Guidancefortheoneafflictedbytheeyeorenvy—Ibnal-Qayyim'stenmeans,andpracticalcounsel

Ibn al-Qayyim's ten means by which the envier's harm is repelled

In Bada'i' al-Fawa'id (2/374), Ibn al-Qayyim sets out ten means by which the evil of the envier is turned away from the envied. They are summarised here from his words — and they amount to a complete inner programme.

1. Seeking refuge in Allah

Taking refuge in Allah from the envier's evil, fortifying oneself with Him, and fleeing to Him from it.

2. Taqwa — guarding Allah's commands

Whoever fears Allah and guards His commands and prohibitions, Allah Himself takes charge of guarding him and does not leave him to anyone else.

The Prophet ﷺ said to Ibn Abbas: "Guard Allah and He will guard you; guard Allah and you will find Him before you." — Tirmidhi 2516. Whoever has Allah as his guard and before him — whom should he fear?

3. Patience with the enemy

To be patient with the envier: not to fight him, not to complain of him, and not even to occupy the mind with his harm. Nothing gives victory over an envier like patience with him and reliance upon Allah.

4. Tawakkul — reliance on Allah

"Whoever relies on Allah — He is sufficient for him." Reliance is among the strongest means by which a servant repels what he cannot bear of people's harm and oppression. Whomever Allah suffices and protects, his enemy has no way to him; no harm touches him except what must touch every creature, like heat and cold, hunger and thirst — but as for the enemy reaching what he actually wants in him, that will never be.

5. Emptying the heart of him

To free the heart from busying itself with the envier and thinking about him, and to aim to erase him from one's thoughts whenever he intrudes — not to glance at him, not to fear him, not to fill the soul with him. This is among the most beneficial of all remedies. It is like a pursuer trying to seize you: if you do not engage and do not grapple, he cannot hold you; but once the two of you lock together, the harm happens. Souls are exactly so.

6. Turning wholly to Allah

Coming towards Allah with sincerity, making love of Him and seeking His pleasure and returning to Him take the place of the soul's stray thoughts and wishes — little by little, until it overwhelms them entirely, and all one's thoughts, whisperings and hopes settle in what the Lord loves: drawing near to Him, seeking His favour, and remembering Him.

7. Sincere repentance

Repenting purely to Allah from the sins that gave enemies power over one — for Allah says:

No one is given power to harm a servant except through a sin — one he knows, or one he does not; and what a servant does not know of his own sins is many times what he knows. When he is pardoned the sins, he is spared their consequences.

8. Charity and doing good

Charity and kindness wherever one can — for these have a wondrous effect in repelling calamity, the eye, and the evil of the envier. The experience of the nations, ancient and modern, is enough proof: the eye, envy and harm barely gain power over a person of kindness and charity — and if something does strike him, he is met in it with gentleness, support and help, and the praiseworthy outcome is his. The kind giver of charity has an army fighting for him while he sleeps in his bed.

9. Extinguishing the envier's fire with kindness — the hardest of all

This is the most difficult means for the soul, and only one whose share from Allah is immense is granted it: to put out the fire of the envier, the transgressor and the harmer by doing good to him. The more his harm, evil and envy increase, the more you increase in kindness towards him, sincere advice for him, and compassion over him.

10. Pure tawhid — the means that gathers all the others

To make one's tawhid pure, and to journey in thought past the means to the Lord of the means: to know that these are mere instruments, like the movements of the wind — in the hand of the One who moves, originates and creates them, harming and benefiting only by His permission. He it is who bestows good on His servant through them, and He alone turns them away.

And the Prophet ﷺ said to Ibn Abbas: "Know that if the whole ummah gathered to benefit you, they could not benefit you except with something Allah had written for you; and if they gathered to harm you, they could not harm you except with something Allah had written against you." — Tirmidhi 2516. When a servant makes his tawhid pure, fear of everything besides Allah leaves his heart, and his enemy becomes too small to be feared alongside Allah. As one of the salaf said: "Whoever fears Allah, everything fears him; and whoever does not fear Allah, He makes him afraid of everything."

