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I am a young man; I am not yet twenty. One and a half years ago, I heard about stones and rings that bring love and attract women, and so on. I was not committed to prayer at that time. I went to buy a stone called a Sulaymaani stone, and the seller told me that love comes from Allah, may He be exalted, and after that he told me: Engrave your name on the stone so it will work. After that, I went home and put the stone in my house, and I did not use it or wear it around my neck, or use it in any way at all. Two weeks after that, I threw it out of the house. Did I commit shirk, either major or minor?
Praise be to Allah.
Firstly:
We congratulate you for becoming committed to prayer and for your keenness to adhere steadfastly to your religion.
We ask Allah, the Most Generous, to help us and you to be guided and remain steadfast.
With regard to the stones and rings mentioned, they are undoubtedly types of amulets which it is forbidden to wear or hang up.
It was narrated that ‘Abdullah ibn Mas‘ood (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) say: “Incantations, amulets and love-spells are shirk.” Narrated by Abu Dawood (3883) and Ibn Maajah (3530). Classed as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani in as-Silsilah as-Saheehah (331 and 2972).
Amulets are anything that a person wears or hangs up, such as charms, beads and the like, to bring benefit or ward off harm.
For more information, please see the answer to question 10543.
Secondly:
What appears to be the case from your question is that you believed that Allah alone is able to instill love in the heart, which means that your belief that the stone could have an effect on love did not come under the heading of major shirk.
However it is haraam and forbidden, and comes under the heading of minor shirk, because it is a means that leads to association of others with Allah, and to the weakening of reason by making it subject to myths and illusions.
Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan al-Mu‘aalimi (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
You should understand that believing that a thing is a means or a sign does not necessarily come under the heading of religious belief, because the means that leads to a result may be based on physical experience and seeing that outcome, which makes a person certain of the cause and effect;
or it may come under the heading of religious belief. That is based on belief in a matter of the unseen, such as the belief that touching the Black Stone is a means that leads to good…
And sometimes the matter may not be clear: does it come under the first heading or the second? An example of that is the belief that wearing some stones in a ring may bring happiness, or ward off the evil eye, or drive away the jinn.
The ruling concerning that – and Allah knows best – is as follows: if the one who believes that thinks that this effect is the result of a means or cause that is akin to regular means and causes, which is based on physical experience and seeing that outcome, but he does not know what quality in the stone leads to that outcome, then this comes under the first heading, but he should refrain from acting upon this notion, so as to block means that may lead to shirk.
But if he think that this outcome results from an unseen cause, such as believing that that stone is beloved to Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, or to the angels, or to the jinn, and so on, then this comes under the second heading.
You know from what we have discussed above that following a religious belief or practice that Allah, may He be blessed and exalted, has not prescribed constitutes shirk…
End quote from al-‘Ibaadah (571-572).
Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked:
When I visited my grandmother’s house, I saw that they have a dagger hanging on the wall, because they think that it will prevent hasad (malicious envy); we call this sayaaboon. I explained to my grandmother that this is associating something with Allah (shirk) and that we should put our trust in Allah alone, and not seek the help of anyone or anything else…
He replied:
… You did well to advise her, praise be to Allah, and explain things to her and advise her…
This is like the amulets that are worn by children and others, which come under the heading of minor shirk, because they believe that the amulets will ward off the evil eye or hasad from them. This is something for which there is no basis; rather it comes under the heading of putting amulets of beads on children and believing that they will ward off the evil eye or ward off the jinn. This is a kind of minor shirk, and it is something reprehensible. This is similar to that, and you did well to remove it.
But if a person believes that the stone on this amulet works independently of the will of Allah, then this is major shirk. But in most cases, people think that it is something good. But this is false and there is no basis for it, whether it is an amulet or the things that people put on children or others, or the stones or daggers that people put on the door or on the wall. We ask Allah to keep us safe and sound.
End quote from Fataawa Noor ‘ala ad-Darb (1/368-369).
For more information, please see the answer to question no. 192206.
And Allah knows best.