Protectingyourself—andprotectingothersfromyourowneye

Prevention has two sides

Most articles on the evil eye only tell you how not to be struck. The source makes a point rarely made in English: prevention is needed on both sides, for the person who might cast the eye, so he is not a cause of ruin to others, and for the person who might be struck.

Which side are you on?

• I am the one who admiresGuarding others from your eyeDu‘ā for barakah, bārak Allāh said aloud, the tongue restrained, the gaze lowered.
• I fear being struckGuarding yourselfRefuge sought, the good things concealed, the daily adhkār, discretion, charity.

If you are the one who admires — guarding others from your eye

Guarding others from your eye

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• Make du‘ā for barakah (blessing) whenever you see something that impresses you.
• Say “bārak Allāh”, “may Allah bless it”, when something delights you.
• Ask Allah often to remove what you find in yourself when you see what impresses you. This is for the person who knows he has been afflicted with this trait.
• Keep up the adhkār and recitation of the Quran, reflect on the delight of the Hereafter, and train yourself in contentment and acceptance of your portion.
• Restrain the tongue and lower the gaze as much as you are able.
• Do ruqyah on yourself. Experienced raqis note that a person who keeps harming others with his eye may himself be carrying a shaytani touch that lies behind it — so self-ruqyah is part of the remedy.

For context, the classical juristic position was stern with a habitual caster. Al-Nawawi records in his commentary on Sahih Muslim (14/173) that some scholars said: if someone becomes known for striking people with his eye, he should be avoided and guarded against, and the ruler should prevent him from mixing with people and order him to keep to his house — providing for him if he is poor — so that his harm is kept from the people. This is quoted as the historical position, showing how seriously the jurists took real, repeated harm.

If you fear being struck — guarding yourself

Guarding yourself

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• Seek refuge in Allah constantly from the evil of the envier and the caster, especially when meeting someone known for his eye or his envy.

• Conceal the good things that could attract the eye, especially in front of those known to strike with it. Two stories from the early generations show how instinctive this was:

  • Al-Baghawi relates in Sharh al-Sunnah that ‘Uthmān, may Allah be pleased with him, saw a beautiful young boy and said: “Darken the dimple on his chin, so the eye does not strike him.”
  • Sufyan al-Thawri relates that Muharib ibn Dithar said: “I leave off wearing a new garment, for fear that envy might appear in my neighbours that was not there before.”
• The daily fortifications and adhkār most people neglect: the morning and evening adhkār, the words said when entering and leaving any house, before food, on entering the bathroom, and when undressing, which the Sunnah teaches as a screen “from the eyes of the jinn”.
• Recite Sūrat al-Baqarah, al-Falaq and al-Nās regularly.
• Discretion. Keep your private matters private. Ibn al-Jawzi writes in Sayd al-Khatir: “Concealing one’s affairs, in every situation, is the act of the prudent.”
• Gentle reminders are fine. There is no harm in putting up a phrase that reminds the heedless to say “bārak Allāh” on entering the home, or in saying to someone, before you show him something or tell him good news: “Say bārak Allāh,” and then telling him.
• Charity, and du‘ā of barakah over every blessing you have, because a person can even strike himself with his own eye when admiring what he has.
• Keep away from sins, from self-admiration, and from looking down on others. Sins strip away protection; humility keeps it.

The list is made of remembrance, contentment, discretion, charity and humility. Protection from the eye is a way of living with Allah, and nothing hung on a wrist replaces it.