The Ruling on Hanging Amulets

The Shaykh : Hanging amulets and charms is shirk (associating partners with Allah); it is a type of shirk. It may be major shirk, or it may be minor shirk. This varies depending on the belief of the person hanging the amulet. If the person believes that the amulet itself repels harm and prevents, for example, the harm of the evil eye, then there is no doubt that this is major shirk. As you heard from the author’s commentary on... its effect is profound. It is a foolishness without parallel except in the first age of ignorance (jahiliyyah). And if you are amazed, be amazed that some cultured young people fall into such shirk. But there is no amazement in that, because this modern culture does not give its people any correct knowledge; it does not keep them away from shirk and idolatry. The greatest proof of this is that if you look today at the so-called civilized nations, and these are the nations in which some of our Muslim youth get involved, and perhaps some preachers among them take them as a good example and want Muslims to follow them in their civilization, we find that this civilization has not benefited them at all. Rather, they still live in idolatry and ignorance, only in appearances and forms that may be recent. So these young people who study this Western material science; I say: there is no amazement, as long as they have not studied Islam and tawhid (the oneness of Allah), that you enter, for example, a pharmacy and find a shoe hanging in the front of the place. Why is this, my brother? He says: to repel the evil eye! Glory be to my Lord. If a man believed in the unseen matters, and there was a correct text from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that hanging such a shoe in the front of the place repels the evil eye, we would say: By Allah, this is a believer. And the believer is, as He (Glorified and Exalted is He) said: . But not only is there no such means in Islam to repel the evil eye, but Islam prevents it, as you heard: .
So this pharmacist, for example, is a Muslim, and his Islam does not include this means; rather, he forbids it. So where did this means come from him? Did it come from experimental science, which is pharmacy? And pharmacy always means experiments in compounding, mixing, and blending, and so on. Did it come from experience that he should place this shoe, and perhaps, as we said earlier, he hangs it to be a protective charm on one side or a repelling charm, or something similar? So where does he get this, as long as there is nothing like that in the Shari'ah? Is there in knowledge that such a hanging prevents the evil eye? None of this exists, neither in religious knowledge nor in experimental knowledge. So we found that our fathers were upon a religion, and history repeats itself. Before, many reports explain such as His saying (Blessed and Exalted is He): ; meaning they were monotheists, then shirk entered them. And as came in the authentic hadith, 'Amr ibn... ibn Luhay al-Khuza'i was the first to introduce idols in the Arabian Peninsula, and the people imitated him, then the sons imitated the fathers, and so on until Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sent to them His Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) to warn them from all shirk.
So these charms and amulets are all not permissible in the Shari'ah, and they are either major shirk or minor shirk. It is obligatory to stay away from them, and for some of us to warn others and caution them against them. These material charms, as we said, for example, the bead, the shoe, the horse, and the like; I think no one hesitates to deny them after they have not come in the Shari'ah except as forbidden. But there is something that may need a type of clarification, because the matter may be confusing for some people. There is a type of hanging called al-hujub (veils). A veil is hung under the armpit of a small or large child, and some of these veils are surrounded by very strange beliefs. I do not know, also, how such beliefs infiltrate people and find a place in their hearts. They believe that if some of these veils are hung on a person, bullets or anything else will not affect him. This is the extreme of falsehood and lying. So if these veils have something written in them, what is their ruling? We say: These veils are of two types. One type, when opened, you find in it only a verse or a known supplication from the Book or the Sunnah. What is the ruling of this type? The Salaf (the earliest generations) differed from ancient times. Some of them permitted it, looking at the content of the veil. The content of the veil, as we said in this case, is a verse or a hadith, so they permitted it because it involves seeking help by the words of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and seeking refuge in them. And some of the Salaf disliked it. We see that this second opinion is more appropriate to adopt for one reason: the righteous Salaf did not take any of this for their children or for themselves. And we all know that all good is in following the Salaf.
