Lesson Eight

The Evil Eye, Magic and Protecting Faith

Bismillah, Elhamdulillah, Vessalatu Vesselamu Ala Rasulillah,

My dear and honoured viewers,

We are continuing with the subject of faith and Islam. In our earlier talks I spoke about faith and Islam and explained how precious and honourable they are. I said that we must not lose this blessing. Now I will continue to explain the things that take faith and Islam away from a person.

Sorcery and magic are real. To guard us against magic, Allah has granted us ways of taking refuge in Him. These are the ‘Bismillah’, the ‘euzü billahi mineşşeytanirracim’, Surah al-Ikhlas, and the Mu’awwidhatayn, that is, Surah al-Falaq and Surah an-Nas. In the reports concerning the magic that was worked against our Prophet ‘sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem’, it is related that these suras were recited over him. If we read them in the evening as we lie down and again in the morning, we are protected by Allah’s leave. We will keep to these well-known prayers night and day.

There is also the evil eye. The evil eye is real. Our Prophet ‘sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem’ says:

الْعَيْنُ حَقٌّ

that is, the evil eye is true. When a mother and father neglect to take refuge in Allah, the evil eye may strike their child and the child may fall ill. A person may himself become unwell. A fine house, a car, a horse, or any possession that everyone admires may be struck by the eye. The house comes to harm, the car has an accident, and the child or the owner may fall sick. Among the Arabs there is a saying: the evil eye puts a camel into the cooking pot and a man into the grave.

Lesson Eight

The Evil Eye, Magic and Protecting Faith (continued)

When a Muslim sees something he likes and finds very beautiful, he says ‘maşallah’, ‘sübhanallah’. In this way, by saying that Allah created it and created it so beautifully, he ties the beauty back to Allah. In Anatolia people have long said ‘maşallah’, ‘bârekallah’, ‘sübhanallah’. This is a good custom that rests on a religious foundation. You too, when you see a beautiful child, person, car, building, or any other blessing, say ‘maşallah’, ‘sübhanallah’; do not harm it with your own glance.

Against the possibility of the evil eye, say the ‘Bismillah’ as you leave the house, as you eat, as you enter a place, and as you go into a crowd. Take refuge in Allah. Our Prophet taught us this prayer of refuge:

أَعُوذُ بِكَلِمَاتِ اللَّهِ التَّامَّاتِ مِنْ شَرِّ مَا خَلَقَ

That is: I take refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of what He has created. If you cannot say this prayer, never let the ‘Bismillah’ leave your tongue. As you enter a crowded place with your child, say ‘Bismillahirrahmanirrahim’ and take refuge in Allah.

You may ask, what has this to do with faith? Nothing can affect anyone unless Allah permits it. It is not correct to regard the effect as belonging independently to the evil eye, to magic, or to any other created thing. The One who creates the effect is Allah. When a servant neglects to take refuge in Allah and to remember Him, he may become exposed to the influence of things that cause harm. For this reason we will not neglect to take refuge in Allah, and we will know that the real effect comes from Allah. This is where the matter connects to faith.

Lesson Eight

The Evil Eye, Magic and Protecting Faith (continued)

In the Holy Qur’an there are verses concerning magic. From the Mu’awwidhatayn, in Surah al-Falaq, there is the verse in which we take refuge in Allah:

وَمِنْ شَرِّ النَّفَّاثَاتِ فِي الْعُقَدِ

that is, from the evil of those who blow upon knots. To be protected from magic there is no need to go from one place to another and to pay money. Read Surah al-Ikhlas, Surah al-Falaq, and Surah an-Nas in the morning, in the evening, as you lie down, and as you leave the house. Take refuge in Allah.

Another of the things that strip away faith is to regard the forbidden as lawful and the lawful as forbidden. Allah ‘celle celaluhu’ has made the forbidden things known in the Qur’an. We know the prohibitions such as carrion, the flesh of swine, intoxicants, fortune-telling, idol-worship, lying, bribery, gambling, and the worship of standing stones. Whatever is clearly and definitively forbidden in the Qur’an we call haram. Whoever does these things commits a sin.

A person who says of what Allah has called forbidden that it is not forbidden puts his faith in danger. Consider, for example, a man addicted to wine. The prohibition of intoxicants is established by a verse of the Qur’an. In Surah al-Maide it is made known that wine, gambling, standing stones, and divining arrows are a filth from the work of Satan, and we are commanded to keep away from them. A Muslim is obliged to believe this.

