The evil eye:

One of my friends told me that while he was returning from the gym, having good health and big strong muscles, one of the people knowing him gave him a look of admiration and approval to which my friend didn’t pay any attention. But he said, without known causes, he had a big problem in his back and couldn’t go to the gym anymore!.

The cause of what happened to my friend is similar to what happened to one of my relatives when her husband bought her some wonderful jewels but, the end of these jewels was near When she sat down with some women staring at these jewels with rage in their eyes. Then no much time has passed till these jewels were broken into two parts to the extent that the jeweler wondered how this could have happened without an apparent cause!

Also the Qur’an tutor of my daughter “Ruqayyah” insisted that I should make Ruqiah for her as in the past, she loved Qur’an, was caring about its recitation and memorization and surpassed her friends to the extent they wondered how rapid her memorization was. But now, she never wants to memorize and read it and she is treating her tutor roughly and does not want to see her. Her tutor says;” you should make Ruqiah for her from the evil eye”.

These are some real stories and Every one of us has some of them in which the evil eye seriousness, its effect and the appearance of its symptoms on aged and young people are apparent as it was mentioned in the Qur’an and sunnah. In this important topic, we will talk about; what is the evil eye meaning?   What is the difference between the evil eye and envy? What did the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah say about it? evil eye symptoms in adults and babies? And finally, how can we protect ourselves and our children from it?

Firstly: the definition of the evil eye:

The Islamic scholar Ibn Al-Qaim-may Allah have mercy on him- defined the evil eye by saying:” they are arrows coming from the envier soul and the one casting evil to the envied person and on whom the evil eye is put. They sometimes hit him and the other time they miss him”. And the Islamic scholar Ibn Hajar defined it by his saying: “the evil eye is a look of admiration tinged with envy from a man whose nature is malicious and the one, on whom the evil eye is put, gets some harm from it.”

Secondly: the difference between Envy and evil eye:

The evil eye and envy have common characters and different ones.

The common characters are as following;

1. in the effect, both of them result in harm and the end of the blessing or its changing.
2. in the truth, both of them are actions of the soul towards the one who gets hurt.
3. in the prevention and remedy, mentioning the name of Allah and saying Dhikr( some recommended sayings to be said after each prayer and before sleeping like Allah Akbar”Allah is the greatest”)protect from their effects…

The different characters are as following;

1)in the source, the source of envy is the heart burning, feeling that the envied person does not deserve these blessings and wishing them to be taken away from him. But, the source of the one casting evil is admiration and wonder. So, he may hurt by his eyes an animal, money, or plant. And his evil eyes may hurt one of his children, family, and himself as he gives the thing a look of admiration and gaze that may hurt by adapting and directing himself towards it.

2) the envier can envy the expected matter before its occurrence but, the one casting evil can not harm except what is present and existing.

3)the envier’s soul is adapted and directed towards the envied person otherwise in his presence or absence as the envier has a very malicious soul. but, the man casting the evil soul is adapted when he meets the affected person and puts an evil eye on him.

Thirdly: mentioning of the evil eye in Qur’an and sunnah;

Firstly; From the proofs in the noble Qur’an, Allah says; “And indeed, those who disbelieve would almost make you slip with their eyes[i.e. looks] when they hear the message and they say, ”indeed, he is mad.””

”{surat-Al qalam} وَإِن يَكَادُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ بِأَبْصَارِهِمْ لَمَّا سَمِعُوا الذِّكْرَ وَيَقُولُونَ إِنَّهُ لَمَجْنون”

Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid and others have said;”,

To make you slip (لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ)

With their eyes, meaning(بِأَبْصَارِهِمْ)

they will affect you by looking at you with their eyes (i.e., the evil eye).” This means they are jealous of you due to their hatred of you, and were it not for Allah’s protection of you, defending you against them (then their evil eye would harm you)”

In this verse, there is proof that the effect of the evil eye and its affliction by the command of Allah is real.

Said al-Kalbi: (There was a man from the Arabs who used to abstain from food for two or three days and then raise part of his tent, upon the passing by of cattle, and say: There are no grazing camels or sheep today better than these, and the cattle would not proceed far before some of them would fall dead. The disbelievers requested this man to give the evil eye to the Messenger of Allah, Allah blesses him and give him peace, but Allah, exalted is He, protected His Prophet and revealed this verse.

Secondly; from the proofs of sunnah:

Ibn Abbas reported Allah’s Messenger, may Allah have mercy on him, as saying:” The influence of an evil eye is a fact; if anything would precede the destiny it would be the influence of an evil eye, and when you are asked to take bath (as a cure) from the influence of an evil eye, you should take bath.”{sahih muslim}

Jabir reported Allah’s prophet as saying; “indeed, the evil eye admits the man into the grave and the camel into the pan.”

Fourthly, the causes of the evil eye:

1. Admiration of the thing without mentioning the name of Allah and saying”Barak Allah feek”(may Allah bless you)
2. Wishing to have what others have
3. Animosity, Allah told us about the disbeliever’s hatred to the prophet(PBUH) and they wanted to put an evil eye on him.so, some people of Quraish stared at him and said we never saw a man like him or like his proofs!.
4. Excellence, as Jacob-may Allah’s blessings are upon him- advised his sons not to enter from one gate as they had beautiful look, as some interpreters mentioned.
5. Deprivation, as Al-kalbi said:” There was a man from the Arabs who used to abstain from food for two or three days and then raise part of his tent, upon the passing by of cattle, and say: There are no grazing camels or sheep today better than these, and the cattle would not proceed far before some of them would fall dead.”
6. The weakness of faith, as if he believed in Allah and the hereafter, he would abstain from harming others and fear Allah and the hereafter.
7. Negligence of saying dhikr and recommended supplications which make you near to Allah and include taking refuge with him from evils and asking him to have blessings on you.