We emphasize this by saying that this matter—meaning not taking these types of veils—the reason is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) came to us from his Lord with what is better than those veils. And this is a rule that we must never forget, ever. It is what came in such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . And in another hadith in Sahih Muslim: . So do you think that if the Salaf did not take such veils because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not bring that from Allah (Mighty and Majestic), did He not come to them with what is better than that? We must believe this as a principle. It must be in the creed of every Muslim, whether he knows what corresponds to these veils from the established Sunnah or not. He must assume for himself that as long as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) says: ; meaning, upon the Prophet ; he must assume as a principle that there is good better than that, even if he does not know that good. So how if he knows it and recognizes it? What is it? It is ruqyah (healing by Qur'anic recitation), it is the incantation, it is the recitation by the person of duty upon himself, or upon his beloved, his child, or his close friend. This incantation, as came in Sahih al-Bukhari, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to seek protection for al-Hasan and al-Husayn. He would place his right hand on one of them and his left on the other, and say: . This incantation is the replacement for the veil that some of the Salaf disliked, and we are with them for this and for the reason I mentioned earlier.
It is agreed upon among the scholars of Muslims who differed on bid'ah (religious innovation)—whether there is what is called "good innovation" or not?—there are two known opinions. And we are with those who say according to the clear saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . But these differing people, from those who hold to this clear saying in the authentic hadith, and from those who say that in Islam there is a good innovation, holding to some things that mislead them into holding to the opinion of good innovation; all of these and those agreed that every innovation that occurred after the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that contradicts a Sunnah is an innovation of misguidance. All of them agreed on this, even those who say that in Islam there is a good innovation. They say: It is not possible for a matter that occurred after the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) to contradict the Sunnah; it is not possible for this occurring matter to be a good innovation, rather it is an innovation of misguidance.
We must remember this reality in such a study; so that you know that hanging these amulets, even if they are of the first type that I keep mentioning, which contain verses and prescribed supplications, is contrary to the Sunnah. How is that? Because the meaning of the amulet, whether for the person who hangs it on himself or for the person on whom it is hung, is to turn away from the Sunnah. One should not perform ruqyah on oneself, nor should one perform ruqyah on others with supplications one invents to draw near to Allah (Mighty and Majestic). This is the example before you. How many of the Muslim fathers today, whose number is said to be eight hundred million Muslims, do you estimate perform ruqyah on their children with the type of ruqyah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to perform on his two sons al-Hasan and al-Husayn? Few, few, not many. Reduce the number, and there is no blame. Very, very few, even among the scholars, even among those who engage in dhikr and daily recitations, most of which are from what Allah has not sent down authority for. And why do they use these ruqyahs? And why do they use these amulets when they have been content and found sufficiency in a piece of paper wrapped in waxed cloth and hung under the armpit or around the neck or the like? So this is a religious innovation that contradicts the Sunnah; therefore, it is not permissible to adopt it as a means to ward off harm, claiming that this means is a prescribed means.
This entire statement applies only if what is written on this amulet is nothing but a verse or a prescribed supplication.
But there are amulets of another type, which is the majority of the amulets adopted by some people who have made writing amulets their profession and source of income. In these amulets, symbols are written, and broken letters are written that convey no meaning at all. Perhaps the one who wrote these symbols does not even understand what he is writing, because Satan taught him this teaching and he responded to it, and he began to write and write. And some people may find—and this is also a trial from Allah for people—some people who adopt such amulets may find tangible benefit; for example, a person may be ill, and then the illness actually disappears from him. He says: "My brother, the benefit of this amulet or these amulets is proven by experience." Here comes a hadith from the hadiths of this chapter: some women—and she was the wife of 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud—said to her husband 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud: "It may be that a man is afflicted with an ailment, or a person is afflicted with an ailment, and he adopts that amulet, and the ailment disappears." Perhaps this questioner mentioned that the evil eye, for example, causes tearing or affects the corner of the eye or something similar. So Ibn Mas'ud answered: "Yes, this is from the work of Satan. When the amulet is adopted, Satan holds back from harming that person in order to mislead him."
