Night Halaqa with Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed 5/3/2024

The Greatest of Creation

It's interesting to study the concept of jinn, but we should not make ourselves afraid of it. We should not make ourselves intimidated. Always remember: which creation of Allah is the greatest? The human being. There was no prophet amongst the jinn. There's no prophet amongst the jinn. The highest levels in Jannah — and the highest people after the prophets — are Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali رضي الله عنهم, and the companions, not the jinns. So Allah has made the human being ashraful makhluqat — the best of creation. And there's no reason for us to think anyone else is more ashraf than you are. Maybe not you individually, but as a human race.

We are the most honorable creation of Allah:

He didn't say وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا الْجِنَّ. Allah said وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَ — "Indeed We have honored the children of Adam." So this is a very important point to remember: when you speak about jinn and other things, you and I should not feel intimidated and scared. Your trust should be with Allah, and focus on what you're doing. Don't look here and there.

Islam's Explanation for the Unexplainable

Islam gives us an amazing explanation for so many unexplainable phenomena that happen around us — phenomena that other faith groups or other cultures are at a loss to explain. They don't have an explanation for it. So when we talk about black magic, evil eye, sihr, nadhr, and 'ayn, my perspective — and I hope you agree with me — is that knowing this is actually very helpful. Because it gives me a peace of mind. At least I know a diagnosis. When you don't have a diagnosis, you can't treat it, and you just sit there suffering.

I approach these things from a more positive perspective — meaning, this is good. The fact that we can discuss these things openly and we can recognize certain things that are happening in our life that may be connected to these things — it's not to make you feel weak, not to make you feel overwhelmed, not to make you feel that you are cornered against the wall and you can't do anything. That's not the purpose of my discussion here. Instead, my discussion should allow you to feel empowered at the end. That — wow, now I actually have an explanation for a lot of things that happen around me, or that are happening in my own life. And once I've understood why it's happening, maybe now I have a solution. And that solution also — where am I going to get it from? From the deen.

External and Internal Causes: The World of Means (Asbaab)

Understand that Allah has made this world a world of means. There are external means and there are internal means. For example, the external means is that the weather changes, wind blows, the rain clouds form, there's condensation happening and a whole water cycle takes place, and you have rain. You have external reasons for why the weather changed, why thunder happens, why lightning happens. But Allah talks about the internal reasons.

To Allah belongs the command, to Allah belongs the affairs before and after. He is the one who makes you travel and makes you flow through the winds while at sea. You're moving in the sailboat — the winds — Allah says, "I am making them move." Do you not see? I move the clouds, then I connect them together, then Allah piles up these rain clouds, and then rain falls through them onto the ground. Who's doing it? Allah is doing it.

Allah says the thunder — يُسَبِّحُ الرَّعْدُ بِحَمْدِهِ — the thunder is making tasbeeh. And the angels, out of the fear of Allah. So what you're hearing — subhanAllah — that's what you're hearing. Thunder itself is glorifying Allah. You have an external understanding of the weather cycle, and then you have an internal, behind-the-scenes understanding of what's going on. Whether it's the forming of a baby, whether it is the physical movement of atoms — whatever it is, there is an external understanding of it and there's an internal, behind-the-scenes understanding of it.

The Story of Musa and Khadr: External vs. Internal Reality

Let me explain this in another way — through the story of Musa and Khadr. The three incidents that took place: the boat getting a hole in it, the child being killed, and the wall being fixed when it was about to fall in a town whose people were not feeding them. I'm just alluding to the three stories.

Musa عليه السلام was judging things from externally. He said, "How dare you make a hole in a boat when the sailors gave us a free ride? Why would you do something like that?" And Khadr went and killed a child, an innocent child, and Musa couldn't take that. "How dare you kill a child?" And number three — when they hadn't gotten any food, and the people of the town were not hospitable — yet Khadr said, "Come Musa, roll up your sleeves, let's build this wall that is about to fall over." And Musa said, "At least why don't we charge them money so we can buy some food?" So he judged things from an external explanation.

Even Musa — who is Kaleemullah, who spoke to Allah, who received the Torah, one of the most outstandingly amazing prophets, called the Ulul Azm, one of the five top prophets — he did not understand what Khadr was doing. Khadr was working from the other side.

