Whoever hangs an amulet has committed Shirk (polytheism)
Hasanعَنْ عُقْبَةَ بْنِ عَامِرٍ الْجُهَنِيِّ رضي الله عنه: أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللهِ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ أَقْبَلَ إِلَيْهِ رَهْطٌ، فَبَايَعَ تِسْعَةً وَأَمْسَكَ عَنْ وَاحِدٍ، فَقَالُوا: يَا رَسُولَ اللهِ، بَايَعْتَ تِسْعَةً وَتَرَكْتَ هَذَا؟ قَالَ: «إِنَّ عَلَيْهِ تَمِيمَةً»، فَأَدْخَلَ يَدَهُ فَقَطَعَهَا، فَبَايَعَهُ، وَقَالَ: «مَنْ عَلَّقَ تَمِيمَةً فَقَدْ أَشْرَكَ».
‘Uqbah ibn ‘Āmir al-Juhani (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: A group of people came to the Messenger of Allah (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him). He accepted the pledge of allegiance of nine and did not accept it from one. They said: O Messenger of Allah, you accepted the pledge of nine but not of this one. He said: "He is wearing an amulet." So, he put his hand in and cut it, and thus, accepted his pledge and said: "Whoever hangs an amulet has committed Shirk (polytheism)."
Explanation
A group of people came to the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and they were ten. He accepted the pledge of allegiance to Islam and to follow him from nine of them and did not accept it from the tenth person. When he was asked about the reason behind that, he (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: He is wearing an amulet, beads or other things that are tied or hung to ward off the evil eye or harm. So, the man put his hand in the place where the amulet was, cut it, and got rid of it, and the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) then accepted his pledge and said by way of warning against amulets and clarifying its ruling: "Whoever hangs an amulet has committed Shirk."
Benefits
- Whoever relies on other than Allah, Allah will give him the opposite of what he intended.
- Believing that hanging amulets is a cause of warding off harm and the evil eye constitutes minor Shirk, whereas believing that the amulet itself can bring benefit constitutes major Shirk.
Source · Narrated by Ahmad
From the Hadith Encyclopedia (hadeethenc.com).