Lesson Eight

The Evil Eye, Magic and Protecting Faith (continued)

If someone says, I cannot give up drink but I know that it is forbidden and I have a weakness, he becomes a sinful believer. I cannot decide whether he will enter Paradise; Allah knows. Perhaps he has done good deeds with which Allah will be pleased, and his other good works have become a means for this sin to be forgiven. That is a matter Allah will decide. But the person who denies that intoxicants are forbidden has rejected a clear ruling of the Qur’an.

Let the one who commits a sin not deny that the sin is forbidden, and let him not lose his faith. A sinful believer is still a believer and is a candidate for Allah’s boundless mercy. I am explaining the matter not from the angle of committing the sin, but from the angle of denial.

A person cannot, by his own opinion, religiously forbid something that Allah has made lawful and say that to eat it is a sin and forbidden. The authority to lay down what is lawful and what is forbidden belongs to Allah. One must not go to such extremes.

It is commanded in the Qur’an that we follow the sunnah of our Prophet ‘sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem’. I will deal with the place of the sunnah in religion separately in another talk. Here I am explaining the matter from the angle of faith and denial.

In many verses of the Holy Qur’an our Prophet Muhammad ‘aleyhisselam’ is shown to us as an example, and we are commanded to follow him. The reports about what he did, what he said, and the deeds he approved are called hadith; the path he followed and his practice are called the sunnah.

Lesson Eight

The Evil Eye, Magic and Protecting Faith (continued)

To reject the place of the sunnah in religion entirely, by saying that when there is the Qur’an there is no need for the sunnah, does not accord with faith. But it is a different matter to accept the sunnah and yet voice a scholarly hesitation about the chain of transmission of a particular report or about the way it has reached us. A person may say, I do not reject the sunnah, but concerning this report about our Prophet’s sunnah I see a problem in the chain of transmission by which it reached us. That is a separate question.

To mock the sunnah, or one of Allah’s commands, is also a sign of unbelief. To take the verses of the Qur’an lightly in everyday speech and to make them a subject of joking and amusement is to play with faith. Let us please guard against this.

The Last Day will come. This is established by the verses of the Qur’an. The universe is not eternal. The Eternal One is Allah. Everything other than Allah is perishing; the universe too is perishing, and the Last Day will come. We do not know when it will come. To say that there is no such thing as the Last Day and that this is absurd means rejecting a truth of which the Qur’an has informed us.

That Paradise and Hell exist is made known by the clear verses of the Qur’an. To speak as though they do not exist, or to reject these truths that Allah has definitively announced, does not accord with faith.

Lesson Eight

The Evil Eye, Magic and Protecting Faith (continued)

Another mistake we make in daily life is to make matters of faith a subject of jest. Faith is not something to joke about. In songs and in everyday talk, sentences are spoken such as, if he enters Paradise I will not, or if he does not enter Paradise neither will I. Allah decides who will enter Paradise. No one can interfere with Allah’s judgement. Allah is not questioned about what He does; the servants, however, are questioned. Let us guard against such words in our conversation.

A thought that carries the meaning of denial may come to a person’s mind or heart against his will. If he does not embrace it and does not express it in word or deed, he does not become an unbeliever because of it. Even so, one should take refuge in Allah from such thoughts.

If a person conveys a thought carrying the meaning of denial to the outside world through speech, or displays it through an act such as insulting the Qur’an, the situation changes. Acts such as sitting upon the Qur’an to insult it, or throwing the Holy Qur’an into a filthy place, reflect the inner thought of denial to the outside. But the evil thoughts that pass through a person’s heart unwillingly do not by themselves cause unbelief.

When you hear a word that carries the meaning of denial or of mocking religion, give warning and say: my brother, you are a Muslim; this word carries the meaning of unbelief, and you have spoken wrongly, so take care. To approve such a word as correct and to endorse it with laughter also puts a person’s faith in danger.

Lesson Eight

The Evil Eye, Magic and Protecting Faith (continued)

To deny a verse of the Qur’an or a firmly established religious ruling; to mock sacred values; to look down upon the mosque, the minaret, the call to prayer, and the Kaaba; and to mock the recitation of the Qur’an, does not accord with faith. The same is true of denying the oneness of Allah, ascribing to Him a partner or a son, and likening Allah to created things. One must strictly guard against insulting the religion, the Qur’an, and the principles of faith.