And so at the end, Khadr said, "I'll explain to you what I did." The ship belonged to poor people — the sailors were poor people — and there was a tyrant king who was grabbing every good ship and usurping it. I wanted to save these sailors from losing their ship, so I made a little hole. They definitely know how to fix their ship. As soon as they pass the tyrant's taxman — who will look at a ship with a hole and say, "We don't want this" — they will go and fix it themselves.

The child — "How did you kill a child?" Allah knows that this child is innocent now, but he is going to grow up to become a very big burden on his parents. He's going to become a disbeliever, he himself will go to hell, and he will become a great punishment for his parents because he's going to become extremely disobedient. So Allah wished good towards his parents and decided to have him removed. So he dies as an innocent young child — inshallah in paradise — and the mom and dad are saved from the oppression and aggression of this child. And Allah will replace him with a much better child who will become a source of happiness for the parents who were patient when they lost their first child without knowing why.

And then fixing the wall — who cares about these stingy people of this town? The wall had a treasure beneath it that belonged to some orphans. Their father was a pious man who had died and left behind orphans. If this wall were to fall over, the treasure would be exposed. And the people of this town — so stingy that they wouldn't give us even food or a place to stay — they would never allow this treasure chest to be saved. They would grab it, and these poor orphans would have nothing. So Allah took care of that father who was pious.

That's an interesting point: your piety doesn't stay with you only — it helps your future generations. Today, many of us are enjoying blessings not because of ourselves, but because of our older generations, our previous generations, our great-grandfathers, our great-grandmothers. Because of their du'a and their piety, we are sitting enjoying the fruits today.

The father was pious and Allah took care of the orphans. What you see here is sabab zahir — an external explanation — which wasn't good in all three things, and an internal explanation which is actually in the hikmah and the wisdom of Allah. This is how this dunya works. Everything is happening with the permission of Allah. However, Allah has chosen certain asbaab. Now those asbaab can be material asbaab, or those asbaab could be metaphysical asbaab.

Both, at the end of the day — musabbibul asbaab is Allah. My dear brothers, this concept that we're discussing here should strengthen our belief in Tawheed. Full control and power is only in the hands of Allah. That's what we should walk away with.

Shaitaan: The Source of Evil

Allah has created certain asbaab, hidden asbaab — asbaab khafiyyah. From those asbaab khafiyyah that harm us, Allah has created a big source called Shaitaan. Iblis is a creation of Allah — there's no doubt about that. And Shaitaan, top to bottom, is pure evil. His 24/7, 365 days a year, for the past many millions of years — his whole purpose is to cause harm to believers. He has sworn to be an enemy and to remain an enemy of Allah till the end. And anyone who chooses to believe in Allah is his enemy.

How early does this enmity begin? Of course it started with our father Adam. But every single one of us — the doctors and medical experts will give you an explanation for why a baby cries as soon as it is born. That's the external reason, what the doctors may explain. But the internal reason — the hadith mentions that as soon as a child is born, Shaitaan comes and pinches him. Iblis comes and pinches him and declares his enmity. "Okay, watch out — you're born. I'm just letting you know: I am your enemy for life." He declares that enmity from the second the child comes into this world.

Ibn Maryam — Allah saved him from this. But generally speaking, anyone who is born will cry, and they'll cry because of Shaitaan declaring his enmity. So Allah has made Iblis a means of evil in this world.

The Verbs of Shaitaan in the Quran

If you start looking at the verses of the Quran, Allah has attributed evil in so many places to Shaitaan. These are all verbs from the Quran where Allah attributes these verbs to Shaitaan:

اسْتَحْوَذَ — to completely overpower the mind. أُغْوِيَنَّ — most definitely to mislead. وَسْوَسَ — to whisper. قَاسَمَهُمَا — to take an oath. دَلَّاهُمَا — to lead them astray. يَرَاكُمْ — to look at you. يُوحِي — to communicate. وَعَدَكُمْ — to promise. أَخْلَفَكُمْ — to break the promise. دَعَوْتُكُمْ — to invite you. أَنسَاهُمْ — to make you forget. يَحْضُرُونَ — to come and be present. أُضِلَّنَّهُمْ — to mislead. أُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ — to make you have long drawn-out plans. آمُرَنَّهُمْ — to push and encourage you to do something. لَآتِيَنَّهُمْ — to attack you from all different directions. زَيَّنَ — to beautify. These are all verbs in the Quran which Allah attributes to Shaitaan. And this may not even be all of them.

