Assalaamu alaykum. My parents, who are disbelievers, have a dog, and it is very hard for me to keep myself clean from it. I follow the opinion of the Hanbali mathhab that the fur is impure and that I can clean it with soap. However, today his fur touched me while it was wet, and some of it came on my arms. For some reason, I forgot to wash this immediately. Since it was Friday, I then proceeded to perform Ghusl (ritual bath). As you know, that means that I touched the impurity on my arm with my hand and afterwards washed my whole body with the same hands. Does this now mean that I need to wash my whole body with soap or soil? I am scared that my prayers will not be accepted, but it is very troublesome for me to wash my whole body with soil or soap. I washed what I can (my hair, my beard, my face, my feet, my hands, and my arms), but I did not wash the rest of my body. I do not know what to do, especially given that I also washed my intimate parts while my hands were impure. Does this mean that I have to wash these with soap or soil too? May Allah reward you for answering my questions.

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

The scholars held different views on dog hair; some said that it is impure, while others said that it is pure. The view that it is pure is the one held as preponderant by Shaykh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah . He said in Al-Fataawa Al-Kubra, “Based on that, if the dog’s hair is wet and it gets in contact with a person’s clothes, he is not required to do anything, as is the view of the majority of the scholars: Abu Haneefah, Maalik, and one of the two views narrated from Ahmad (ibn Hanbal) in this regard. This is because the basic principle is that all things are pure (unless proven otherwise by religious evidence), so it is impermissible to rule something as impure or to prohibit it except with evidence.”

You can follow the view that dog hair is pure even if you follow the Hanbali Mathhab.

Allah knows best.