Seventhly
This happens when a person who is turning away from Al’lah sees a grace that is bestowed upon others, and then admires it, and wishes to get it for him- or herself, and wishes that it was taken away from its owner. With that, this person’s spirit becomes like a mount for the devil. When someone is envious of another, rays shoot out from their spirit, directing themselves towards the person of whom they are envious. The devil uses the rays that come from the envious person’s spirit as a means to travel towards the person who is the target of the other’s jealousy. The devil can travel carried within these rays, and as soon as the devil arrives at the one who is envied and gets in touch with them, he gains influence over them. The devil then prompts his victims to follow a way that causes them to fall into epilepsy, death or illness, so that there is suffering and pain in one of their organs. God the Almighty referred to this in His saying: “And say: ‘Provider! I seek refuge in you from the promptings of the devils’.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 23, Al-Muminun (The Believers), verse 97
Had the one who was envied entered into God’s Presence, seeking refuge in Him and joining up with His noble messenger (cpth) at that time, the devil would not have been able to harm or cause any damage to him or her.
Following on from this, if you want to be preserved, you should only seek refuge in Al’lah (glory to Him) all the time. If you notice a look of admiration from someone who is envious of you, and are afraid that this look could lead to harm and evil for you, you should immediately remember Al’lah and seek His protection, because God the Almighty preserves you when you seek refuge in Him from the evil of the envious ones.
He also (glory to Him) preserves anyone whose spirit is attached to yours, and anyone to whom your spirit is joined or to whom it is headed.
Your wife or husband, your children, even the crops and animals which belong to you, and all who are attached to you by the link of cordiality: all are preserved from being afflicted with the evil eye by your heading for God and seeking refuge in Him, the Almighty. That is because when one spirit loves another, its rays spread toward the spirit that it loves and their rays become connected together.
Accordingly, your spirit surrounds your family and all your dear ones with a halo of its rays so that it is always and incessantly connected with them. If your spirit is preserved by the light of Al’lah the Almighty, the devil will dare not approach or harm any one of them.
It was once said to God’s messenger (cpth) that a man had affected another with his evil eye; that is, he had looked at the other with a look of appreciation while forgetting Al’lah. This was something that caused damage to the one who was being envied, and so he (cpth) got angry and blamed the looker for causing harm to his brother, saying to him: “Will you invoke the blessing of God!?”
He (cpth) meant that if a man saw a grace conferred upon another and appreciated and coveted it, he had to mention the name of God the Almighty at once and communicate with His noble messenger. In this way, evil would be driven away and the man’s spirit would not become like a bearer for the devil, who could find no way to reach the one who was envied.
Thus, if you resort to Al’lah and seek His protection, you will escape from your enemy and you will plug up all the ways before him by which he may reach you.
The Almighty says in Al-Falaq fortress: “Say: ‘I seek refuge in the Provider of all that is brought into being, from the evil of what He has created, from the evil of the dark one (the devil) when he enters the chest, from the evil of those who spit over knots, and from the evil of an envier when he envies.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 113, Al-Falaq (All that's coming to Appearance), verse 1-5
The following explains the section: “From the evil of an envier when he envies.”
The envier is a person who is turning away from Al’lah.
They see grace that has been conferred upon others, and so admire it and yearn for it, wishing for it to be taken away from its owner and given to them instead. This kind of harm may occur by means of any person who forgets Al’lah. Since magicians are the ones among people who forget Al’lah most of all, envy usually comes about through them. This is especially so when they intend to bring it about, and aim to cause harm among people, and adopt such a way of causing harm as a means to achieve their evil purpose.
“…when he envies.”: that is: if this appreciation and jealousy and the desire for the grace that is bestowed on others emanates from the envious one while in a state of forgetting Al’lah, it will cause the one who is envied to be harmed by what people call ‘being hit with the evil eye’.