Shaitaan and Forgetfulness

For example, nisyaan — forgetfulness:

"Shaitaan made me forget to mention it." This is mentioned in multiple places. In the story of Musa and Khadr, when the fish came out — Musa said, "Why did you not tell me when the fish came out? We were supposed to stop there." And Yusha replied, "I'm so sorry, Shaitaan made me forget where the fish came out of the basket." Similarly, the story of Yusuf:

Shaitaan made him forget to speak to the king. So we understand that forgetfulness does come from Shaitaan. So when your wife next time gets mad at you for forgetting the milk, just remember this — Shaitaan made me forget, okay. Then she'll say, "No, your shaitaan is your cell phone. You're not taking proper notes." That's what she'll say. But the idea is, this is true. Shaitaan does make us forget certain things. So he is the source of evil. Allah has created him. Everything goes back to Allah. Allah created Shaitaan as a spreader of evil.

Sihr, Hasad, and 'Ayn: The Ways Shaitaan Harms Us

From amongst the ways that Shaitaan wants to harm us, there are a few different ways. One of them is sihr — magic. One of them is hasad — jealousy. And one of them is 'ayn — the evil eye. In reality, these are all from Shaitaan.

The Mu'awwidhatayn and the Story of the Sihr on the Prophet ﷺ

Let us look into the two surahs — قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ الْفَلَقِ and قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ. They are known as the Mu'awwidhatayn. Most of us know the story behind their revelation. Together they are eleven verses.

During the latter years of the Prophet ﷺ, one day he seemed to start becoming ill. The sickness was such that he was forgetting certain things at home — he forgot that he had done something which he hadn't done, or forgot that he hadn't done something. One day he lay down to go to sleep. While he was in that state between wakefulness and sleep, two angels appeared — one at his head and one at his feet. This is a hadith of Sahih al-Bukhari.

They start talking to each other — the goal being for the Prophet ﷺ to hear what's going on. A diagnosis was happening. "What's wrong with him?" The angel responds: "He has become bewitched." "Who bewitched him?" "Such and such — Labid ibn al-A'sam, a Jewish man from Madinah, and his daughters. How? They've taken hair from a comb. And where did they place these tools of sihr? In such and such a desolate well, at the bottom." The angels then shared the two surahs — this is where the cure lies.

The Prophet ﷺ got up from his state and sent the Sahabah to go to that well. They went to this dry well, descended to the bottom, lifted a big rock, and sure enough, there was a comb. In that comb, there were hair knots tied. How many knots? Eleven. How many ayaat? Eleven. So with each ayah the Prophet ﷺ recited, a knot was untied. Eleven verses of Qul A'udhu bi Rabb al-Falaq and Qul A'udhu bi Rabb al-Nas — eleven knots untied. And all of a sudden, it felt like the Prophet ﷺ was released from some sort of lock. His mind opened back up to where it was.

Now, did this sihr affect the Prophet's ﷺ tabligh? No, it didn't. Did it affect his revelation? No, it didn't. Allah made this incident a means of gifting you and I the Mu'awwidhatayn. I don't have time to get into the full tafsir of these surahs today — inshallah, maybe one day we can do that. But wallahi, spend some time studying قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ الْفَلَقِ and قُلْ أَعُوذُ بِرَبِّ النَّاسِ. There is so much depth in these two surahs. And they are at the end of the Quran — why? It wasn't like, "Oh, we have nowhere to put it, let's put it at the end." It's powerful. Those eleven verses are so powerful for us to reflect on.

The Meaning of Surah Al-Falaq

Qul — say, O Muhammad ﷺ, say it. A'udhu bi Rabb al-Falaq — I seek refuge in the Lord of the dawn. Min sharri ma khalaq — from the evil of everything He has created. Wa min sharri ghaseqin idha waqab — and from the evil of everything that comes when the night takes over. Wa min sharri al-naffathaati fil 'uqad — and I seek refuge in Allah from those who blow incantations, who read certain things and blow into knots. Wa min sharri haasidin idha hasad — and I seek refuge in Allah from the jealous person when he burns with jealousy.

