Is your lucky charm a hidden sin?

Bismillah r-rahman r-rahim al-hamdu lillahi rabbil alameen a solid wa sallam ala rasulina Kareem while early he was happy his main I my bad we're getting started off here a few minutes later than two I had a funeral that I had to attend which I just returned from today in shablow tada we are going to speak about a very pertinent topic and it's a topic that directly links to our topic last week so our topic last week was regarding a to file what we mentioned at the Toyota is believing in bad omens believing in bad luck and we mentioned that this belief in bad luck it can be regarding anything it could be in times places certain actions certain statements all of these things can be part of bad luck so for example in America at Ulta you in in in terms of places would be where you know murders take place or some kind of tragedy took place we tend to often believe in America that this place is now somehow haunted because of this tragedy all right or a suicide or a haunted house or these things at the file regarding a certain number the number 13 also certain dates Friday the 13th which actually goes back to Christianity because it was believed that Judas the one who allegedly betrayed Jesus in the way that the New Testament places puts it he betrayed Jesus and he was the 13th person to arrive during the Last Supper and that last supper was on Friday alleging that the crucifixion of the alleged crucifixion of Jesus even took place on Friday which it did not it could not have not if we're going to make it three days and Palm Sunday so anyways this is a type of Tafoya so Friday the 13th is considered an ominous foreboding time right also at the thigh you'll with regards to certain actions spilling salt certain actions such as walking under a ladder or certain actions regarding breaking a mirror for example or certain things that occur a black cat walking a prop across a person's path etc etc all of these things are bad omens they are not bad omens in the sense that they are considered to be by many people superstitiously and uncorrect and incorrectly they are considered to be bad omens but we know as Muslims that this has no bearing on reality these things do not affect reality at all they have no connection to us these things are mere coincidence right so if you are walking down the street and a black cat crosses your path and then right after that a person you know something that happens there is there there is correlation there right these things happened at the same time but a very important principle and logic is that correlation does not necessitate causation right just because something happens at the same time as something else doesn't mean that it is the cause of it right so let's say for example every morning I wake up and have a slice of toast and at that same time the news happens to come on and every morning I watch the Morning News if people even do that anymore every morning I eat a slice of toast and watch the Morning News that is correlation these two things are happening simultaneously they are happening at the same time but this does not mean that the morning news is caused by me eating a slice of toast there there is no connection with regards to cause they're human beings we are we often because we are hardwired we are predisposed to look for patterns we are predisposed to look for patterns and reason and so because of this we often confuse correlation with causation and there there is not necessarily a connection there so these alleged bad omens these things that allegedly occur this is bad luck or that is bad luck all of these things we discussed last week now I want to note something and that is there is a difference between a total which is when a person makes a connection between a certain act or ritual or something and bad luck which we described and explained very in great detail last week there is a difference between that and between looking towards the actions of a loss of Hannah what data right so if I for example see a number of things fall into place that would facilitate a particular thing to occur it is okay to assume that these things may that these things may may be an indication of something good or bad that may be going to happen right so for example if I am standing outside and the wind picks up and the sky becomes very dark and lightning and hail starts to fall and then I make the assumption that it is very likely that a tornado is going to touch down that is fine that is not to file because these are the causes and these are the effects of that particular thing which is a tornado a loss of Panama to isla speaks about this throughout the Quran and the scholars of Islam have sum this up and said either arad Allah who say and Kas Babel if Allah Subhanahu WA Ta'ala desires or wills that something occur he will preface that occurrence with its causes the things that will cause it things that will facilitate that particular thing to occur right that is different than to failed because when I am looking at the causes of a particular thing if I am looking at something that will facilitate a particular thing and then predict that in the sense that I believe that this may happen because I see these particular causes then that is different than a person looking to something that has no connection to that particular thing it is merely coincidental correlation right the black cat crossing your path has no no bearing whatsoever on your day it does not affect you it only affects you in the sense that you may have believed in that and it may have affected your