amuletsTa'wizتعویذ

The trade in these has a documented shape. Texts packaged in ta'wiz were most often pre-made for the public; a literate wearer could change the verse at his own discretion. Scrolls with Qur'anic quotations, prophetic references and sacred symbols were common in war in the Ottoman Empire, carrying verses such as 'victory is from God and conquest is near', Qur'an 61:13, worn in combat.

One of the oldest surviving examples is a printed object, not a written one. Diminutive amulets made in the medieval Mediterranean Islamic world were executed with a block print or die, called tarsh, and folded down small enough for a tiny box or tubular case. The Aga Khan Museum in Toronto holds an Egyptian block-printed amulet of the tenth or eleventh century, ink on paper, 7.2 by 5.5 centimetres; the last line of its text is Qur'an 20:46, "So God will safeguard you from them. He is All-Hearing and All-Knowing". Such text amulets were housed in lead cases stamped with surat al-Ikhlas, with lugs so the packet could be sewn to clothing or hung from the body. The cases were kept sealed, so the printed contents were invisible to an owner who could not afford a handwritten one.

Whether a Muslim should wear one at all is disagreed about, by name, and this atlas reports both sides without joining either. Some hadith condemn the wearing of talismans, and some Muslims, notably Salafis, hold that amulets and talismans are forbidden and that using them is shirk — associating a partner with God. Other hadith support their use, and some denominations count it permissible magic, usually on conditions: that the wearer holds the talisman to help only through God's will. The formulation reported for Sunni practice is that a ta'wiz may be worn as long as it consciously strengthens the wearer's bond with Allah, and not out of a belief that the ta'wiz itself cures or protects. Set against that, virtually all Muslim scholars are described as permitting talismans that invoke God or an intercessor — Muhammad, Ali, the saints — while addressing jinn or demons is prohibited. Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab treated sorcery as one of the few sins carrying a divinely sanctioned death penalty; Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani held that those convinced sorcery has effect of its own accord, rather than by God's decision and will, will not enter paradise; the Wahhabi preacher Bilal Philips has tried to draw the line by way of a hadith in which a sura with supernatural properties was recited but not written down and used as a charm.

The numbers are surveyed. A Pew Research Center survey of Muslims worldwide in 2011–2012 found belief in talismans, witchcraft and spiritual healers ranging from about a quarter to a half of Muslims in the Middle East and North Africa, Turkey, South Asia and Southeast Asia — less widespread than belief in jinn. Ta'wiz use is reported at 41 per cent of Muslims in Pakistan and 39 per cent in Albania.

Tradition holds — a ta'wiz worn by Hindus often carries the sacred Om symbol instead, which is the plainest evidence in the atlas that the container and the writing can come apart.