The Meaning of Surah Al-Nas

Qul a'udhu bi Rabb al-Nas — say, I seek refuge in the Lord of humanity. Maliki al-Nas — the King of humanity. Ilahi al-Nas — the deity of humanity. Min sharri al-waswas al-khannas — I seek refuge from the evil of the one who whispers. Al-khannas means something that comes, stings you, and goes away. I give the example of children bothering their siblings — they'll come, pull their hair, snap at their ears, and just run away. And the little one looks around wondering, "What happened? Who did that?" That's khannas. It comes, afflicts some harm, and disappears. That's what Shaitaan does.

Alladhi yuwaswisu fi sudur al-nas — He is the one who whispers right inside the chest of humans. And this waswas al-khannas — where does he come from? Min al-jinnati wal-nas — some of them are jinn, and some of them are humans. So there are Shaitaans from among the humans as well. So your mom, when she called you a Shaitaan growing up, she wasn't lying. Because there are Shaitaans within the humans. The Quran talks about it.

What you see happening in the global world today — the oppression that is happening — who needs Iblis? You have Iblis in human form. The tawaghit right now in front of us causing so much oppression and harm to innocent people, with no shame. These are Shaitaans from the humans. Allah says:

"And in this manner, We created for the prophets enemies — devils from among the humans and from among the jinn — who communicate with one another using deceptive speech to deceive others." When you see vile speech online and on TV — speech that enables genocide — you wonder: honestly, how do you go to sleep? You have a wife. You have kids. How could you go back home and sleep tonight after saying such horrific things on live television to incite people to kill? This is happening all over the globe.

Who is your speech writer? Iblis is the speech writer. When you have musicians who, in their music, say the most vile, most disgusting, most abominable lyrics — a human being can't write these lyrics. These lyrics are so demented and so fahish. This has to be coming from Shaitaan. So humans and jinns do communicate a lot. These Shayateen, they communicate. Now, do they know they're communicating? Maybe not. Do they have an 8 o'clock meeting with Iblis? Not necessarily. What happens is it's through waswasa. They just wake up like, "This is what I'm gonna do today." Where did you get this idea from? That's a Shaitaan who comes and puts it into their ears, puts it into their minds.

And let me tell you from a smaller spectrum. You hear in America sometimes — a 17-year-old goes on a rampage and stabs his mom and dad to death, kills all the siblings. You see fathers doing it to the wife and the kids — Muslims or non-Muslims, unfortunately even Muslims. You ask, "What's going on?" Many times if you look at the court hearings, or when they talk to the lawyers — I've myself read some of these things — many of them will say, "There was a voice in me that kept saying, do this. A voice said, go kill your mother." You can go online and read these dark aspects of human existence — the forensic psychologists who study serial killers and people who've killed their parents and their spouses. Many of the recordings and interviews are available. And you can see Iblisiyya dripping from them. Shaitaniyya dripping from them. Who gave you this nudge to go do these horrific things? And many of them, after they do it, are extremely remorseful — too late, but remorseful. "I feel like something came into me and I did something crazy." So there is a lot of Shaitani communication going on.

The Authenticity of Sihr — Responding to Doubters

There are certain people who reject the hadith of Sahih al-Bukhari — and there are people who reject all hadith nowadays, a big fitnah. They say, "Oh, how is it that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ could have suffered sihr?" But what they're doing is an even bigger problem. They are rejecting authentic hadith of the Prophet ﷺ. That's even a bigger problem. Because you're throwing out — how can you have faith in your religion anymore when you sit and say, "This hadith doesn't really make sense to me, so I'm cutting it out"? Then how can we trust anything?

It's like — how do you know your dad is your dad? Have you done a DNA test? That's a weird question, right? But there are certain things which the ummah has ittifaq on. There are certain hadith in certain collections of books that the ummah has a consensus on in terms of authenticity. Now you go and start attacking those hadith — then you have nothing left. Then the entire hadith tradition, oral tradition — and that oral tradition is what brought the Quran to us as well. So how do we know the Quran is even authentic? You're literally shooting yourself in the foot.

For us, this is beautiful, because Nabi ﷺ was a human:

"I am just a human like you." Allah mentions the human nature of the Prophet ﷺ so we can connect with him. We have firm faith that his tabligh and the message of Allah — the revelation — was never disturbed. Because that is Allah taking responsibility. That's why we have a major issue with the narratives of the prophets found in the previous, adulterated testaments. You have prophets committing horrific major sins attributed to them — and then what's left? If a prophet who is a chosen man to speak on behalf of Allah is involved in the most disgusting, hideous major sins — what kind of prophet is he? What kind of God has no control over what His prophet does? So it is basically an attack on Allah if you were to say that a prophet committed major sins or lost his mind.

