What Is the Ruling on Wearing or Hanging Amulets in Rooms?


Shafi'i Fiqh

Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick

Question 

What is the ruling of wearing amulets, necklaces, or rings that has Aya of the Quran written on them in a restroom? Should you take them off or cover them?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate. May Allah guide every dimension of our lives to that which pleases Him.

The ruling is that one should set aside anything on which there is the mention of Allah Most High. His messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace), or any revered name like those of prophets or angels. If one enters the restroom with a ring on which something worthy of respect is written, one closes one’s hand around it. [Misri, ‘Umdat al-Salik]

Similarly, if one has a necklace with venerated writing, one could cover it up beneath one’s clothing, and Allah knows best.

The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) had a ring on which was written (in Arabic): “Muhammad Rasul Allah” [Bukhari; Muslim]

He (Allah bless him and give him peace) used to take it off when entering the “toilet”: “When the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) entered the area in which he would relieve himself, he would remove the ring.” [Tirmidhi; Abu Dawud; Ibn Majah; Nasa’i]

I pray this is of benefit and that Allah guides us all.

[Shaykh] Irshaad Sedick
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Irshaad Sedick was raised in South Africa in a traditional Muslim family. He graduated from Dar al-Ulum al-Arabiyyah al-Islamiyyah in Strand, Western Cape, under the guidance of the late world-renowned scholar, Shaykh Taha Karaan. 

Shaykh Irshaad received Ijaza from many luminaries of the Islamic world, including Shaykh Taha Karaan, Mawlana Yusuf Karaan, and Mawlana Abdul Hafeez Makki, among others.

He is the author of the text “The Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal: A Hujjah or not?” He has served as the Director of the Discover Islam Centre and Al Jeem Foundation. For the last five years till present, he has served as the Khatib of Masjid Ar-Rashideen, Mowbray, Cape Town.

Shaykh Irshaad has thirteen years of teaching experience at some of the leading Islamic institutes in Cape Town). He is currently building an Islamic online learning and media platform called ‘Isnad Academy’ and pursuing his Master’s degree in the study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg. He has a keen interest in healthy living and fitness.