from the Book Ahkām wa Masā’il Kitāb o Sunnat ki Roshni Mein by Shaykh Mubashar Ahmad Rabbānī
❖ Question:
Does one receive the reward of a hundred good deeds for killing a lizard? Kindly clarify in light of authentic ḥadīths.
✿ Answer:
Killing a lizard (al-wazagh) is considered recommended (mustaḥabb) in Islam.
The Sharīʿah has declared it a fawaysiq (small, harmful creature), and encouraged its killing.
The reward varies based on how quickly it is killed:
If killed in the first strike, a person earns one hundred good deeds.
If killed in the second, then less than that,
and in the third, even lesser.
📚 Evidence from Authentic Ḥadīths:
❖ Umm Sharīk رضي الله عنها narrates:
«أن النبي ﷺ أمر بقتل الأوزاغ»
“The Prophet ﷺ commanded the killing of lizards.”
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❖ ʿĀ’ishah رضي الله عنها narrated:
«قال النبي ﷺ للوزغ الفويسق»
“The Prophet ﷺ called the lizard a ‘fawaysiq’ (a sinful, wicked creature).”
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❖ Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه reported:
«من قتل وزغًا في أول ضربة كُتبت له مائة حسنة، وفي الثانية دون ذلك، وفي الثالثة دون ذلك»
“Whoever kills a lizard in the first strike, one hundred good deeds will be recorded for him.
In the second strike, less than that.
In the third strike, even less.”
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❖ Sayyidah ʿĀ’ishah رضي الله عنها also narrated an incident:
Sāʾibah, a servant of Khāqān ibn Mughīrah, once visited ʿĀ’ishah and noticed a spear in her house.
She asked, “O Mother of the Believers, what do you do with this spear?”
ʿĀ’ishah replied:
“We use it to kill lizards, because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ informed us that when Ibrāhīm ʿalayhis-salām was thrown into the fire, every creature on earth tried to extinguish the fire — except the lizard, which was blowing to fan the flames. Hence, the Prophet ﷺ commanded its killing.”
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Imām al-Būṣīrī رحمه الله authenticated this narration in Zawāʾid Ibn Mājah.
❖ Clarification of Reward Discrepancy:
Some narrations mention 100 good deeds, while others mention 70.
There is no contradiction between them. This could be due to:
① Variation in the reward based on the sincerity (ikhlāṣ) of the person,
② Or, the Prophet ﷺ initially mentioned 70, then later informed of 100,
③ Or simply because 70 is included within 100.
As clarified by Imām Nawawī and Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ in their commentaries, both numbers are valid and supported by authentic chains.
✔ Conclusion:
❖ Killing a lizard is rewarded, and the earlier it is killed, the greater the reward.
❖ The lizard is considered a wicked creature (fāsiqah) in Islamic teachings.
❖ The first strike earns up to 100 good deeds as per authentic ḥadīths.
