Keeping lizards, iguanas and bearded dragons as pets

4-7-2011 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalammualaikum Nowdays people been keeping lizard such as iguana and bearded dragon as pet, i wonder is it permissible? I know that there was a hadith which the Prophet never forbided Abu umair from keeping a bird (nughair) but what about iguana and other lizards (other than gecko)? also if keeping it as pet is permissible, is it permissible to sell it?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

If you mean the known lizard, which resembles the varan in its shape but is of smaller size, like a gecko, and it has a smooth skin and a swift movement, then keeping this kind of animal is permissible. In principle, keeping animals and rearing them is permissible unless there is evidence that they are forbidden to keep due to their impurity, like the pig for instance, and the dog that is kept for no Sharee’ah approved reason and the like. The jurists stated that it is absolutely forbidden to keep a pig, but it is permissible to keep a cheetah (hunting leopard), an elephant and other similar animals in which there is benefit even if this benefit is only expected.

Therefore, it is permissible to rear a lizard if needed while of course fulfilling the obligation of treating it in a good manner and taking care of it.

As regards selling it, then selling it depends on the ruling on the permissibility of benefiting from it. The Kuwaiti Fiqh Encyclopedia reads: “The jurists agreed that it is not permissible to sell insects that are of no benefit, because being beneficial is a condition for an item to be sold, so it is not permissible to sell mice, snakes, scorpions, cockroaches, ants and the like, as there is no benefit in them in return for the money. However, if some insects are beneficial, then it is permissible to sell them, like the silkworm; as it produces silk from which high-quality clothes are made. Indeed, Al-Haskafi from the Hanafi School of jurisprudence, put a criterion for selling insects saying: “The permissibility of selling an item depends on the permissibility of benefiting from it.”

Allaah Knows best.