Faith is a great fortune and a great blessing. However many the sins of a person who has not fallen into denial and has preserved his faith, he is a candidate for Allah’s boundless mercy. If Allah wills, He may place him directly in His Paradise. That is a matter Allah will decide.

One who does wrong will of course give an account for it. In the Qur’an it is made known that whoever does an atom’s weight of good and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see its return. Knowing this, we must take great care to keep away from evils and, above all, to preserve our faith.

Let us not lose our faith and our Islam, but hold fast to them. Let us live as Muslims and strive to die as perfected believers. For this we must always keep these matters in mind and guard against the words and deeds that harm our faith.

May you be in Allah’s keeping. Farewell.

The Noble Qur'an

Qur'anic Verses

The Noble Qur'an

Qur'anic Verses (continued)

The Noble Qur'an

Qur'anic Verses (continued)

The Prophetic Sunnah

Hadîth

Glossary

Concepts in This Lesson

Evil eye (nazar)

the harm that a person’s glance may cause, by Allah’s leave, to another person or to a favour.

Ayn

“eye” in Arabic; the word used in the hadiths in the sense of the evil eye.

‘Maşallah’

the expression “what Allah willed has come to pass,” ascribing a favour to Allah.

‘Bârekallah’

a prayer meaning “may Allah bless.”

‘Sübhanallah’

a remembrance declaring Allah free of every deficiency.

Istiaza

seeking refuge in Allah from evils; expressed by the words “euzü billahi.”

Basmala

the phrase “Bismillahirrahmanirrahim”; beginning a task in the name of Allah.

Mu’awwidhatayn

the shared name of Surah al-Falaq and Surah an-Nas.

Glossary

Concepts in This Lesson (continued)

Surah al-Ikhlas

the 112th sura, which sets out the oneness and incomparability of Allah.

Surah al-Falaq

the 113th sura, which teaches taking refuge in Allah from various seen and unseen evils.

Surah an-Nas

the 114th sura, which teaches taking refuge in Allah from the whispering that comes from jinn and men.

Magic (sihr)

forbidden practices claiming to bring about extraordinary effects through hidden methods.

Effect (tesir)

the influence of a cause upon an outcome; in Islamic belief, independent creative effect belongs to Allah.

Halal

that which the religion permits to be done or used.

Haram

that which the religion definitively forbids.

Intoxicant (khamr)

the general name for substances that veil the intellect; it occurs in the Qur’an as khamr.

Glossary

Concepts in This Lesson (continued)

Maysir

gambling; a game of gain without effort in which one of the parties must lose.

Ansab

the standing stones set up in the age of ignorance, before which sacrifice was offered or which were venerated.

Azlam

the arrows used for decision and divination in the age of ignorance.

Sunnah

the Prophet’s religious example, way, and practice.

Hadith

a report conveying the words, deeds, approvals, and qualities ascribed to the Prophet.

Taqrir (tacit approval)

the Prophet’s finding a deed he saw or heard acceptable and not objecting to it.

Isnad

the chain of narrators who transmit a hadith.

Mutawatir

a report conveyed by so many people that their agreeing upon a falsehood is rationally inconceivable.

Glossary

Concepts in This Lesson (continued)

The Last Day (Qiyama)

the great event in which the order of this world ends and the life of the hereafter begins.

Perishability (fana)

the finite and transient nature of created beings.

Baqa (subsistence)

being everlasting; absolute and essential subsistence belongs to Allah.

Paradise (Jannah)

the everlasting abode of favour that is the reward of faith and righteous deeds.

Hell (Jahannam)

the abode of torment where the return of denial and sins is seen.

Whispering (waswasa)

the mostly involuntary, disturbing thought that comes to a person’s mind or heart.

Takfir

judging that a person has left the fold of Islam.

A word of unbelief

an expression carrying the meaning of denial, contempt, or rejection of religious truths; different from “cursing” in the everyday sense of abuse.

Glossary

Concepts in This Lesson (continued)

Sacred values

the Qur’an, the Kaaba, the mosque, the call to prayer, and the signs and places the religion commands us to honour.

A perfected believer

a believer who strives to perfect his faith through worship, character, and good conduct.

Surah al-Maide

the 5th sura of the Qur’an, which contains the rulings of the lawful and the forbidden and the prohibition of wine and gambling.

Surah al-Zilzal

the 99th sura, which makes known that people will see the return of an atom’s weight of good and of evil.