As for a detailed explanation of envy, and an illustration of how the envious one afflicts the one who is envied with the damage of the evil eye, we clarify this issue as follows:
It is not possible for everyone to possess all the health, money, or children that they desire and wish for. We often find people who have been deprived of one of the graces due to some wisdom that is willed by Al’lah, which takes account of their goodness and keeps evil away from them. Such deprivation is nothing other than goodness and mercy for them.
This stripping away of graces takes many forms:
Some people are stripped of children and offspring so that all their life, they continue to long to have a single child, either male or female.
Some who have been blessed with male children wish to be blessed with a female child.
Some have been granted only female children and were refused male children.
There are those who have been given ample livelihood and plentiful money, but have been stripped of good health.
Others have been granted good health and strength, but do not have a level of money and property that would please their spirits.
In this, Al’lah is Wise and Omniscient; He gives and He denies, but all of this is in fact nothing other than donation.
If the veil of yearnings is raised up from the heart so that people witness the truth, they will choose only what Al’lah the Almighty has chosen for them, and therefore thank Al’lah (glory to Him) for his favor and for such deprivation as He has willed for them. They will witness the Godly compassion that encompasses them from all people, and among all of creation.
God says: “Say: ‘God of all! Possessor of all possessions. You give possessions and power to whom you please; and you strip off possessions and power from whom you please; and you endue with honor whom you please; and you bring low whom you please. In your hand is nothing but goodness’…”: i.e. only goodness is in the hand of God, no matter who He cherishes or humiliates, and no matter who He grants with or deprives of possessions. “…verily, over all things you have, you are Omnipotent.”: He gives to each of us what suits us, for our good and with wisdom.
Having introduced the topic with such words, we see that the evil eye inflicts some kind of harm on the one who is the victim of envy. Now we will discuss how to know the way to follow in order to always be kept safe from being damaged in this way.
We hereby give an example, as follows:
Suppose a sick man is suffering from a disease which has been affecting him for such a period of time that it has exhausted and enervated him. Suppose he is at the point that he has lost much of his strength, and has become unable to leave his bed.
While in this state of powerlessness, he suddenly sees a man whose body is in good health, and whose face is overflowing with activity and vigor. Because of this, the sick man may yearn for the grace that has been conferred upon his fellow and is likely to desire such good health for himself. He may then become wholly absorbed in a covetous attitude, gazing at his fellow, so that a ray of his spirit spreads from his envious self towards the spirit of the one who is envied. This ray will then get in touch with and interpenetrate the healthier man.
While an envious person is in such a state of absorption that he forgets Al’lah, this allows their spirit’s rays to connect with and pierce into the spirit of the person who is the victim of his envy. This allows Satan to seize this opportunity.
If it weren’t for the ray of the spirit of the envious one who has turned away from Al’lah, Satan would not be able to pass into the victim of the envy. He uses this ray as a carrier that spreads him, borne within it, in the same way that the currents of electric power that are carried within a mineral wire can severely affect the person with whom the wire is in contact, possibly shocking them to death. Had the wire not existed, the electric current would not have reached the person, and neither would it have caused them any harm.
The example we have presented applies absolutely to the spreading of Satan, for once he reaches a victim of envy and gets in touch with them, he can affect them with harm. This happens when he afflicts them in a way that causes them to fall into epilepsy, death, sickness or painful suffering in one of their vital organs. God the Almighty refers to this in His saying: “And say: ‘Provider! I seek refuge in You from the promptings of the devils’.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 23, Al-Muminun (The Believers), verse 97
In the previous noble verse the Almighty orders us to seek refuge in Him, because entering into His presence with His noble messenger (cpth) and seeking His protection allow a man or woman to be surrounded on all sides by a halo of Godly Light. This will place them in an unapproachable harbor, so that this Godly Light stands between them and the devil as an invisible barrier, which will immediately burn the devil if he tries to pass through it.
There is a good example for us of this. It comes from the venerable scholar Mohammad Amin Sheikho (his soul has been sanctified by Al’lah), and is an event showing us how the devils and their followers are defeated when people seek refuge in Al’lah.