Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
How powerful can the ‘evil eye’ or jealousy be? I know it is true, but sometimes my mother and other people keep warning me about it so much and remind me to read du’as that sometimes I have this terrible fear of people in general — where I even feel scared to conduct halaqahs (this has begun to happen more recently) — and I know I should put my trust in Allah and have a good opinion of people, but sometimes I feel so weak. Other times, my head is so oblivious to the point where I can’t focus on one thing for too long and forget things easily that I stop being cautious around others. Advice?
Walaikum assalam,
The evil eye is a reality. It can be powerful. Qadi Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi al-Maliki and others explain that it is from Allah’s Will that sometimes He creates harmful effects from the evil or jealous glances and looks of others.
However, if one shields oneself with the medicines of the sunna of the Beloved of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace), it wards off all normal problems.
1. One should not miss saying the 3 Quls (Qul Huwa Allahu Ahad, Falaq, and Naas) every morning and every night, ideally 3 times. One should ideally say them once after every prayer. One should strive to do this with presence of heart and mind.
2. One should do likewise with Ayat al-Kursi: recite it every morning and night, and ideally after every prayer. Reflect on the tremendous meanings of this verse.
3. Both #1 and #2 should be done before sleep, as well.
4. One should make dua that Allah protect one from the evil eye, by such Prophetic duas as the one transmitted by Bukhari, Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, Ahmad, and others:
A`udhu bi kalimaatillahi’ ttaammati min kulli shaytaanin wa haamma wa min kulli `aynin laamma
(I seek refuge in Allah most perfect words from every devil, harmful thing, and accusing eye.’)
(If you couldn’t view the Arabic, View>Encoding>Arabic from your menu)
5. One should try to make dua before all major acts, asking Allah to give one success (tawfiq), sincerity (ikhlaq), and make the action a means of attaining unto the love and good pleasure (rida) of Allah Most High.
Sayyidi Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi said,
“Be with Allah
You will find Allah with you.”
Be with Allah by loving Him, turning to Him in all your affairs, by obeying His commands out of love, thanks and servanthood, You will find Allah with you, for He is “closer to you than your jugular vein,” and He does not let the efforts of those who seek Him go to waste.
Wassalam,
Faraz Rabbani,
Amman, Jordan.