attitude otherwise or your perception otherwise there is no bearing on reality this has nothing to do with that and the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam mentioned this when he was described to have prohibited Tafoya Wakana your G mu mu lfl o al Kelly metal pie ever - yes Malka that he sallallahu alayhi wasallam dispraised Atalaya he dispraised that a person looked you at these issues of bad luck or looking at certain things to be ominous and he on the other hand encouraged at fle which is being optimistic and that is that for example let's say somebody is ill right they are in the hospital or they are sick and they hear somebody randomly say you know he is he's cured was not to him but he heard this for an individual to believe that this is insha'Allah a glad tidings from a loss of panama Tyla that i will be cured this is something that is encouraged this is something that is encouraged because it entails good thinking good thoughts and it's reinforces and bolsters our been a loss of Hannah with Adam today in shallow Thailand we are going to be discussing its exact opposite the exact opposite of a fail and that is those things which are considered to be good luck more specifically charms good luck charms whether those be bracelets or watches or you know people talk about they have a lucky hatch where they have a lucky pair of shoes or they have lucky pair of pants and anytime they go to do something they go to do this thing with this pair of pants or whatever it is right or lucky times or days this is the exact opposite of applicable at FIU is a type of it is a type of minor association of partners on to a loss of panic with Adam and the other side which is good luck charms or statements or actions this is as well a type of right it is a type of minor as the scholars of Islam have mentioned and categorized it and as the prophet sallallaahu asylum before has categorized it and that is that again back to our confusion between correlation and causation so if somebody for example goes to work on a particular day and they get us a promotion that they've been waiting for right a lot of people will be inclined to look at a belt or some article of clothing they were wearing or something that they had done that day that they didn't usually do that correlated with that happens simultaneously on the same day as this particular thing that they perceived to be good happened and so this connection is made where Allah subhana WA Ta'ala has not made such a connection you cannot disprove it and that is the best indication that it is incorrect scientifically speaking so there is no way to prove that this has any bearing or connection to this other thing that happened the belt you are wearing and the the promotion that you got or a particular ritual that people do we have this all over the place in America right so for example in America on the 1st of the year it is mentioned that on the 1st of the year a person should eat cabbage because if a cabbage they'll have a good ear right this is a superstition this is a type of or for example on Wall Street the very very famous landmark that is there on Wall Street in Manhattan in New York the Raging Bull and the stock market is right next to it right Wall Street is right next to it or it is on Wall Street and they the stockbrokers every time they go into their office is in the morning or after lunch they will actually touch this bull in a particular area on the bull that gives them according to them good luck for the day right so you've got the entire bowl it's made out of bronze I believe and it is black because it is corroded with time but this one particular place this one spot on the bull is bright golden color and that is because that's where it's constantly being touched every day and so it remains clean right and polished this is a type of ship this is what is known in Islam as a table of look right which we will get into so we have in in this issue of what we would call in America or in the West good luck right we have this in a couple of forms either it is something that we do right or it is something that we or it is something that we say or believe or look for right so for example something that we do I've mentioned with the with the Raging Bull on Wall Street or for example something that we say or belief right we have certain certain superstitions in America such as crossing your fingers right or actors when they go out to act or they go out on stage it's common to be set break a lake right break a leg means good luck you know I wish good luck and it ties back to you you know some superstition in that or for example knock on wood people knock on wood when they say you know I haven't become sick yet knock on wood right so to speak of this from a particular angle we're going to speak first about something that is very common and that is what we refer to in America as good luck charms or what we refer to as talisman right so we have a narration on the authority of a Milanovic Elaine Otto the Eloheinu which has been collected by even magic any man I met didn't even have bad enough money that the Prophet sallallahu aleyhi wa salem once saw a man from the companions will be a loved one home had on his wrist had around his wrist Halla cotton men so foreign he had a thread tied around his wrist and this thread was made of swivel which the scholars of Islam discuss and differ on what exactly that is whether it is a wool or what kind of animal is taken from but the point is that this Halawa mince offal that he had on he believed and the arabs at that time believed