What to say upon seeing something in oneself, one’s child, property or anything else which pleases one so that one fears afflicting it with one’s eye and harming it

WE RELATE IN the Ṣaḥīḥs of al-Bukhārī and Muslim that Abū Hurayrah related that the Messenger of Allah said: “The [evil] eye is a reality.” ^[1].

We relate in the same Ṣaḥīḥs that Umm Salamah reported that the Prophet saw a young girl in her house whose eyes looked yellow and strange. He said: “Incant for her, for she has been affected by the evil eye.” ^[2].

I say that saf‘ah, with a fatḥah on the sīn and a sukūn on the fā’, mens ‘alteration and yellowness’. As for naẓrah [literally ‘look’], it mens ‘the [evil] eye’. One says ‘a child who has been looked at’, meaning that ‘the eye’ afflicted him.

We relate in the Ṣaḥīḥ of Muslim that Ibn ‘Abbās related that the Messenger of Allah said: “The [evil] eye is a reality. If anything had preceded the [Divine] decree, the [evil] eye would have preceded it. So if you are asked to bathe, then bathe.” ^[3].

I say that the learned say that being asked to bathe means that someone says to the person who has the [evil] eye, i.e. the one who afflicts with his eye who looks at it with appreciation, “Bathe the inside of your lower garment, [worn] next to the skin, with water,” and then it is poured over the person afflicted with the eye, i.e. the one who has been looked at.

It is reliably transmitted that ‘Ā’ishah said, “The person who possessed ‘the eye’ used to be told to wash, and then the person afflicted would bathe with it[the same water they had used].” Abū Dāwūd narrates this hadith with a ṣaḥīḥ isnād.

We relate in the books of at-Tirmidhī, an-Nasā’ī and Ibn Mājah that Abū Sa‘īd al-Khudrī reported that the Messenger of Allah used to seek protection from the jinn and the evil eye of men until the two Chapters of Seeking Protection (al-Mu‘awwidhatān) were revealed. Once they were revealed he took them up and stopped using anything but them. ^[4].At-Tirmidhī states that this is a ḥasan hadith.

We relate in the book of Ibn as-Sunnī that Sa‘īd ibn Ḥakīm reported that when the Prophet was afraid of affecting anything with his eye he would say: “O Allah, bless it and do not harm it.” ^[6].

We relate in [the same source] that Sahl ibn Ḥunayf reported that the Messenger of Allah said: “If any of you sees anything that impresses him in himself or his wealth, he should pray for blessings on it, for the evil eye is a reality.” ^[8].

We relate in [the same book] that ‘Āmir ibn Rabī‘ah reported that the Messenger of Allah said: “If any of you sees in himself and his wealth anything that impresses him, he should make du‘ā’ for blessings [upon it].” ^[9].

The commentator on Qāḍī Ḥusayn said, “And the custom of Qāḍī Ḥusayn, may Allah have mercy on him, was that when he looked at his colleagues and their gravity and excellent condition pleased him, he would safeguard them with the aforementioned [prayer].” And Allah knows best.