What is Tathayyur in Islam? This is the Law, Examples, and Impact

Oleh Fahdina Dean Yustisia

Almuhtada.org – Tathayyur or thiyarah is one of the behaviors prohibited in Islam.

Not only is it forbidden because it is stated in the Qur’an and hadith, but tathayyur can also have a negative impact on the person who does it. So, what is tathayyur in Islam?

Husnuzan, or thinking positively, is a good thing that every Muslim should have.

This is true for lots of things, like Allah SWT, people, unexpected situations, and so on.

The opposite of husnuzan is suuzan, or having negative assumptions about something.

Suuzan is a prohibited action and should be avoided by Muslims. In addition to suuzan, another behavior that is almost the opposite of husnuzan is tathayyur.

What is Tathayyur?

In etymology, the word “tathayyur” comes from the masdar form of the word “tathayyara,” which is from the word “ath-thairu,” meaning bird.

The ancient Arabs believed that to determine whether they would have good or bad luck before going out for a specific purpose, they would release a bird.

If the bird flew to the right, they believed that there would be good fortune on the journey.

Conversely, when the bird flew to the left, they believed that bad luck would come on the journey.

In terms of development, the definition of tathayyur is the belief that bad luck will happen because of or caused by something such as numbers, animals, months, days, and so on.

Many verses in the Qur’an mention tathayyur, one of which is Surah Al-A’raf verse 131 below:

“When good things come to them, they say, ‘We deserve this [because of our efforts].’ When bad things happen to them, they blame Moses and those with him for their bad luck. Know that the determination about their fate [good and bad] is with Allah, but most of them do not know,” (QS. Al-A’raf [7]: 131).

The law of tathayyur is haram, even considered shirk, disbelief in Allah SWT, because it assumes that there are other powers and forces capable of bringing bad luck to a person.

In a hadith from Abdullah bin Mas’ud, the Prophet Muhammad SAW said the following:

“’Thiyarah is shirk, ‘thiyarah is shirk, ‘thiyarah is shirk, and there is not one of us except that [he experiences something of it in his heart], but Allah removes it through tawakkal (trust in Allah).” (Narrated by Ahmad, no. 3687; Abu Dawud, no. 3910; At-Tirmidhi, no. 1614; Ibn Majah, no. 3538).

In the above hadith, the Prophet repeated tathayyur as a form of shirk three times.

This shows that the Prophet SAW strictly forbade his followers from engaging in such behavior.

Here are some other hadiths about tathayyur:

“From Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said: ‘There is no adwa, thiyarah, hamah, and shafar,’” (HR. Bukhari no. 5757).

“Those who practice tathayyur or ask to be tathayyur, or become shamans or ask to be made shamans, or practice witchcraft or ask to be bewitched, are not included in our group” (HR. Al-Bazzar with isnad jayyid).

Examples of Tathayyur

The practice of tathayyur did not only occur in the days of ignorance.

You may have encountered some practices of tathayyur in your daily life. Here are some examples of tathayyur behavior:

– The sipio-pio bird, crows, and ravens are signs of death.
– Sitting in front of the door makes it difficult for someone to find a soul mate.
– Someone will have bad luck if they hit a cat.
– There are no 4th and 13th floors in hotels because these numbers are considered unlucky.
– Friday is considered a sacred day because many disasters occur on that day.
– Sweeping the house at night will remove the luck.
– Someone whose head is hit by a lizard is believed to have a disaster or bad luck.