The Ruling on the Tamīmah (Amulet), Even When Written from the Qur'an

As for an amulet made from other than the Qur’an, such as bones, talismans, seashells, wolf’s hair, and the like, this is a rejected, forbidden thing by the text. It is not permitted to hang it on a child or on anyone else, because of the saying of the Prophet ﷺ:

مَنْ تَعَلَّقَ تَمِيمَةً فَلَا أَتَمَّ اللَّهُ لَهُ، وَمَنْ تَعَلَّقَ وَدَعَةً فَلَا وَدَعَ اللَّهُ لَهُ “Whoever hangs up an amulet, may Allah not fulfil [his need] for him; and whoever hangs up a seashell, may Allah give him no rest.”

And in another narration:

مَنْ تَعَلَّقَ تَمِيمَةً فَقَدْ أَشْرَكَ “Whoever hangs up an amulet has committed shirk.”

As for when the amulet is from the Qur’an, or from known, good supplications, the scholars differed over it. Some of them said it is permitted to hang it up, and this is narrated from a group of the salaf, who treated it like reciting over the sick.

The second view is that it is not permitted. This is what is known from ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd and Ḥudhayfah (may Allah be pleased with them) and a group of the early and later scholars. They said it is not permitted to hang it up even if it is from the Qur’an, so as to block the means to shirk, to cut off its material, and to act upon the general wording, because the hadiths forbidding amulets are general and made no exception. What is obligatory is to take the general meaning, so nothing of amulets is permitted at all, because that leads to hanging up others besides them, and to the matter becoming confused.

So forbidding all of it is obligatory, and this is the correct view, for its evidence is clear. If we were to permit the amulet from the Qur’an and from good supplications, the door would open and everyone would hang up whatever he wished. Then if he were rebuked, he would say, “This is from the Qur’an,” or “These are good supplications.” So the door opens, the tear widens, and every kind of amulet ends up being worn.

There is a third reason as well: a person may enter the toilet and places of filth while wearing it, and it is known that the speech of Allah is to be kept far above that, and it is not fitting to enter the toilet with it.

Source: Majmūʿ Fatāwā of al-ʿAllāmah Ibn Bāz (1/51).