We say that sihr happened, but not to a degree that it affected any aspect of propagating the faith. But that incident is so powerful — it happened so we can learn a lesson. Like the Prophet ﷺ and all the Sahabah, coming back from a battle, he told Bilal رضي الله عنه to wake him up for Fajr. They were super tired. The Prophet ﷺ woke up when the sun rose and the rays hit his eyes — sunrise, missed Fajr. He said, "O Bilal, what's going on?" Bilal رضي الله عنه responded, "O Rasulullah, that Allah who allowed you to fall asleep beyond sunrise allowed me also to fall asleep." So Nabi ﷺ made them all stand up, and they traveled to make up their Fajr in another location. Because the fact that they all missed their prayer at that spot — even if accidentally — there was a certain nuhusa, an ill omen, surrounding them there. If this mistake had not happened, we would never know the rules of how to make up a missed prayer. This mistake had to happen for us to learn.

Similarly, the incident of the sihr of the daughters of Labid ibn al-A'sam against the Prophet ﷺ was an incident because of which we were blessed with the Mu'awwidhatayn. And now we understand that if someone gets sihr done to them, it does not mean they are not pious. It does not mean they are sinful. It does not mean they don't follow Islam properly. It can happen to anyone. Just like a car accident can happen to anyone. Cancer can happen to anyone. Sihr is like a cancer — it's like a disease. If the Prophet ﷺ could have had sihr, who are you? There's no reason to think this is impossible. If it happened to the Prophet of Allah, it can happen to anyone.

How Sihr Affects a Person

What are the different ways sihr affects a person? Sihr can affect a person's physical health. Sihr can affect a person's emotional and mental health. Sihr can affect a person's relationships. Sihr can affect a person's sustenance and rizq. And I want to especially focus on the relationship between husband and wife.

Surah Al-Baqarah is a powerful surah — whichever house it is recited in, Shaitaan does not enter that home for the next 40 days. In Surah Al-Baqarah, Allah speaks about sihr. It is the only place in the Quran where Allah mentions what sihr is used for. And the only thing that Allah mentions in the Quran — which should be something for all of us to reflect on — is this:

"They learn from it — from them, sihr — that which they use to separate the husband and the wife. Yet they cannot harm anyone without the permission of Allah." Tawheed. Tawheed. Like a bullet — someone shoots an intruder, the bullet flies toward your head — the bullet will only kill you if it is written for it. Otherwise, no.

Did you not hear the story of Khalid ibn al-Walid رضي الله عنه drinking the poison when he found the man who had come to poison the water supply of the entire army? He said, "Bring it."

He drank it, and it didn't harm him. Now please don't go home and try that with Drano — this is not for you to try at home. This is one of the karamat of the Sahabah. Allah gave them those types of miracles. But the idea is — whether it's a bullet, whether it's poison, whether it's cancer — nothing can harm you without the permission of Allah. And the same goes for sihr. It is a sabab, a means. A bullet is an external means; sihr is an internal, hidden means. You don't see it, but it's happening.

The Attack on Marriage

My dear brothers and sisters, from amongst the signs of the Hour, one of the signs the Prophet ﷺ mentioned is:

(Al-Mu'jam al-Awsat lil-Tabarani; referenced in discussions of signs of the Hour)

Divorce will become rampant. And you are all witnessing the massive increase in the number of divorces happening all over — and in the Muslim community as well. When I speak to people, I deal with divorce every single day of my life. Multiple cases every day. And in many of the cases I deal with, I always ask: when did this fight begin, and over what? And subhanAllah, you will be surprised — honestly, most of the time the ones I deal with — if I'm dealing with 12 cases right now, the majority of them will be over something nonsensical. Non-issue. Like you would never go for divorce for this. One argument, one simple crazy thing a person said — "That's it, I'm done with you." I meet people like this every day.

Just to put it into perspective — one of our congregants in our masjid, a lawyer back in Chicago, was telling me that in his law practice, they get 40 new divorce consultations per week from the Muslim community alone. 40 new divorce consultations per week, from one law practice, out of tens of law practices out there — and not everyone goes to a Muslim lawyer. Do you understand what astronomical numbers we're talking about?

