت من عرمة الأرض (3).

Abi Abdallah [al-Sadiq] (a.s.) is reported to have said: There is no house of a prophet except that it had doves, because the fools of the jinn play with the children living in that house; so, if there are doves in the house, the jinn play with the doves and leave the children alone. [Makarim al-Akhlaq, Page 169]

عن أبي عبد الله (عليه السلام) قال: ليس من بيت نبي إلا وفيه حمام، لان سفهاء الجن يعبثون بصبيان البيت، فإذا كأنه فيه حمام عبثوا بالحمام وتركوا الناس.