that this thing would protect a person from becoming ill from falling ill from illness right and so the prophets all alone I'll even sell him asked him when he saw this around his wrist he said Mahadi he what is this the man said minute wayna it is something to protect me from illness and the prophet sallallaahu SLM said to him in zara for analogy dukkha Elena he said rip it off take it off because it will not increase you in anything but illness meaning if it it does not have any bearing on reality however if it did the it would it would have a negative effect rather than a positive one and that is because it causes the relationship between the servants and Allah subhana WA Ta'ala to become murky to become to become severed to become diluted and so this issue of wearing a talisman to ward off evil things whatever it is or if a person wears it in order to bring about good things which is referred to as at Tobruk these two things are considered type of right and we have it's equivalency in our culture if you go to many drug stores I don't know if they still do I'm sure they do but you'll find what they call brass bracelets right and people wear these things on their wrists for arthritis right and this is taken from the ancient Romans who believed that this somehow had an effect on a person's bones on a person's joints there is no connection whatsoever there is no connection scientifically physically or religiously that this is something that has any bearing or effect on a person's joints right this is the type of shift this bracelet that people wear and and so forth the prophet salaallah alayhi wa salem had commanded that all of these things be removed so he said so alone he was selling for instance in the narration of Aqaba hi banana mint i lakota me matin fatima la who level women a leper without and Fairweather Allah who level well fear aware it in mentality me matin suffered a shock he said sallallahu alayhi wasallam whoever carries or uses a talisman what we would call a good-luck charm this or something that would ward off evil it's right either to bring about good luck or to ward off bad things he said soul alone he was telling them that whoever does this has fallen into a type of we have this in different cultures what has recently of late caught on in America in fashion right a lot of fashion a lot of things in fashion are taken from ancient mythology is this blue it's a blue circle or it may look a teardrop right and it has a white and a looks an eye and it's it's blue right this is something that is very common in Arab countries I know in Palestine that is very prevalent people hang it in their cars I've seen jewelry made out of it women will wear this jewelry on their earrings or necklaces or men will as well right sometimes it's in bracelets a maybe a bracelet made out of fabric and it's got the little eye in the middle and it's blue and this is allegedly to ward off the evil eye and it's all a caught on very significantly here in America this as well is a type of right this is a type of shift because the person is believing that this thing somehow is a cause in warding off something and allah subhanho wa taala has not informed us of that and we have no experiments we have no proven way of knowing that it is nothing but pure superstition right and Allah Subhanahu WA Ta'ala says he Debbie Aruna II love bun he says that P these the disbelievers or the people of the pagans or the polytheists they only follow that which is suspected something that they are superstitious about it has no bearing and reality there's no proof for it and these are the types of things that they believe in right so our minds are to coincide with our beliefs our brains and our minds the way we perceive reality is that we look for real provable cause for particular effects however if we disregard our minds and merely believe superstitions we become gullible people and we become a people who ascribe to Allah ascribe to the reality of the unseen that which we have no knowledge of and this exactly is how the religion of the ancient pagan arabs came about all of their superstitions and their beliefs and the idols that they worshiped they all have a history but they are a history that have no bearing on reality and so these things are very very prohibited in Islam and it may seem you know not such a big deal it's kind of cute cute it's it's pork it's not a big issue but how many things in our daily lives that we have been conditioned for seem to be of little significance to us yet with a loss of Hanna hua to Isla and analy's estimate these things are very serious a loss of Hannah with Tyler said what I said wound up with a Henan what were in the law he Eileen he said these this thing that speaking about a particular issue but in general you all believe that this is of little significance yet with a law and in a laws estimate this is a very serious affair in the hail mahadji in sahih muslim abu Bashir little on Saudi but I'll be alone who narrated that he was accompanying the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa seldom on a journey they were traveling and the Messenger of Allah Salih law my lady was seldom sent and if you could imagine with me that when they traveled there was a huge caravan of travellers there's people on camels people on mules people on donkeys people walking right and so a caravan especially if it's an army it could span miles right as they follow each other and so the Prophet sallallahu aleyhi wa salem sent somebody to go and and go to from the beginning of the caravan all the way to the back of the.

