EVIL EYE

Evil eye is a wrong term because a person cannot fall sick by the eye of shaitaan or a
wicked person, correct term is eyeing

Getting eyed is a fact and it is mentioned in The Glorious Quran and authentic hadeeths. Prophet
Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) used to read the last two chapters of The Glorious Quran (Surah Falaq and Surah
Naas) to prevent eyeing. A hadeeth of Sahih Muslim states that: if there would have been anything
which could supersede fate, it would be eyeing and when one of you is asked to take a bath then take it.
Eyeing is of two types: Eyeing by oneself or a loved one and eyeing by an enemy or an envious person.

Self Eyed and Eyed by a loved one: This eyeing is caused by Allahs anger. For example Allah is
angered when a person appreciates his health, his body, his children or his wealth and feels proud and
boasts about it without thanking Almighty Allah as He is the One Who has provided him his health, his
wealth, his children and everything else. Allah may then take away His blessings and bounties He had
bestowed on him.

A hadeeth of Ahmed, Nisaai and Ibn Maaja states that Amir Bin Rabia (R.A.) saw Sohail bin Haneef (R.A.)
going to take a bath and said that he had never seen such a beautiful body. Moments later Sohail bin
Haneef (R.A.) became sick. When Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) heard of it he became angry and told
Amir bin Rabia (R.A.) why didnt he said Ba-rak-Allah and why do you people wants to kill your brother.

Eyeing by enemies and by envious people: A person cant be eyed just because his enemy or an
envious person looked at him or his properties with an envious eye. For example, if a person has a
prosperous business or he has a garden full of fruits which an envious person watches with envy, then
will that persons business fail or his garden will be destroyed? No, in fact his business will grow more
and Allah will give more fruits in his garden and Almighty Allah will burn the envious person in his envy
and might further take away the bounties He had bestowed on that envious person.

A jealous person lives miserably watching other succeed but the object of his jealousy, the person from
whom he is envious, does not suffer either physically or monetarily. Then the envious person takes
some action, as described in the last verse of Surah Falaq: when the envious person shows his envy,
like he can burn the properties of the person or can get things stolen from his home or can sue him
wrongly or can get him beaten by goons, etc.

Some old scholars used to think that eyeing is caused by spirits which is totally wrong and cant be
proved from The Glorious Quran or the authentic hadeeths. A person can be eyed by himself or his
loved one when he angers Allah and eyeing from an enemy or an envious person can happen only when
he takes some action out of envy. Old Islamic scholars, for whom I have deepest of respect, had made
wild guesses which has no proof from The Glorious Quran or the authentic hadeeths. They said that bad
spirit of the envious people harms the spirit of the person he is envious which results in him falling sick. I
ask any scholar from anywhere in the world to show even one verse of The Glorious Quran or any
authentic hadeeth where it is written that the bad spirit of an envious person harms the spirit of another
person and eyes him which makes him sick. This is a wrong belief and every Muslim must reject it
altogether.


Enemies and envious person cannot eye anyone just by watching with envy but old scholars believed
otherwise and thus mentioned verse 51 of Surah Qalam to prove their point which said: and the
unbelievers would almost trip thee with their eyes when they hear the message; and they say Surely he
is possessed!. The Kafir and Mushrikeen hated Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) for inviting people
towards One Allah. When Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) read out Quran in front of them, they would
become very angry. If a person could have been harmed just by being eyed with anger and envy, then
Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) would have been severely eyed and harmed. People argue that Almighty
Allah saved Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) from being eyed but then how Prophet Muhammad
(P.B.U.H.) himself became a victim of magic? Every Muslim of that time was hated by the unbelievers of
Mecca and was eyed with hatred and jealousy but there is not one record that any companion of
Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) ever became sick just because of eyeing by an unbeliever.

I have already mentioned that eyeing can be caused by an enemy only when he takes some action out of
envy like the enemies of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) did to him to harm him. Prophet Muhammad
(P.B.U.H.) was rained with stone in Taif, camels dung were put on his back during Salah, thorns were
laid on his path, goats dung was put in his food plate, his teeth were broken, face bloodied, food
poisoned, he was boycotted and isolated with his family and followers in the valley of Shaib-Abi-Talib,
magical spells were performed on him, attempts were made to kill him and he was finally forced to
migrate from his birthplace. A very long list can be made about the hardships that Prophet Muhammad
(P.B.U.H.) had to bear because of the actions of his enemies.

Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.) used to blow on the face of his grand children, Hasan (R.A.) and Hussain
(R.A.) saying that he sought the shelter from all Shaitaans (devils) and all those creatures that harbour ill
will be against you and all those who wanted to eye you.

This action of Prophet (P.B.U.H.) clearly proves that he used to seek shelter and protection from Allah
alone for his grand children from the bad intentions of their adversaries and from those who intended
to harm them by eyeing. A person can be eyed by his well wishers and a person gets eyed by his
opponents or enemy only when the latter takes any practical step against that person. Merely eyeing by
enemies does not and cannot harm anyone.

In Surah Yusuf, verse no. 67 and 68 of the Holy Quran, it is mentioned that Prophet Yaqub (P.B.U.H.)
advised his sons, who were going to Egypt, to enter the cities by different doors. He also said that he
could not avoid anything bad coming from Allah and that he had full faith in the almighty.

The people interpret from this incident that Prophet Yaqub (P.B.U.H.) did so to save his sons from being
eyed although no reason has been mentioned in the above Ayats to warrant such interpretation. It is
possible that Prophet Yaqub (P.B.U.H.) gave the above advice to his sons out of fear that they might
become victims of attack by an enemy or meet with an accident together.

This is why he had advised them to enter through different gates. This seems to be the valid reason for
Prophet Yaqub (P.B.U.H.)s above advice.


TREATMENT OF EYEING
According to the authentic hadeeth of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.), the right treatment of eyeing is
that the person who has eyed must take a bath and the water from that bath should be put on the eyed
person. In this way Almighty Allah gives health to the eyed person. Only Almighty Allah knows how this
method works but I presume that Allah wants to lightly punish and embarrass the person for not saying
Ba-rak-Allah or Masha- Allah. Also other people might get to know that this person eyed on someone
and be wary of thanking Almighty Allah for the countless blessings He has bestowed on him.