So many of the cases we're dealing with are of Shaitaan causing husband and wife to fight. If you can walk away with anything tonight, walk away with this: understand that our marriages are under attack. Your wife is great, your husband is great. Iblis, la'een, is horrible. And he will try to make your wife look horrible to you, or your husband look horrible to you. In reality, if you pull Shaitaan out of that relationship, everything will be fine. We have to be smart. We cannot fall into the deception and the sihr of Shaitaan — with the will of Allah, hopefully we won't fall — in which our spouse is made to look like the absolute enemy.

Iblis Rewards the One Who Breaks a Marriage

Let me share with you a hadith from Sahih Muslim. It is mentioned that every day, Iblis puts his throne out on the ocean and holds a majlis — a gathering for all the leaders and generals of his armies. He asks them, "Tell me what you did today." Every leader comes forward and shares what they've done to harm humans and Muslims. Iblis says, "Go. Next. Go. Next." Then one comes and says, "O Iblis, my master — I attacked a man and a woman and worked against their relationship, and I did not leave them until they were separated." Iblis then calls that Shaitaan forward, showers him with his happiness and brings him to the front of everyone. Who? The Shaitaan that was able to get a man separated from his wife.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2813)

Shaitaan Pelts the Spouses

Then another hadith — Imam Bukhari mentioned it in his Kitab al-Adab al-Mufrad — in two versions, one addressing the husband and one addressing the wife. He says: sometimes a husband and wife are wanting to spend a nice day together. The Prophet ﷺ says that a Shaitaan comes above the wife — you can't see it, she can't see it, no one sees it — and throws stones at her head. Imagine I'm sitting giving a talk here and stones start falling on my head. I won't be able to continue speaking — I'll be extremely irritated. So the stones fall on the wife's head. They were supposed to have an enjoyable evening; the stone fell on her head. What happens? She becomes irritated. And as a natural response — she doesn't know why — she's angry, she's frustrated. And she says something to the husband out of line, which has no place in the type of evening they wanted to spend. And it literally sabotages everything.

(Imam al-Bukhari, Al-Adab al-Mufrad, Hadith 1321; also referenced in Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1435)

The Prophet ﷺ is advising the husband to stay calm at that time. To understand that she is being pushed — it's not entirely her fault. Yes, she said something she shouldn't have, but the reason she's saying it is because there's an aggravator, an instigator behind the scenes that they both don't see. And in one narration, the Prophet ﷺ addresses the wife: if your husband, all of a sudden, acts out of line, out of nowhere — stay calm and collected. Because your husband, the reason he's acting up and saying something he shouldn't, is because Shaitaan is pelting him with stones to aggravate and upset him. SubhanAllah — I know every husband and wife here can think of not one, but multiple incidents in your life where exactly this has happened.

Why Is Shaitaan So After Our Marriages?

Why is he so much after our marriages? Think about it. When you cause a rift between the husband and the wife — the babies become easy fodder. Today, a mom and dad on the same page, living in the same house, cannot fully protect their children from all sorts of fitnah. When you cause a rift between the husband and the wife, the main goal is to get these kids not just disobedient to Allah, but outright kuffar. To take the children and lead them to leaving Islam.

I see this so often. Yesterday, I was speaking at a high school, and a young man — a 16-year-old — told me, "Sheikh, I need help with my cousin. He's into every single sin under the sun. He calls me when he's drunk and asks me for help. I don't even know how to help him." First-generation Pakistani Muslim. "What's the problem?" "His parents got divorced, and everything after that fell apart." This is such a common story. When moms and dads divorce, the children unfortunately become easy prey for Shaitaan. And once the children are in his grasp, they're not going to marry appropriately, they're not going to be able to raise their own children. The entire nasl — the entire generation — is affected.

Number two — when marriage falls apart, the doors of zina open. And when that haram of zina becomes widespread in society, Allah's wrath descends. There are so many horrible ramifications of our family structure falling apart. That is one of many things that Shaitaan uses sihr to accomplish.

And this falling apart of the marriage does not even require human intervention. Understand that Shaitaan himself does sihr. Many times people think, "Man, who would possibly be doing black magic on me?" You don't need humans to do it. Iblis himself does it, and Iblis is always trying to mislead and harm us.