[Arabic recitation]

Betty baron palladin min water in our peloton in la cote odds he said so alone I let you a seldom go tell everybody in the entire caravan that the messenger of allah has commanded that there not remain a charm on any camel or any charm hanging on any animal except that it is cut off that it is discarded and what is this what well again we take the principle and we apply it in our lives but it's it's parable or its equal or equivalence in the time of the prophets a little oh I'll you asylum is they would have their bow that they shoot arrows with it would be made out of the tendons of camels or animals you know they didn't have rubber obviously in these types of synthetics that we use to to cause that effect and so they would take this and make it and it would have that elastic effect and so when this bow when this tendon became very old and stretched out and doesn't have the power that it used to have to shoot the arrow desirably they would take it off and put a new tendon on to make it you know to rejuvenate his power now this old tendon that they had used in battle that they had used to hunt with that they had used to shoot their prey with that they had used to feed their family that they had spent so much time with this old tendon that they took off which was the you know the rope or the on the bow that would shoot the arrow they would take this and hang it on their camel hang it on their horse hang it on their house or their tents whatever it is because they perceive this to be something that would bring good luck about or they would perceive this to be something that would ward off bad luck specifically the evil eye and so the prophets all along i do a salem commanded that none of these remain on any of the animals that these be cut off and discarded because they are of no bearing in reality we believe we are we are a people that are not superstitious the muslims we are not superstitious we are very logical we are grounded in reality and we are guided by knowledge not by superstitions and assumptions and so we have similar things in america that we use for example one that comes to mind is that i that I had mentioned or the dreamcatcher the Native Americans would have this thing that and it has feathers hanging off of it and it's called a dreamcatcher everybody probably knows what I'm speaking about and this would either ward off evil or it would bring about good right and this is from Native American Indians in America that's basically they were pantheists they believed in nature they worshipped nature very similar in theory to Hinduism however it is different in its expression obviously and so this is something that they would use for good luck work or whatever it is and so this is a type of that people have people even use this to you know they may even tattoo its on their bodies another one that is very popular is amongst Christians is the cross and we see in movies depictions that the cross Ward's off evil and person believes in it it will you know burn a vampire and all of this silliness this as well is a type of to ward off these evil spirits allegedly a person would use a cross also garlic I know that sounds silly but I've actually gone to people on their deathbed where they have garlic around them we asked why why do you have this well this is so no no and they're Muslim right is this so no evil spirits come around the person who is dying in his last final moments this is all a type of likewise I lived in the Caribbean for a very long time they had certain certain spirits that they believed people would turn usually old ladies would turn into this ball of fire that would go around at night and suck people's blood and the way to ward this office to put a line of salts on the entrances of the house right none of these things have any bearing in reality no no no connection to reality whatsoever Allah subhana WA Ta'ala gave us in these things stead he gave us ayatul kursi he gave us surat al fatiha he gave us surat al-baqara right in which he said sallallahu aleyhi wa salem in the Surat al-baqarah after her Baraka water que ha ha surah Valerius tiro Helmuth allah and its he said so Aloha Lewis elements are he a Muslim that learning Surat al-baqarah is of great consequence and of great blessing and not learning Surat al-baqarah is a great loss and magicians and these types of individuals magicians and witches and so forth they can never overpower or they have no ability to bear Surat al-baqarah and so we have things that are really grounded in reality which are the words of Allah subhana wa tada that have a bearing on the spiritual world around us in Islam we are taught that there are spirits there are the jinn and people would experience these jinn throughout time they would come in contact with them and these things would scare them and so they would try to come up with a way to settle their minds and quell their fears so they would either try to reach out to these spirits and worship them with some type of worship right some kind of offering we have in Arab culture today amongst Muslims that when you get a new house that you bring goat or a sheep some kind of animal and you slaughter it at the door of the house and this is an offering to any jinn that happened to be in the house that they you know this is an offering to them or it is for a loss of kind of a tattoo they say either way this is impermissible and this is either a type of major or minor shift or innovation this is not something that is part of our religion right slaughtering for other than Allah Subhanahu Tyla is a type of major ship that invalidates a person's islam and so the prophet sallallahu aleyhi wa salem says as well in the narration of hippodamus ode collected by imam ahmed and up with that would to seduce Danny he said I heard the messenger of allah sallallahu alayhi wasallam sa in naka what Tamar EEMA with T Willetta Sher Khan he says in rokka rokka this is he says that a worker and tama m and Thiele these three things are type of ship now we'll explain what these are at tomaten we spoke about which are talismans things that we believe that if you wear it or Don it or if you put it on your house or put it in your car or whatever it is that it is somehow going to ward off evil in some places even in Palestine where I'm from people will when they are making their house they're designing their house they will put money in the walls when they're building the walls when they're constructing the walls they believe that this will you know ward off any evil spirits that if you put money in the walls or they will put particular symbols or papers in the walls or at the doorway for instance as well we have certain things that people do that they believe is you know like for example very common in in Palestinian culture that when you go to get married and you're going to do the actual marriage contract that everybody needs to lay his hands out flat you to make sure there's nothing in your hands your fingers aren't crossed because if you hold your hands this or this or put them in your pockets somehow this will cause the marriage to get off on the wrong foot right this is well is a very serious type of superstition that falls more into a to fail but tamam is what we mentioned is when a person uses a thing that they make a string symbol whatever it is to ward off evil of roca is the same idea but it is something that you say it is verbal right we have Autopia in Islam which is a collection of dua and recitation of the Quran and praise of allah subhana wa ta'ala this is the Rokia that allah subhana wa tada has given us for those who are ill those who are ailing etc but there are other types of alcohol which come from soothsayers or magicians or superstitions or paganism that people say in order to try to cure somebody or something or try to bring about good luck we mentioned some examples of this one of them is as we mentioned for a person to say knock on wood and knock on wood or to actually find something wooden to knock one right these are as well a type of ship this is a type of exaltation of other than a loss of Hannah with data in a way that other than Allah should not be exalted it is likewise making a connection of causation between two things that Allah subhana WA Ta'ala has not informed us of and we have not been able to prove in our physical reality right.