So it is possible that some of these amulets, in which what is written is not known in meaning, may have a benefit, and that is due to the suggestion of Satan and the work of Satan to mislead his enemy, man. So this type of amulets is not permissible to use; because the scholars, as will come in the commentary on some of the hadiths in the same book, held that if the ruqyah is in a language other than Arabic and its meaning is not understood, then it is not permissible to perform ruqyah with it; because it may be that the ruqyah is seeking help from devils, in which case it would be clear and obvious major shirk, and he does not know it, because he does not understand what is written. So they said this, and this is part of their precision in dealing with these matters. So if these amulets are of the second type, containing such writings that are not understood, they are not permissible, even if we do not know that they contain the names of devils from the devils of the jinn, by whom they seek help to achieve healing and recovery.
And I inherited some books that my father (may Allah have mercy on him) used to own, and he was one of those who graduated from some fiqh circles in Istanbul. To this day, these books have a phrase written on them, and neither the one who wrote it knows, nor the one who bequeathed it or inherited it knows the meaning of this phrase. Rather, they said: writing this phrase on the books prevents the worm, the small worm that eats paper, prevents the worm. What is this phrase? I think its image is "Ya Kabish," it is written in clear, large handwriting in many of the books, even though these same books on which this phrase is written prevent it, saying: it is not permissible to write something whose meaning is not understood; because it may be seeking help from the jinn. And indeed, now the word "Ya" is a vocative particle, "Ya Kabish," this name may be the name of a cursed devil, so he seeks help with it to preserve this book from the worm. So this type of amulets that is written in a language that is not understood, meaning it is not, for example, a language other than our Arabic; no, it is not Arabic, nor French, nor German, nor Albanian, nor is there a language, rather they are ambiguous names intended by the cursed devil by writing them and teaching people to mislead them from the straight path.
So his statement (peace and blessings be upon him): prevents us, O Muslims, absolutely from adopting the amulet, the talisman, and the amulets of any type. But the sin differs between the one whose owner is a mushrik with major shirk, and the one who is misguided, as you heard in the author's (may Allah have mercy on him) commentary when he said: "The talisman is a bead they used to hang, believing that it wards off calamities from them, and believing this opinion is ignorance and misguidance; because there is no protector except Allah, and no repeller other than Him." Al-Khattabi mentioned it. And the strange thing is that this talisman that al-Khattabi speaks of in the fifth century, we are today in the fifteenth century, so nearly nine centuries have passed, and Muslims are still using these talismans. And this is proof of the severity of Satan's misguidance of the children of Adam, and that he is always holding them from behind, misleading them from the straight path. So there is no cure for such misguidance except knowledge, and not all knowledge; rather, the knowledge drawn from the Book of Allah and the hadith of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and not from every hadith about the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), rather from the authentic hadith about him (peace and blessings be upon him). Otherwise, in some of the hadiths narrated about the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), there is shirk itself, and by that it contradicts such authentic hadiths.
For example, from the famous hadiths in the books of hadith, the fabricated hadiths, they claimed that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever believes in a stone that benefits him." This is a hadith, but it is a hadith, as Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said, from the fabrication of the worshippers of idols; because this is consistent with their values, "Whoever believes in a stone that benefits him." But—regrettably—this hadith is still seen in its effect, if not heard in its wording from some of the Muslims, "Whoever believes in a stone that benefits him," meaning whatever you believe in, you benefit from it. Perhaps this is related to what is called today in psychology that, for example, this medicine, if you believe in it that it will benefit you, it will benefit you, that is what they say.
Yes?

Eid Abbasi: It is a delusion.

The Shaykh: It is suggestion, suggestion; this is a type of misguidance indeed, meaning we must know the facts as they are. If the medicine is indeed created by Allah as beneficial, as He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ; then at that time, we must believe in the reality. But if this medicine is poison, and you believe in it that it is a cure; then this is a reversal of the facts, first in terms of belief, then in terms of what? The effect. So the one who is in reality poison, and what was suggested to him is that it is a cure and medicine, will be harmed by it.
We will suffice with this amount, and the remaining hadiths, if Allah wills, will be in the next lesson.
And here is a question.
Yes?

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh: Correct.