Fifthly; evil eye symptoms:

A lot of people get affected by the evil eye but they do not know as they deny or do not know the effect of the evil eye on them. At most the symptoms of the evil eye are like the symptoms of an organic disease but they do not respond to medications such as joints diseases, laziness, insomnia, acne, ulcers which appear on skin and aversion to the family,  house, society, school, and others and also some organic and psychological diseases. It is noticeable that the symptoms appearing on the affected person are the face paleness due to the reduced blood flow reaching the skin of the face, feeling distressed, sighing, amnesia, pain in the back of the head, heaviness in the shoulders, twinges in the limbs, increased heat in the body and coldness in the limbs. It is worth noting that everyone who puts the evil eye on another is envious, but not every envier puts the evil eye on another… These symptoms can be noticed by experience. So, we can divide the symptoms related to the evil eye as following:

1) Physical symptoms; they usually appear before or during saying a-Ruqyah ashar’ia.

(1-1) Paleness of the face and severe chest pain.

(1-2) Transient headache and it increases during Ruqiah

(1-3) Having a high heat temperature.

(1-4) Sweating heavily especially in the back region and this usually follows the strength of the evil eye

(1-5) Severe pains in the limbs

(1-6) Strikingly abnormal continuous yawning

(1-7) Crying and falling of tears without an obvious cause.

(1-8) The symptoms of continuous yawning and falling of tears may appear on some healers or others due to Ruqiah if the patient was affected by the evil eye or envy. and this appears mostly on women.

(1-9) Trembling of the limbs and making involuntary movements according to the strength of the evil eye.

(1-10) Increased heartbeats.

(1-11) Dystonia(repeated contractions of the muscles).

(1-12) Feeling of laziness and inability to work.

(1-13) Feeling of coldness in the limbs sometimes.

(1-14) The appearance of green or blue bruises without clinical causes.

2) The social symptoms; The evil eye has affected one’s social relations as the following:

(2-1) Loss of trade and money

(2-2) Hatred and rage from the family, friends, and relatives.

(2-3) Loss of the position and work.

Important notice: a man should not exaggerate deluding himself that he gets hurt by the evil eye in order not to think badly of people around him. there should be strong proof that he is hurt by this evil eye as these symptoms may be due to other causes other than the effect of the evil eye.

Sixthly: Protection from the evil eye:

Ibn Al-Qaim said in the interpretation of surat al-falaq, talking about the evil eye and envy,” they are arrows coming from the envier soul and the one having an evil eye to the envied person and on whom the evil eye is put. They sometimes hit him and the other time they miss him, If the target is exposed and unprotected, it will affect him, but if the target is cautious and armed, the arrow will not affect and may even come back on the one who launched it.”{Al-teb Al nabwei}

The man casting evil may be good and righteous. And the man puts an evil eye on himself, his money and his children unlike the envier who does not envy himself or his money and the envy comes from a man whose nature is malicious.

One might ask is there evil eye protection? And the answer is yes. But, to have protection against the evil eye, you should do the following:

-when the man sees what admires and pleases him, he/she should say” Allahum barek feeh”(may Allah bless this thing).

-if he was admired by himself, his money and children, he should say”Masha Allah la quwat illa bi Allah”(what Allah willed; there is no power except in Allah.)

– persisting in reciting the adhakaar of morning and evening like:

” A‘oodhu bi kalimaat Allaah il-taammati min sharri ma khalaq”  (I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allaah from the evil of that which He has created), and other words that have been narrated.

– Reciting Aayat al-Kursi after waking up and when going to sleep.

– Reciting Soorat al-Ikhlaas and al-Mi‘wadhatayn as they are the best protection against every evil.

Narrated ‘Aisha;

”Whenever the Prophet (PBUH) went to bed every night, he used to cup his hands together and blow over it after reciting Surat Al-Ikhlas, Surat Al-Falaq, and Surat An-Nas, and then rub his hands over whatever parts of his body he was able to rub, starting with his head, face, and front of his body. He used to do that three times.”

Abu Sa’id Al-Khudri (May Allah be pleased with him) reported:”

The Messenger of Allah ( may Allah’s blessings be upon him) used to seek protection against the evil of jinn and the evil eyes till Surat Al-Falaq and Surat An-Nas were revealed. After they were revealed, he took to them for seeking Allah’s protection and left everything besides them.”

-Asking Allah to protect you from the evil eye and relying upon him.

And if he knew there was someone casting evil, he should do the following;

-If possible, the man casting evil should perform ablution and then the man affected is washed with it.

-Avoiding the man casting evil. The judge Eyadd said:( some Islamic scholars said; “if someone was known by having an evil eye, he/she should be avoided and people should be cautious towards him/her.”

-Fighting the fire of the one casting evil by being good to him.

And All praise is due to Allah, the lord of the worlds and may his blessings and peace be upon his prophet Muhammad.