[Silence]

And there are a number of things that people do obviously that people say and the general rule is that something being a cause for something else will only be proven an Islamic law based on one of two ways number one is that a loss of Hanna who is added informs us of it through the Quran through the Sunna of the prophets of Allah Almighty was said right so he has informed us that reciting ate a will be of great consequence and will protect a person as they sleep for instance this is one way that we make a connection of cause the second is that we have a trial and error we go through this thing where for example we find out for example we find a particular herb or a particular thing that we take for this particular illness and through experimentation we found that it has this real effect right that it has this real effect on this illness that's how we that's how we learn about medicine that's how we learn about the world around us and if we can't make that connection and if that connection is really provable and if it is disprovable as well then and if this can continue then we understand that this is a way to prove causation my microphone was acting up there and it was being it was very very distracting now the third thing that the province alone you're seldom mentioned is a tea without tea Willa is something that the Arabs and the time of the prophet sallallaahu seldom would use till they believed that a woman could you make this thing whatever it's made out of whether it's braided or designed and fashioned in some way and this thing would make a husband love his wife or cause there to be a strong bond between the two right this is a type of shift as well and there's a lot of superstitions around things that we can't understand or things that we view to be very serious this is where superstitions usually come from right so people are they are usually do not understand death and so there's a lot of superstitions with regards to death and those things which are been considered to be a big deal such as marriage this is also another thing where you'll find it just absolutely enveloped in superstition right because people get married especially you know long ago when marriage was a lot more sacred people viewed it to be very sacred which it is in the Quran that you're getting married to this person this is your chance this is your only chance you know and so they would make all kinds of superstitions to make sure that it goes right get off on the right foot so in America we have things the groom can't see the bride before the marriage I mean they've been living together in America they've living together they have kids they've been living together for 15 years but on that particular day the groom cannot see the bride before getting married because that will be bad luck right this is of course nonsense however these are things that many Muslims unfortunately have learned observed from others and they have adopted these things a very dangerous thing that the prophet sallal oma he was selling has mentioned a very dangerous terrible repercussion of the superstitions is the statement of the Prophet sallallahu aleyhi wa salem which was collected by ahmed annette timothy mandala Pasha and Whoopie day later whoever believes in a talisman will be placed at a disposal of that talisman right whoever believes in a talisman or a good luck charm or something that will ward off evil whoever believes in this thing a loss of kind of what the eye that will make this thing this string this symbol this whatever it is make this thing a disposer of that person's affair what does that mean that means that a loss of panaqua ta-da'-da will make this particular thing the disposer of the that person's affairs in this life and that thing that which he believed in right and this goes back to a principle in in the Quran as to how allah subhana wa tada deals with his creation in which he says will mania shelter us embodiment opinion a level without way to verify our civilian meaning Yee meta Weyland he said Japan with Islands were often lessor and whoever disobeys disregards contends with the messenger after truth has been made clear to him and follows a path other than the path and the way of the believers we will commit him to that path that he has chosen well ehi motto Allah we will commit him to that path and so when a person believes in something and they have no proof no evidence but they believe in it simply because it has been whispered to them they have been excited by a ship on or culture or whatever it is to believe in this particular thing they will find whatever it is they look for and why is that why do they find whatever it is they look for because they have chosen that path and a loss of Pi no it's a data convince them to that path we ask Allah subhana WA Ta'ala to protect us from our own ignorance let he forgive us our sins and that he teach us that which has beneficial to us and that he benefit us from that which he teaches.

[Arabic recitation]

Ala nabina muhammad whether he was happy he attained.