Shaikh Salih Ala Shaikh (may Allah preserve him) said:

“However from the people is the one who says: I only hang these things [amulets] for adornment and I do not intend these prohibited meanings/ideas. A small amount of people say this.

So we say: verily the one who hangs amulets to ward off a harm and believes it is a means for that, then he has committed Shirk. Minor Shirk. If he hangs it for adornment, then it is prohibited due to it resembling the one who commits minor Shirk. So the affair revolves around the prohibition of all amulets, whether he believes in it or does not believe in it. This is because in the situation in which he believes that it is a means, then it is minor Shirk. If he does not believe that, then he resembles those polytheists and he (ﷺ) said:

مَنْ تَشَبَّهَ بِقَوْمٍ, فَهُوَ مِنْهُمْ

Whoever imitates a people then he is like them [Ahmad in his Musnad (no.5114), Abu Dawood (no.4031), and Ibn Abi Shaybah (no. 19401) from the Hadith of Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him)] “

[at-Tamheed Li Sharh Kitab at-Tawheed (pg. 113-114)]

Translated by

Faisal bin Abdul Qaadir bin Hassan
Abu Sulaymaan