General counsel for the afflicted

1. Keep all the Prophetic fortifications and daily adhkār maintained by those better than you — because the most wicked of devils may follow in the wake of an eye or envy, according to the strength and malice of the eye and the person's own weakness and distance from Allah. Ibn al-Qayyim pairs the two evils (Bada'i' al-Fawa'id 2/371): the evil of the sorcerer and the envier are two branches of one evil soul — the sorcerer seeks the devil's help and worships him; the envier is one whom the devil helps without being asked, for the envier is the devil's deputy. Both are enemies of Allah's blessings and embitterers of them upon His servants.
2. It is fine to go to someone for ruqyah — but beware whose hands you fall into. Some claim to heal with the Quran and wear an appearance of piety while in reality they are far from tawhid. If you want treatment, ask trustworthy people of the Sunnah about legitimate practitioners — do not just ask around.
3. Learn your religion, and tawhid especially, so you avoid falling into what may be shirk. The people of tawhid are the people of Allah and His elect.
4. Guard the five prayers and the regular sunnahs, and pray at night — for in the night is the divine descent and the answering of du'ā. Pray with presence of heart.
5. Make du'ā constantly, certain of the answer — after making your income pure, for the one fed on the forbidden is not answered. Choose the times when du'ā is answered, and do not be hasty: "Each of you is answered so long as he does not grow impatient and say: I made du'ā to my Lord and He did not answer me." — Muslim 2735.
6. Perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you. The affliction did not come to destroy you; it came to test your patience — to reveal whether you are fit to be among Allah's allies and His party (Ibn al-Qayyim, Tariq al-Hijratayn).
7. Increase istighfar — for nothing struck you except by sins.
8. Do not complain about your Lord to His creation, and do not resent Him; be pleased with the decree, its sweet and its bitter.

The source's advice to men

1. Gain understanding of your religion — you are the first one answerable before Allah for your family.
2. Raise your family on contentment with what is apportioned, and be their example.
3. Beware of pride and boasting over your brothers, for they will envy you.
4. Use discretion to bring your affairs to success — all of them.
5. Guard your tongue. The source quotes the old counsel: do not disclose three things — your age, your wealth, and your school of thought — as much as you can, or you will be tried by three kinds of people on their account.
6. Beware of bad companions who, when alone, bite their fingertips at you in rage.
7. Fortify yourself and your family with the prescribed adhkār.
8. Give charity often, and keep it up.

The source's advice to women

The source addresses women directly: know that you are more exposed than others to being struck by the eye or hasad, so act on the following. (This section is translated as the source has it.)

1. Gain understanding of your religion so you stop at the limits of the Shariah, and increase istighfar — for nothing struck you except by sins.
2. Do not go out frequently except for need, and not adorned — for the source cites that a woman who leaves her house is beautified by Shaytan in people's eyes, and this is among the causes of being struck.
3. Wear the lawful hijab that covers the whole body, and leave the forbidden "fashion hijabs" — the tight ones that outline the body like a dress, the coloured ones that pull the gaze, the embroidered and decorated, even the sheer. These, the source says plainly, are not hijab — do not deceive yourself.
4. Avoid high heels, and do not go out perfumed — the Prophet ﷺ warned against all of this, and the source counts it among the causes of affliction.
5. Avoid wedding parties and celebrations where forbidden singing is played, because of the many corrupt people and devils present — the most malicious of souls.
6. Fear Allah in your dress even among women; do not be misled by those who uncover half their thighs and chest at gatherings. The source says this is found in our communities and especially our celebrations, and eyes strike because of it.
7. Avoid the forbidden gatherings of gossip, backbiting, mockery and belittling — envy and blameworthy rivalry are bred there.
8. Hold your tongue and keep the secrets of your home from the near before the far — how many families have been struck through this. Lower your voice among men and do not soften it, lest the one in whose heart is disease should crave.
9. Maintain regular self-ruqyah against the eye and hasad, using recited-over oil and water for drinking and anointing.
10. Avoid extravagance, waste, showing off and going to extremes to appear before people.
11. Guard the five prayers and the regular sunnahs and the night prayer, in which du'ā is answered — and pray with presence of heart.
12. Make du'ā certain of the answer, after making your food pure — and do not be hasty (Muslim 2735, as above).
13. Perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you: the affliction came to test your patience, not to destroy you.

Whatever your situation, come back to where this article began. The ten means of Ibn al-Qayyim are the spine of it all — refuge, taqwa, patience, reliance, an empty heart, turning to Allah, repentance, charity, kindness to the very one who harms, and pure tawhid. Everything else is detail.