Ruling on dissecting frogs for scientific purposes
Question

                Is it permissible to dissect frogs when required for study purposes?

 Not dissecting it may result in the student failing that course or being deprived of some credits which may prevent him from among the top students in his class, so he would not get a position as a professor’s assistant in college?.
Praise be to Allah.The ruling 
    on this issue depends on examining two important issues: 
Firstly: 
The ruling 
    on killing frogs and what the scholars have said about that. 
The scholars 
    differed concerning this issue and there are two views: 
1 – That it 
    is makrooh. This is the view of the Maaliki madhhab and of some of the 
    Shaafa’is and Hanbalis. 
See: 
    al-Tamheed (15/178); Sharh al-‘Umdah by Ibn Taymiyah (3/148). 
2 – That it 
    is haraam. This is the view of the Hanafi, Shaafa’i and Hanbali madhhabs, 
    and of Ibn Hazm, and is the view favoured by Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah. 
See: 
    Mushkil al-Athaar by al-Tahhaawi (2/35); al-Majmoo’ (9/29); 
    al-Mughni (9/338); al-Muhalla (7/225); al-Fataawa al-Kubra 
    (2/139). 
The evidence 
    for that is the report narrated from ‘Abd al-Rahmaan ibn ‘Uthmaan (may 
    Allaah be pleased with him), according to which a doctor asked the Prophet 
     (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) about using frogs in 
    medicine, and the Prophet  (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) 
    forbade killing them. 
Narrated by 
    Abu Dawood (5269), classed as saheeh by al-Nawawi in al-Majmoo’ 
    (9/34). 
We have 
    already mentioned that this is the favoured view, in the answer to questions 
    no. 1919 and 
    10220. 
Secondly: 
If it is 
    necessary to dissect frogs, there is no sin in it in sha Allah. The scholars 
    have ruled that it is permissible to dissect the body of a Muslim for the 
    purposes of criminal investigations or preventative medicine. This has been 
    explained in the answer to question no. 
    11962. 
So it is 
    more likely that it is permissible to dissect the bodies of animals – which 
    are less sacrosanct than humans – for the purpose of scientific research, if 
    there is a need for that. 
We have 
    previously quoted fatwas dealing with this. See the answer to question no. 
    8509. 
It should be 
    noted that the student must treat the animals that he is dissecting 
    properly; he should anaesthetize them fully and hasten to kill them as soon 
    as the dissection is over, because the Prophet  (peace and blessings of 
    Allaah be upon him) said: “Allaah has prescribed proficiency in all things, 
    so if you kill, kill well, and if you slaughter, slaughter well. Let one of 
    you sharpen his blade and spare suffering to the animal.” Narrated by 
    Muslim, 1955. 
Shaykh Ibn 
    ‘Uthaymeen was asked in Fataawa al-Haram al-Makki (1166): 
We are 
    studying in one of the universities in the faculty of science, biology 
    division. During our studies we need to dissect some animals, such as frogs, 
    rats and the like, for the purposes of learning and studying. What is the 
    ruling on these dissections? 
He replied: 
If there is 
    a need for it, there is nothing wrong with dissection, but he should do 
    something for this animal so that it will not feel any pain at the time of 
    dissection, and he must note that in the case of those animals that are 
    naajis (impure) after death, he has to purify himself of them. 
And Allaah 
    knows best.