Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
There is
nothing wrong – in sha Allaah – with de-clawing a cat, but that is subject
to the condition that it should not hurt the animal. There are many medical
means nowadays of doing that without causing pain. Causing pain to animals
is haraam.
Secondly:
Preventing
your cat from reproducing is preventing a natural process that Allaah has
created in it. Undoubtedly the rulings on animals are not as serious as in
the case of humans, but this does not mean violating the rights of the
creation of Allaah.
If this
operation will cause harm, or it will cause complications for the cat, then
it is not permissible. The prohibition against causing harm is general and
includes harm against both humans and animals. There follow some of the
ahaadeeth that indicate this:
It was
narrated from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “A woman entered Hell
because of a cat which she tied up and did not feed, nor did she allow it to
eat of the vermin of the earth.”
The vermin
of the earth means mice, etc.
(Narrated by
al-Bukhaari, 3140; Muslim, 2242. There is also a similar report from Abu
Hurayrah).
It was
narrated from Jaabir ibn ‘Abd-Allaah that a donkey whose face had been
branded passed by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him), and he said, “May Allaah curse the one who branded him.”
(Narrated by
Muslim, 2217).
The scholars
differed concerning the neutering of non-humans:
The Hanafis
said that there is nothing wrong with neutering animals, because that
benefits both the animals and humans.
The Maalikis
said that it is permissible to neuter animals whose meat may be eaten, and
it is not makrooh, because that makes the meat better.
The
Shaafa’is made a distinction between animals whose meat is eaten and others.
They said that it is permissible to neuter animals when they are small if
they are animals whose meat is eaten, but it is haraam in other cases. They
also stipulated the condition that this neutering should not cause the
animal’s death.
As for the
Hanbalis, it is permissible in their view to neuter sheep because that makes
the meat better, but it was said that it is makrooh in the case of horses
etc.
Imam Ahmad said: I do not like for a man to neuter anything,
rather that is makrooh because of the prohibition on causing pain to
animals.
See
al-Majmoo’ 6/155; al-Adab al-Shar’iyyah, 3/144, 145;
al-Fataawa al-Hindiyyah, 5/358)
There is
also a comment on neutering cats: “If neutering cats will bring some benefit
or ward off some harm, then there is nothing wrong with it, as it says in
al-Kubra.”
(al-Fawaakih
al-Dawaani, 2/346)
Hence we
say that if there is some benefit in neutering the cat and if that will not
cause its death, then it is permissible.
Shaykh Ibn
‘Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
If there
are too many cats and they are a nuisance, and if the operation will not
harm them, then there is nothing wrong with it, because this is better than
killing them after they have been created. But if the cats are ordinary cats
and are not causing a nuisance, perhaps it is better to leave them alone to
reproduce.
Fataawa
Islamiyyah, 4/448
And Allaah
knows best.