Continuation of the explanation of the hadith of Mu'awiyah ibn al-Hakam al-Sulami (may Allah be pleased with him), in which it says: (O Messenger of Allah, among us are people who take omens . . . ).

The Shaykh : When he found this kindness from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), it occurred to him to seize the opportunity and direct to him questions that had been turning in his mind after this kindness had reassured him, so he said: A concise answer from the comprehensive words of the Messenger (peace be upon him).
The question: meaning: they take bad omens. He (peace and blessings be upon him) did not say in the answer: "Do not take bad omens," because that would be imposing what is beyond capacity, for taking bad omens is a thought that occurs to a person and may deter him from a good deed he is taking a bad omen about. So his answer (peace and blessings be upon him) was: meaning: let not taking bad omens prevent you from proceeding to what you intended, and this points to the origin of the derivation of *tatiyyur* (taking omens); taking bad omens is *tatiyyur*, and *tatiyyur* is derived from *tayr* (birds), and that was from the custom of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, where one of them, if he resolved to travel and left his house, and a bird would inevitably appear to him—it might fly to the right or it might fly to the left—if it flew to the right, he would take a good omen, and if it flew to the left, he would take a bad omen and turn back from what he had intended, nullifying his work because of a small thing, a bird that does not know good from evil for itself, let alone know the good or evil for this person in what he is intending. So this was called *tatiyyur*, which is taking bad omens. Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Let not taking bad omens deter you from what you are doing. There is no doubt that in every country there are types of *tatiyyur* and taking bad omens, and each of us knows something of that, so we do not dwell on them but rather proceed to the completion of the hadith.