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Tiyara (Ill Omen)

التطير والتشاؤم

Tiyara: ill-omen beliefs in days, houses, women and horses — Islam negated it: ‘no contagion, no omen’.

Depth

At a glance

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Tradition versus culture

Summary

Tiyara (omen-taking) means taking an ill omen from a thing. Originally, they would come upon a bird or a gazelle and startle it. If it went to the right, they proceeded with what they intended and considered it good; if it went to the left, they desisted and took it as an ill omen. They would also take ill omen if a bird or an animal crossed their path 1 2.

Related practices

Close to omen-taking are their hanging of a rabbit's ankle-bone, their taking ill omen from certain days, months, animals, houses and women, and their belief in contagion and in the hama 1.

Not covered here

The hadith "There is no contagion and no omen-taking" and the rulings on omen-taking will be presented under their own entries. The author refers to Sahih al-Bukhari with the commentary of al-Saharanfuri 1.

For young visitors

They believed that a bird or a day could bring misfortune. Islam taught them that this is superstition.

People and things also explored

The abjad letters named for Madyan's kings· Intellectual invasion (al-ghazw al-fikri) in the Sheikh's view· Islamic management· Media and the responsibility of its producers· al-Anwāʾ (Star Rains)· Jahiliyya names of days and months· The ill-omened days· Divining Arrows

Sources

  1. al-Raheeq al-Makhtum — Safi al-Rahman al-Mubarakpuri , p.38
  2. Sahih al-Bukhari , 2/851-857
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Tiyara (Ill Omen)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/tiyara/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-21.

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Related

The abjad letters named for Madyan's kings

al-Mas'udi's etymology of the abjad numeral letters — the 29 letters of the abjad order named after six kings of Shu'ayb's people: Abjad of Mecca and the Hijaz, Hawwaz and Hutti of Wajj (the Ta'if and Najd lands), and Kalamn, Sa'fas and Qursht of Madyan or Egypt.