Sayyidah Kabshah bint Ka'b bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with her), who was the wife of the son of Abu Qatadah: Sayyiduna Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) came to her, and she poured water for ablution for him. Meanwhile a cat came and began to drink from it. Sayyiduna Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) tilted the vessel until it drank its fill. Sayyidah Kabshah (may Allah be pleased with her) says: Sayyiduna Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) saw me while I was looking at him in amazement. He said: O my niece! Are you amazed? I said: Yes. Sayyiduna Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It (the cat) is not impure; it is among those who go round among you."
Thus Malik bin Anas narrated it in al-Muwatta'; some narrators fell short in narrating it and did not establish its chain properly. Abu Isa (al-Tirmidhi) said: I asked Muhammad, meaning Ibn Isma'il al-Bukhari, about this hadith, and he said: Malik bin Anas narrated this hadith with an excellent chain, and his narration is more authentic than the narration of others.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1159
Umm Yahya narrates from her maternal aunt, bint Ka'b (may Allah be pleased with her), that Sayyiduna Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) came to us and we placed water near him. Meanwhile a cat came, and he tilted the vessel; the cat drank from it, then he began performing ablution with the water it had left. I looked at him in amazement; he turned to look at me and said: Are you amazed? I said: Yes. He said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) saying: "It (the cat) is not impure," or he said some other word, "it goes round among you."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1160
(a) A woman narrates from her maternal aunt, who was the wife of Abdullah bin Abi Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him), that Sayyiduna Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) came to me and asked for water. Meanwhile a cat passed by him, so he tilted the vessel. I looked at him questioningly, as though I disapproved of it, so he said: "O my niece! The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to us: It is not impure; it only goes round among you."
(b) In the hadith of al-Hawdi it is that her maternal aunt narrated this hadith, and she was the wife of Abdullah bin Abi Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) came to her and called for water. Meanwhile a cat passed by, and he tilted the vessel for it. The wife of Abdullah bin Abi Qatadah began looking at him as though she disapproved of what he was doing. The rest of the hadith is the same.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1161
Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abi Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates from his father that he was performing ablution when a cat passed by, so he tilted the vessel towards it and said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is not impure."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1162
Abdullah bin Abi Qatadah (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates from his father that Sayyiduna Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) used to tilt the vessel for the cat; it would drink, and then he would perform ablution with it. Sayyiduna Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked about this, and he said: What I have done, I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) doing.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1163
Ikrimah (may Allah have mercy on him) says: I saw Sayyiduna Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) bringing his ablution water near the cat; it would drink from it, and then he would perform ablution with what it had left.
All of this is corroborating evidence for the soundness of Malik's narration.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1164
Hadith Gradingمحدثین:صحيح لغيرهٖ
Hadith Takhrij«صحيح لغيرهٖ۔ أخرجه ابن الجعد 2756»
It is narrated from Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said about the cat: "It is not impure; it is like one of the members of the household."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1165
Dawud bin Salih al-Tammar narrates from his mother that her freed slave-woman sent a bowl of harisah as a gift to Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her). She brought it while Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) was standing in prayer. Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) gestured to her to put it down, so she put it down. There were women with Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her). A cat came and ate from it once, or ate one morsel. When she finished (the prayer), Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said to the women: Eat; and they began avoiding the place where the cat's mouth had been. Then Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) took it, turned it around and ate it, and she said that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "It is not impure; it only goes round among you." And I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him); he (peace and blessings be upon him) would perform ablution with the water it had left.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1166
Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The purification of a vessel, when a dog puts its mouth into it, is that it be washed seven times, the first time with dust; and for a cat, wash it once or twice."
Abu Asim al-Dahhak bin Makhlad is thiqah (trustworthy), except that he erred in inserting the saying of Abu Hurayrah about the cat into the marfu' hadith (attributed to the Prophet) about the dog.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1168
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When a dog puts its mouth into a vessel, its purification is that you wash it seven times, and the first time with dust." Then Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) made mention of the cat; I do not know whether he said once or twice.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1169
Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) states regarding a cat that puts its mouth into a vessel that it should be washed once or twice.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1170
Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) says: When a cat puts its mouth (into a vessel), it is to be washed once.
Muhammad bin Umar al-Qasabi erred in it, narrating it from Abd al-Warith, from Ayyub, inserted into the marfu' hadith.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1171
(a) It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When a dog puts its mouth into the vessel of one of you, wash it seven times, the first or the last time with dust; and for a cat, once."
(b) Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) says regarding the leftover of a cat that it is to be poured away and the vessel washed once or twice.
Ja'far bin Waqid also narrated it from Ibn Awn, from Muhammad, from Abu Hurayrah as marfu', inserted into the hadith; but the narration of the majority (of narrators) is more correct.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1172
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): When a cat puts its mouth into a vessel, it is to be washed seven times.
But Ibn Jurayj and others narrated it from Ata as his own saying.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1173
Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) says: The vessel is to be washed from a cat's putting its mouth into it, just as it is washed from a dog's putting its mouth into it.
Ibn Ufayr narrated it thus as mawquf (a saying of the Companion); it has also been narrated from Rawh bin al-Faraj, from Ibn Ufayr, as marfu', and that is worthless.
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1174
Yahya bin Ayyub narrated it.
(b) There is also narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), what serves as a proof against his own fatwa regarding the cat, if it is authentic; otherwise, he is refuted by what has preceded of the hadith of Sayyiduna Abu Qatadah (may Allah be pleased with him) and Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1175
It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to the houses of the Ansar, and there were other houses besides them which he did not come to. This was hard on them, and they said: O Messenger of Allah! You go to the houses of so-and-so, and you do not come to our houses. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "There are dogs in your houses." The narrator says that in their houses there was a cat. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The cat is also a beast of prey."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1176
Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) says that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The cat is like the household goods."
Hadith Referenceالسنن الكبرى للبيهقي / كتاب الطهارة / 1177