Sihr Is Real — Don't Be Naive

Just because you don't know of anyone doing sihr doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Where can I find a specific drug in a city I've never been to? I have no idea right now. But if I wanted to really find out, it would probably take 7 to 8 minutes. You just need one guide leading to another, and you'd find out. So you don't know where sihr is done — that's good, because you don't do that stuff. But understand that this world is a dirty world. From child abduction to child trafficking to drug cartels to everything else you can and cannot imagine — it's happening right under our noses. And amongst those horrible things is also sihr.

Why? Money. That's it. People say, "If I don't do it, someone else will." Sihr is a great way to make money. The Shayateen — you work with them and they'll help you do whatever you need. You cast spells. Don't think voodoo doesn't exist. Don't think magic doesn't exist. It definitely exists, and it's practiced across many cultures.

I had a convert brother, one day he came to Dar al-Salam — it was Halloween — and we had an Islamic alternative, basically a youth night at the masjid, about 400 kids, with pizza, food, an Islamic program just to keep them away from trick-or-treating. So he asked what was happening, and I told him. He was a revert, and had been a church leader with a Mexican background, from Seattle. He said, "Listen, don't think Halloween is all hocus-pocus fake stuff. No. This is real." And then subhanAllah, he started sharing with me stories of satanic worship, of the things he witnessed in his jahiliyyah days — human sacrifice at the altar, animal sacrifice at the altar, specific nights when this is done, including October 31st. He said, "This is not fake stuff. Yes, Hallmark tries to make money off of it, and Hershey tries to make money off of it through chocolates, but it's not cute. Behind the scenes, these are definitely satanic nights where satanic rituals happen." You sacrifice in the name of Iblis to please Iblis — and when Iblis gets pleased, he gives you his powers to cast spells and do harm. You're making a pact. "I will worship you, I will sacrifice in your name — but you give me the ability to do certain things." So sihr is most definitely happening across the globe, from Karachi to Hyderabad to Timbuktu.

There was an interview — many of you may have seen it — of a Russian magician who apparently repented. She was talking about how Muslims are the hardest people to do sorcery upon. He asked her why. She said, "Every time we sit and try to do magic on them, all of a sudden there's a pushback — like a gravitational field around them that repels whatever we read." She then described some of them: those who remain in the state of wudu, those who act on the Sunnah, those who read their Mu'awwidhatayn morning and evening, and those who use the Quranic way of protecting themselves. Allah will protect them, inshallah. But if we don't do any of these things, then we are unfortunately making ourselves easy targets.

Hasad — Jealousy

The next thing is hasad — jealousy. In very simple terms, jealousy is like fire burning in someone's heart — be it the heart of a jinn, a Shaitaan, or a human being. How can someone's jealousy harm you? When a person is jealous of you, it's like fuel for the Shayateen. The Shayateen are attracted to it. You know how Shaitaan is attracted to bathrooms? That's their office. That's why we read:

"O Allah, I seek refuge in You from the male and female jinn" — when you enter the bathroom. So they're attracted to filth. Similarly, they're attracted to jealousy, hatred, and vengeance. When they sense that this man is jealous of another man, they're attracted to that negative energy and use it to propel an attack on someone.

One of my teachers explained: Allah teaches us to seek refuge from the sihr of those sahireen when they blow on knots —

And what comes right after that?

Hasad comes right after sihr. My teacher explained: the reason jealousy comes after black magic is because they are both extremely potent. He said jealousy is almost as potent as sihr, if not the same. The difference is that the magician intentionally casts a spell to harm someone, while a jealous person is not intentionally casting a spell — but what he's carrying is so much toxicity that it has an effect similar to that of magic.

That's why Yusuf عليه السلام was told by his father: don't share your dream even with your own brothers.

"Because your brothers will end up plotting against you. Indeed, Shaitaan is a very clear enemy of the human being." Your brothers are your brothers — but Shaitaan is going to instigate them to be jealous. Just as Qabil killed his brother Habil out of jealousy. Jealousy is part of being human — like how you have waste inside your body, it's natural, but you must push it out and fight it. Otherwise it comes naturally. Shaitaan then lights that fire. But look at how beautifully Yaqub عليه السلام explained it to his son — "Don't hate your brothers. Even if they end up becoming jealous, understand that this is coming from Shaitaan."

Envy vs. Jealousy

What is the difference between envy and jealousy? A person, what we call in Arabic ghibta — in Urdu, rashk — and in English, envy. That's acceptable. When a person says, "I wish I had what you have. I don't want anything to happen to you, but I wish I had that." This is called ghibta. In matters of deen, it is actually recommended. What is hasad — jealousy?

