amuletsHirzحرز

said HIRZ

also: herz · Qur'an case · amulet box · Qur'an necklace

amuletArabia and the GulfOman Yemenconfidence mediumneeds checking

A small case on a chain, rectangular or cylindrical, holding verses of the Qur'an written on paper inside. Usually silver. The case may hang from a plain silver chain or sit at the centre of an elaborate necklace strung with beads, coins and other pendants; smaller versions are worn as hair ornaments or built into a headdress. The example the National Museum in Muscat publishes is silver with geometric and silver-leaf work, 30.6 cm long and weighing 152.9 g, and is dated to the fourteenth century AH — the early twentieth century CE — under the Al Bu Said dynasty.

cited

Arabic حرز ḥirz, from a root meaning to guard or fortify — the word means fortification, and implies a search for protection.
The same object is called a ta'wiz further east and a muska in Turkish; the difference is the carrier and the region, not the contents. cited

When

the published example is early twentieth century; the practice runs to now still carried cited

Period	Al Bu Said dynasty for the published example; the practice is older
How the date is known	a dated example survives
Note	from_year is the date the National Museum in Muscat gives for the piece read for this record: 14th century AH / early 20th century AD. That dates one necklace, not the practice, which the sources read here do not date at all. Anyone who can cite an earlier dated hirz should replace this.

Years are stored astronomically — 1 CE is 1, 1 BCE is 0, 500 BCE is −499 — and printed the way a reader says them. How these dates are made.

The thing itself

Form	Box or reliquary
Made of	Silver · Paper · Ink
Goes	At the neck · In the hair · On the head
Made by	silversmiths; the writing inside is a scribe's or a scholar's
It says	verses of the Qur'an, kept inside rather than cut on the case; Ayat al-Kursi, the Throne Verse, is the verse the tradition names for protection (Arabic)
Length	306 mm
Colour	silver
Retired	no — it is kept
Note	306 mm is the published length of the whole necklace in the National Museum, Muscat — not of the case. The same entry gives its weight as 152.9 g.

What its carriers say it stops

Reported, attributed, not tested here. Each row below is somebody's claim, with their name on it.

Bad luck, unspecified citedsaid by the catalogue entry, which says wearers use these pieces for spiritual protection through their sacred textual contents
Demons and night-hags citedsaid by the hadith reported in the source on the Throne Verse: reciting it wards off devils, shayatin, and fiends, afarit
The evil eye — harm carried by a look, often an admiring one citedsaid by Islamic talismanic practice as summarised in the source, which lists protection against the evil eye, misfortune, jinn and demons first among what such talismans are used for
Infertility citedsaid by the same summary, which names increasing fertility among the purposes

The story

The case is the amulet's body and the verse is its content, and Islamic talismanic practice is clear about which of those is doing the work. Talismans in this tradition usually carry Qur'anic verses, pious phrases or invocations, and one description quoted in the literature calls the result "a supercharged prayer". Virtually all Muslim scholars permit a talisman that invokes God or one of His intercessors; addressing jinn or demons is prohibited. That is the line this object sits on the safe side of, and it is why the hirz differs from European charms, which often address minor deities or demons rather than God.

The verse most often named for protection is Ayat al-Kursi, the Throne Verse, al-Baqara 2:255, the 255th verse of the Qur'an's second chapter, widely memorised and widely displayed. A hadith says reciting it wards off devils, shayatin, and fiends, afarit. Al-Suyuti narrates that a man and a jinn met and wrestled, and the jinn, as a reward for being beaten, taught the man a verse which, recited, keeps no devil able to enter his house with him — the Throne Verse.

Inference — the case, then, is a solution to a practical problem: paper in a hot, dusty, sweaty place does not last, and a verse that must stay legible has to be shut into metal. The jewellery around it is a second solution, to a different problem: what is worn every day has to be worth wearing.

The form is widespread on the Arabian Peninsula. Old Yemeni silver amulets called hirz were made to keep Qur'anic verses inside, and this sort of pendant is found across Oman, Yemen and the peninsula.

cited

How it is made and carried

A case is cast or worked in silver and given a hinge or a sliding end. Verses are written on paper and folded into it. It is hung at the neck, or worked into a larger necklace, or scaled down for the hair or a headdress.

cited

Now

Made and worn, and also collected. The National Museum in Muscat publishes one through the Discover Islamic Art database of Museum With No Frontiers, and the form is sold new by silver dealers across the Gulf. As of 2026 this project has read no figure for the split between pieces made for wearers and pieces made for buyers.

inference

Where you can see one

Another collection — a hirz necklace with Qur'an case, silver with geometric and silver-leaf designs, 30.6 cm, 152.9 g, 14th century AH / early 20th century CE, published by the National Museum in Muscat through the Discover Islamic Art database

An accession number appears here only where it was read off a catalogue page that is linked. No link, no number.

Not to be confused with

Ta'wiz — they are the same idea; hirz is the Arabic word and the Gulf form, taweez the South Asian one

What this is near

traditionIslamic talismanic craftthe tradition that fills it, and the rule it obeys: invoke God, never jinn kinQur'an pendantthe same verses worn as a solid inscribed piece rather than as paper in a box parallelTa'wizthe same object under its South Asian name parallelGris-gristhe West African cousin — the same Qur'anic writing, carried in cloth instead of silver, by way of Mande scholars parallelMezuzahthe other Abrahamic case with a written text sealed inside it, fixed to a doorpost rather than hung at a neck materialSilverthe metal it is nearly always made in practiceFoldingthe practice that gets a verse into a case that size motifThe namewhat is written inside — God's names, the names of angels or of prophets, or a verse contrastAgadez crossthe other silver charm in this batch, and the contrast: that one holds nothing placeThe Grand Bazaara market where the same case is sold under the Turkish name muska

What names this one

Each in its own words, from its own page.

parallelGauthe leather-cased cousin from North Africa, carried the same way at the neck parallelGris-gristhe Arabian version — the same Qur'anic verses, but in a silver case rather than a cloth sack parallelLadankathe Islamic sewn pouch doing the same work — a written prayer, carried on the body, not to be opened parallelPatuáthe same object in Islamic West Africa — a written charm sewn shut and worn kinQur'an pendantthe silver box of Qur'anic verses the Egyptian tradition names alongside the eye and the hamsa kinTa'wizthe North African and Nile version of the same container contrastAgadez crossthe other silver charm in this batch, and the contrast: that one is a container for a text, this one is solid carriesIslamic talismanic craftthe same writing in a North African and Nile container, and the clearest statement of the rule: invoke God, never jinn carried-bySilvera silver box with Qur'anic verses inside it carried-bySewing inthe sewn leather or cloth case of Islamic West and North Africa, holding written verses carriesWellcome Collectionthe North African written charm class Henry Wellcome bought in bulk parallelgris-gristhe same object under another name further east — a pouch holding written scripture termtaweezthe pouch form of the same practice, sewn rather than cased

Where this came from

Hirz (Necklace) with Qur'an case — Discover Islamic Art, Museum With No Frontiers — National Museum, Muscat read 2026-09-16
Throne Verse — Wikipedia read 2026-09-16
Islam and magic — Wikipedia read 2026-09-16
Talisman — Wikipedia read 2026-09-16
Silver — Wikipedia read 2026-09-16

Elsewhere

Record updated 2026-09-16. This record as JSON. Every field carries its own provenance; the tier chips above say which.

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