Bismillāhir Rahmānir Raheem

A Form of Shirk (Polytheism) Occurring Related to the World Cup

Today, Shaikh ‘Ali al-Haddādi mentioned in his khutbah (in his masjid in Riyadh, KSA):

Knowledge of the Unseen, which includes what will happen in the future, is exclusive to Allāh, and not even the greatest of Prophets had it. Allāh says:

{ قُل لَّاۤ أَمۡلِكُ لِنَفۡسِی نَفۡعࣰا وَلَا ضَرًّا إِلَّا مَا شَاۤءَ ٱللَّهُۚ وَلَوۡ كُنتُ أَعۡلَمُ ٱلۡغَیۡبَ لَٱسۡتَكۡثَرۡتُ مِنَ ٱلۡخَیۡرِ وَمَا مَسَّنِیَ ٱلسُّوۤءُۚ إِنۡ أَنَا۠ إِلَّا نَذِیرࣱ وَبَشِیرࣱ لِّقَوۡمࣲ یُؤۡمِنُونَ }

Say (O Muhammad ﷺ): “I possess no power of benefit or hurt to myself except as Allah wills. If I had the knowledge of the Ghaib (unseen), I should have secured for myself an abundance of wealth, and no evil should have touched me. I am but a warner, and a bringer of glad tidings unto people who believe.”

[Surah Al-A`râf: 188]

Nūh عليه السلام said similar [1]. In addition to this, visiting anyone who claims to know the future and asking them a question renders that person’s prayer invalid for 40 days [2]. Further, if a person believes what he says, then this is major Shirk and Kufr (disbelief), which takes one out of the fold of Islām [3]; their good deeds are not accepted from them no matter how many they may be, unless they make truthful repentance before dying.

Sadly, this has become re-popularized in the image of animals “predicting” World Cup wins. The Shaikh further mentioned that the previous polytheists nations world do similar things, but Islām came and forbade these things and called them Shirk. The Prophet ﷺ said:

الطيرة شرك الطيرة شرك الطيرة شرك

“Tiyarah (evil omen) is Shirk (polytheism), Tiyarah is Shirk, Tiyarah is Shirk”. [4]

In another hadeeth:

لا عدوى ولا طيرة

“There is no contagion of a disease without Allāh’s Permission, nor Tiyarah (bad omen)”. [5]

Therefore, it is Harām (impermissible) to give an ear to these predictions without believing them (and a person’s prayer is not acceptable for 40 days), and major Shirk (polytheism) to believe them.

والله أعلم

Summarized, paraphrased, and translated by:

Zain Irfan Abu Hibban

References:

[1]: [Sūrah Hūd (11): 31]

[2]: a hadeeth of some of the wives of the Prophet ﷺ in Saheeh Muslim

[3]: the hadeeth narrated by Abū Hurayrah رضي الله عنه reported by Abu Dāwūd and is graded authentic

[4]: the hadeeth of ‘Abdullāh ibn Mas’ood رضي الله عنه reported by Abu Dāwūd

[5]: the hadeeth of Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه in Saheeh al-Bukhāri and Muslim

Just a clarification, since I was asked about this: what the Shaikh was referring to is ANIMAL predictions, not what people discuss based on the strength of players, previous games, stats, etc. What is being referred to is when food is placed in front of two team’s logos / flags, and whichever team the animal goes towards to eat food, they use that as an omen to decide which team will win. This is EXACTLY like what the pagan Arabs would do before Islām, when they would use the direction that birds flew in to make decisions; for example, if they fly right, they will travel or proceed to do what they intended, and if they flight left, they don’t follow through. The two hadeeth above, which mention Tiyarah (evil omen), are related to that and are derived from the same root letters in the Arabic language [1].

Birds: طَيْر

Evil omen: طِيَرَة

You can see the same root letters: ط-ي-ر

Taken from Shaikh al-‘Uthaimeen’s explanation of Kitāb at-Tawheed:

القول المفيد شرح كتاب التوحيد ص. 358 ط. دار ابن الجوزي باب ما جاء في التطير

The book is translated in English, so anyone can refer to the chapter on evil omens in shaa Allaah.