Dear respected Shaykh, assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. What is the meaning of the hadith: “There is no evil omen except in three things.” معنى حديث (لا شؤم إلا في ثلاث

Praise be to Allah, and may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family and his companions. Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. As to what follows: In response to your question, we say:     The hadith, “Evil omen is in three things” was narrated in different versions, like what al-Bukhari and Muslim narrated from the way of az-Zuhri from Salim from ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Umar who said, “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, “Evil omen is in three things: The horse, the woman and the house" [al-Bukhari (2528) and Muslim (2225). Another narration in al-Bukhari from ibn ‘Umar states that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “If there is evil omen in anything, it is in the house, the woman and the horse.” [Al-Bukhari (5094)]. Al-Bukhari (5094) and Muslim (2226) also transmitted a similar hadith from the way of Malik on the authority of Abu Hakim, on the authority of Sahl ibn Sa’d. The scholars have different opinions on what this hadith means. A group of the scholars said that the hadith does not indicate the existence of bad omen, rather, it informs us that if Allah were to create evil omen, He would create it in these things, and this does not necessitate that evil omen exists. Other scholars said that the attribution of evil omen to these things is metaphorical, and the meaning is that evil omen may happen in association with these things, and not that it emanates from them. It was said that evil omen in the house is a bad neighbor; in a woman, it is a woman who cannot bear children, and in a horse, it is a horse which is not used for fighting in Allah’s path. Others scholars said that this hadith is an exception to the hadith which refuted evil omen like in some narrations of the hadith of ibn ‘Umar which was mentioned above and the hadith of Abu Hurairah which was transmitted by al-Bukhari and Muslim from the way of Az-Zuhri on the authority of ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utbah ibn ‘Abdul Barr that the Prophet (peace be upon him said, “There is no tiyarah (superstitious belief in bad omens), and the best of it is a good omen.”  [al-Bukhari (5755) and Muslim (2223)]. Other scholars said, “Evil omen in these things is for the people who take evil omen in them ad do not rely on Allah. However, the person who relies on Allah and is truthful in his reliance on Him, then he will not be harmed by evil omen.” Some scholars said that established evil omen is not negated. What is negated is that these things are evil omen by themselves. As for what is established; it is that Allah the Exalted may decree that these things will be evil omen to a  person who is associated with them by deficiency in them. The last saying is the apparent opinion of Malik (may Allah have mercy on him). The scholars had detailed discussions on this issue and the scholars whom I came across who discussed the issues most extensively are ibn al-Qayyim in Miftah Dar as-Sa’adah (from page 254), al-Hafith ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bari (6/60-63) and ibn ‘Abdul Bar in at-Tamhid (9/278) and what they mentioned is in the views above. My view is that the opinion which is nearer to the truth is that there is no contradiction between the hadiths which negate evil omen and the hadiths which attributed evil omen to a woman, horse and house, because evil omen is deficiency that occurs in these things by Allah’s decree and pre-destination, and not that the deficiency is because of these things by themselves, because everything happens by Allah’s decree and pre-destination, thus people should not mistakenly think  that when undesirable things occur these things are a source and cause of evil omen, And Allah knows best