Q. If a person tells another that he or she is lucky, is this shirk or Islamically correct? Also the phrase unfortunate, such as in the sentence, ‘the person was unfortunate to have bought the shirt before the sale.’ Is using the word unfortunate shirk? What about if someone tells you best of luck, is that shirk? Please tell me is using the words unlucky, unfortunate, and their like, are words of shirk if used by a muslim, or are they islamically incorrect or correct. I don’t beleive in luck at aII, whatever Allah has written for me I will get.
A. It is not shirk or Islamically incorrect to tell another person that he/she is lucky. The word ‘lucky’ in the common language of the people simply informs one of a favorable outcome of something. However, while this may not lead to shirk based on what it refers to, it is totally against the teachings of Islam to believe in ‘luck’. Everything occurs in accordance to Allah’s plan and decree and is not depended upon the ‘good luck’ or ‘bad luck’ of someone. Hence, putting one’s belief upon ‘luck’ is not Islamic and would be deemed as a form of shirk. The common usage of the word ‘luck’ however, does not carry the meaning, message and purpose of the concept of ‘luck’, nor is there any direct attachment to its belief. It is simply a natural ‘talk’ and ‘statement’ used by people to refer to the fact that a person is fortunate. As such, using the word ‘lucky’ for a person as you have asked will not lead to shirk.
In a similar manner, the word ‘fortunate’ and ‘unfortunate’ are allowed to be used. They do not lead to shirk and are not unislamic. In fact, the Holy Quran itself used these words to describe people. With respect to the context in which you have used it in the sentence, ‘the person was unfortunate to have bought the shirt before the sale’, this simply tells one that he has made a bad decision in doing what he did.
This however does not mean that incidents that take place in a person’s life can be attributed to the fact that one is simply unfortunate. This is totally against Islamic teachings and a Muslim cannot hold such beliefs. As mentioned before, everything that occurs to a person are all based on the decree of Allah.
And Allah knows best.
Mufti Waseem Khan