What is the ruling on raising dogs in homes?

A Muslim is not permitted to keep a dog except out of necessity, such as for hunting, guarding livestock, or crops. If a Muslim keeps a dog for reasons other than these necessities, then he loses one or two qiraats from his reward each day.

The hadiths indicate the prohibition of keeping a dog except for what the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, excluded. Scholars differed on reconciling between the narration of losing one qiraat and the narration of losing two qiraats. Some said: he loses two qiraats from his reward if the dog causes more harm, and he loses one qiraat if it causes less. Others said: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, first informed that one qiraat would be lost, then later increased the punishment by informing of the loss of two qiraats, as an increased deterrent against keeping dogs. Scholars have also differed on the permissibility of keeping dogs for guarding homes. Some went with non-permissibility due to the apparent meaning of the hadiths, while others went with permissibility by analogy with the three excluded cases.