Al-Adab Al-Mufrad: Omens

Zayd ibn Khalid al-Juhani said, "The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, led us in the Subh prayer at Hudaybiyya after it had rained on us during the night. When he finished, he faced the people and said, 'Do you know what your Lord has said?' They replied, 'Allah and His Messenger know best.' He said, 'This morning My slaves have become divided up into believers and unbelievers. Those who said, "We had rain by the favour and mercy of Allah," believe in Me and reject the stars. Those who said that it was because of a certain star, disbelieve in Me and believe in the stars."'"

'When they saw it as a storm cloud advancing on their valleys...' (46:24)"

'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Paying attention to the bad omen (tayyara) is association (shirk). It has nothing to do with us. Allah will remove it by reliance on Him."

Abu Hurayra heard the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, "Bad omens. The best of that is the good omen. They asked, "What is the good omen?" "A good word which one of you hears," he replied.

'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "The nations were presented to me on the Festival in the days of hajj, and I was astonished at the great number of my community. They filled the plains and mountains." They said, "Muhammad, are you content?" "Yes, O Lord!" he said. He said, "In addition to these people there are seventy thousand who will enter the Garden without any reckoning. They are those who do not use charms nor cauterise themselves nor seek omens and who rely on their Lord." 'Ukkasha exclaimed, "Ask Allah to place me among them!" Then another man said, "Ask Allah to put me among them!" The Prophet said, "'Ukkasha has beaten you to it."

'Alqama reported that 'A'isha used to go to children when they were born and make supplication for them. She came to a child and removed its pillow and found a straight razor under his head. She asked about the razor and they said, "We put it there against the jinn. She took the razor, threw it away and forbade them to use it. She said that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, disliked and hated seeing bad omens in things. She forbade doing that.

Anas reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "There is no infection* and there are no bad omens, although I am pleased by a good omen - a good word."

* The majority of scholars interpret this to mean that these things in and of themselves do not transmit or cause harm through supernatural or hidden means but that Allah is ultimately in control and any fearful superstition around these is false.

Hiba at-Tamimi related from his father that he heard the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "There is no avenging spirit (hama*), and the most truthful of omens is the good omen. The Evil Eye is a reality."

'Abdullah ibn as-Sa'ib reported that in the year of al-Hudaybiyya, when 'Uthman ibn 'Affan told the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, that Suhayl had been sent to him by his people to make a truce with them on the basis that, provided that he leave them this year, they would leave Makka empty for him for three days. When 'Uthman came and the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was told, "Suhayl has come," he said, "Allah has made our business easy (sahhala)."

'Abdullah ibn 'Umar reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Bad luck can be found in houses, women and horses."

Sahl ibn Sa'd said, "If there is bad luck in anything, it is in houses, women and horses."

Anas ibn Malik said, "A man said, 'Messenger of Allah, we were in a house and there were a large number of us and we had a lot of property in it. Then we moved to another house and our numbers decreased and our property became less in it (the new house).' The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "Go back to it (the first house) or leave it (the second house) - it is bad.'"