Sacrificial Animals by a Person Who wears an Amulet

Sacrificial Animals by a 

Person Who wears an Amulet

Question:

What is the ruling on a sacrificial animal killed by a person who wears an amulet, and who ties knots or the like?


Answer:

Tamimah is made from beads, shells, lockets, and is worn around the neck by the children, animals, and women. It may also be worn in belts, and in their hair to ward off evil or to remove harm. All of which is prohibited; rather it is a form of Shirk. Benefit and harm is in the Hand of Allaah alone. Ibn Mas'ud, may Allaah be pleased with him, heard the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) say: Verily, incantations, amulets and Tiwalah are Shirk. [1] Abdullah bin Ukaym narrated that the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) said: He who wears (Tamimah), will be left to it. [2] In the Two Sahihs it is recorded that Abu Bashir Al-Ansari was with the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam), when he sent someone to order people to remove all necklaces of string from the necks of their animals. [3] The Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) absolutely forbade hanging string necklaces around the camels necks whether they pertained to incantations or not, and ordered them to be cut. Because the people of pre-Islamic ignorance used to tie strings on the camels necks, and tie on them amulets, to protect them from evil eye and diseases. So the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) forbade them from doing that, and he ordered them to cut them off. He who believes that a Tamimah, or something else has power to extend benefit or remove harm, he is a Mushrik who has committed major Shirk which casts him out of the religion of Islam altogether. We seek Allaah's protection against apostasy. A sacrificial animal killed by such a person is unlawful to eat. But he who believes that they are only a means of healing, and that Allaah is the One Who extends benefit and causes harm, and that He makes such thing beneficial, then such a person is a Mushrik who commits lesser Shirk. For in reality these amulets are neither legal nor normal causing means of healing, but are only imagined to do so. Some scholars have excluded amulets that contain Qur'anic Verses, and permitted them. They restricted the Hadiths in which the Prophet (sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) forbade using amulets containing other than the Qur'an. But the right verdict is the Prophetic which is opposed by no other tradition that exempts one kind of amulet or another. Allowing amulets also leads to disrespecting the Qur'an. A sacrificial animal which is killed by a person who wears an amulet containing Qur'an is lawful. That is because he only believes the Qur'an is effectual, and this does not cast him out of the folds of Islam. Moreover, the Qur'an is the Speech of Allaah, the Exalted, and His Speech is one of His Attributes.

[1] Abu Dawud no. 3883, Ahmad 1:381 and Al-Hakim 4:418 [2] At-Tirmithi no. 2072 and Ahmad 4:310, 311. This means that Allaah will not protect him. Such a person will be left to the thing which he wears to protect or heal him, which will never be able to do so. [3] Al-Bukhari no. 3005




Permanent Committee for Research and Verdicts

Fatawa Islamiyah Vol. 1 Page 42


Taken from: http://www.fatwaislam.com/fis/index.cfm?scn=fd&ID=1091