The Reality Of Taweez (Amulets)
There is no doubt that wearing amulets is absolutely forbidden in Islam and narrations concerning this are many. We will mention two below:
“I heard the Messenger of Allaah (alayhis-salam) say, ‘Spells (ruqyah involving shirk), amulets and love-charms are shirk.” (Narrated by Abu Dawood, 3883; Ibn Maajah, 3530)
It was narrated from ‘Uqbah ibn ‘Aamir al-Juhani that a group came to the Messenger of Allaah (alayhis-salam) [to swear their allegiance (bay’ah) to him]. He accepted the bay’ah of nine of them but not of one of them. They said, “O Messenger of Allaah, you accepted the bay’ah of nine but not of this one.” He said, “He is wearing an amulet.” The man put his hand (in his shirt) and took it off, then he (the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)) accepted his bay’ah. He said, ‘Whoever wears an amulet has committed shirk.” (Narrated by Ahmad, 16969)
The salaf differed concerning the amulets which contain ONLY Qur’an and nothing else. There is consensus that if they contain a single thing other than Qur’an, such as numbers / shapes / lines / patterns then this falls into shirk mentioned in the narrations above. What many people fail to understand is the caution of the scholars in closing all the doors to shirk. Many laypeople who are not involved in ruqya fail to understand this.
The Deobandis / Barelwis / Sufis will quote all day long, using false / weak chains from the salaf us salih and will misconstrue these to try and prove the permissibility of amulets. Ask anyone who opens amulets or does ruqya – very rarely, if ever, do you come across an amulets which is ONLY Qur’an. Most people wear amulets and they don’t even know what is in it! They think it is Qur’an, when it actual fact it is pure shirk. I have NEVER come across an amulet which was ONLY Qur’an – there was one which seemed to be Qur’an only, but the paper had been urinated on! Another thing to consider – those who wear taweez and believe it is only Qur’an DO NOT remove it when entering the toilet – what could be more disrespectful than taking the Qur’an into the toilet?! I invite you to actually open your taweez and see what is in it….
The reality of the situation is that the magician/peer mixes Qur’an with words of shirk. For example, you will have Qur’an but then it will call upon jibreel, or other angels or messengers. Alternatively, the magician will replace a word within an ayah to something else e.g. it will be an ayah from Quran but in the middle of the ayah he will call upon “baddoo” or other shayateen. The layperson will not spot this. Another trick is to have only Qur’an but then have numbers/letters/shapes in the corners – again the layperson won’t pay much attention but in actual fact this is calling upon the shayateen in the magician’s code.
Even if it is ONLY Qur’an then the danger of falling into shirk remains. Here is how this happens:
1) When you initially wear the taweez – you wear it putting your trust in Allah – hoping that He cures you
2) Over time you stop thinking about this and become attached to the actual object i.e. the black string which you put around your neck. For example, you are in rush and you are not careful to straighten your intention, so you put the string around your neck believing it will offer you protection. This minor alteration in intention has led to shirk.
The mesenger alayhis-salam was afflicted with magic, a man was afflicted with evil eye while he was alive, he never left anything that was good except that he told us about it – YET he NEVER told anyone to put Qur’an around their neck nor to tie it in an amulet. He has given us the correct methods of protection – wearing an amulet is not one of them.
The standing committee said:
“The scholars are agreed that it is haraam to wear amulets if they are made with anything other than Qur’aan, but they differed concerning those that are made with Qur’aan. Some said that it is permissible to wear them and some said that that is not permissible. The view that it is not allowed is more likely to be correct because of the general meaning of the ahaadeeth, and so as to prevent the means that may lead to shirk.” Fataawa al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah, 1/212
The Qur’an is to be recited. It is to be pondered over. It is to be implemented. It is to be used as a guide for our lives. Put your trust in Allah. Recite the book of Allah. Rectify your tawheed. Follow the sunnah. Stay away from innovations. Make duaa to Allah alone. This is when the cure will descend from Allah.
The reality is that the vast majority are clueless about the ugly nature of amulets. They are forbidden so stay away and stick to the sunnah. Close all doors to shirk. This is the methodology of the messenger alayhis-salam.