What is the ruling on wearing or hanging amulets?
Short answer
Wearing or hanging amulets is prohibited and involves forms of shirk-related attachment. The detailed ruling depends on what the amulet contains and what the person wearing it believes about it.
Evidence and explanation
The source defines amulets and explains the prohibition of hanging them because they involve attachment to something other than Allah.
Scholar referenced
This editorial summary is based on the original source linked below and is not presented as a verbatim quotation from the scholar.
From the text of the answer (Arabic, with an English translation)
Original answer — Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Baz
ما حكم تعليق التمائم؟ — فتوى ١٨٢٥٠- Question
«ننتقل إلى رسائل أخرى من رسائل إخواننا المستمعين، رسالة وصلت إلى البرنامج من جمهورية السودان، وباعثها شيبة كمال أبو علي، أخونا رسالته مطولة في الواقع وهي تهتم بأمر التوحيد، لكن ملخص الرسالة هذا السؤال: ما حكم التمائم؟ مع ذكر الدليل لكي تتضح المسألة؟ جزاكم الله خيرًا.»
English translation (unreviewed): We move on to other letters from our listeners. A letter reached the programme from the Republic of the Sudan; its sender is Shaybah Kamal Abu Ali. His letter is in fact long and is concerned with tawhid, but its gist is this question: What is the ruling on amulets (tama'im), with the evidence so that the matter is clear? May Allah reward you.
- From the text of the answer
«تعليق التمائم من المحرمات الشركية، والتمائم: هي ما يكتب في الرقاع من خرق، أو قراطيس، أو رقاع من الجلد أو غير ذلك، يكتب فيها طلاسم لا تعرف معناها، وربما يكتب فيها أسماء لبعض الشياطين بعض الجن، وربما كتب فيها دعوات أو آيات، ثم تعلق على المريض أو على الطفل، يزعمون أنها تدفع عنهم الجن، وبعضهم يعلقها لدفع العين، وكانت الجاهلية تفعل ذلك تعلق التمائم على الأولاد والأوتار على الإبل، ويزعمون أنها تدفع عنهم البلاء، وهذا من الجهل بالله وقلة البصيرة.»
English translation (unreviewed): Hanging amulets is among the prohibited acts of shirk. Amulets are what is written on scraps of cloth, paper, leather or the like, with charms whose meaning is not known; sometimes the names of some devils or jinn are written on them, and sometimes supplications or verses. They are then hung on the sick person or on the child, and people claim that they ward off the jinn; some hang them to ward off the evil eye. The pre-Islamic people used to do this, hanging amulets on children and bowstrings on camels, claiming that they ward off harm. This comes from ignorance of Allah and lack of insight.
- Evidence as the shaykh cited it
«فالمقصود أن تعليق الأوتار والتمائم أمر كان معروفًا في الجاهلية، فنهى عنه النبي ﷺ وأبطله.»
English translation (unreviewed): The point is that hanging bowstrings and amulets was a known practice in pre-Islamic times, so the Prophet ﷺ forbade it and declared it void.
«وقالوا: إن الرسول ﷺ نهى عن التمائم وأطلق ولم يخص شيئًا دون شيء، بل قال: من تعلق تميمة فلا أتم الله له ..»
English translation (unreviewed): They said: the Messenger ﷺ forbade amulets without qualification and without singling out any one kind, saying: “Whoever hangs an amulet, may Allah not complete [his affair] for him ..”
The Arabic excerpts matched the original page word for word by an automated check and have not had human scholarly review. The English translations are unreviewed translations made for this site; they are not an approved Shari‘ah translation. Rely on the Arabic original.
Source
What is the ruling on hanging amulets?
Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn Baz, may Allah have mercy on him