تَمَنِّي زَوَالِ نِعْمَةِ الْغَيْرِ — The desire for someone else's blessings to be taken away from him, regardless of whether you get it or not. You see someone driving a nice car and you think, "That's a dream car, inshallah I wish one day I could have that." That's ghibta — that's fine. But hasad is when you say, "Why does this guy have this car? I'll probably never own it. I hope he gets into a car accident and it gets totaled." How did you benefit from that? "I don't need to benefit — I just need to see him suffer." That's what hasad is.

Protecting Yourself from Hasad

One way to protect yourself — besides reading the Mu'awwidhatayn — is: don't show off your life to people. Don't talk about your accomplishments in front of people. Not everyone can hear about your accomplishments. Not everyone is going to be happy on the day of your happiness. So learn to be mellow. If you have to share something, just say alhamdulillah and move on. Don't make it a big deal. And fathers — don't parade around.

Wallahi — I got an email from parents somewhere in the country after they heard my Ramadan talk about black magic. They wrote: "Please, Sheikh, help us. We are crying every day and every night about our daughter. She is apparently a very smart girl — she's in medical school, got a great residency, super smart. And apparently we paraded our daughter everywhere, talked about how amazing she is. And now we feel so bad. Her health is deteriorating — emotionally, physically, everything is falling apart." The parents realized they had done something, and now they're messaging: "We cry every night. We will never praise her again in front of people. We don't know how to undo what we did."

Is there truth to this? Yes, there is. Your mom and dad are not going to be jealous — but when you speak about your child to other people, not everyone is excited. There are people who would love to get their kids into medical school but can't. And if you keep parading and talking about how smart your child is, that's not a smart move. When a parent speaks highly of their child in public, people who are not well-wishers may become jealous and the child gets harmed.

'Ayn — The Evil Eye

Or it can happen from yourself — what we call عَيْن — in Urdu, nazar — the evil eye. That can even come from yourself. Can you believe that? You can cast the evil eye on your own self, your own child, or anyone. How does that happen? I don't have all the answers. But all I can tell you is that the evil eye is from the ghayb, something from the unseen. It's some sort of negative energy that comes from the eye.

If you can think of it — it's similar to jealousy. Jealousy is in the heart. The evil eye is like a faucet of the jealousy inside the heart. A man is burning inside, and he is looking. The Shayateen use that negative energy coming from the eye to harm someone. But is it always negative? No. There's what's called النَّظَرُ الْإِعْجَابِيُّ or عَيْنُ الْإِعْجَابِ — where a person accidentally places the evil eye out of admiration. You're looking at something you love, you feel great about it, and you don't say مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ. It happens all the time.

Yesterday, my six-year-old daughter looked at me and said, "Baba, your kurta looks so nice." Wallahi, it happened yesterday at Maghrib time at my home. Within about 45 seconds, I was walking and my kurta got caught on the dishwasher and tore. She said, "Baba, you look so nice in your kurta," and then within less than a minute my thobe tore. And I was upset about it because my three boys and I all have the same color thobe — one of a kind, all of us matching. SubhanAllah, it just tore. Can I say with conviction that that's what happened? No. But it's very possible that if you don't say mashallah and you praise someone, something can happen.

And this is where we learn from the Quran:

"Why, when you entered your garden, did you not say: whatever Allah wills — there is no power except with Allah?" So this is how you protect yourself from placing 'ayn on someone else. When you see someone's house, car, food, looks — say mashallah, la quwwata illa billah. Say that.

The Companion Who Fell Ill from the Evil Eye

A companion became very sick. The Prophet ﷺ went to his house. He said, "What's wrong with you?" He said, "Ya Rasulullah, I was taking a shower outside — you know they used to have showers outside — and another Sahabi looked at my physique and literally made a comment on my physical fitness." And the Sahabi fell so ill that treatments weren't helping. The Prophet ﷺ left the house angry. He said:

(Muwatta Imam Malik, Book 50, Hadith 8; Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 15557)

"Why is one of you killing his brother? Why did you not say مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللَّهِ?" He got angry. "Why did you look at him and praise him without saying mashallah? You almost killed him." Because of the 'ayn. And then the Prophet ﷺ said in another hadith:

(Referenced in Musnad Ahmad and other collections; see also Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2187 for confirmation of the evil eye)

"The evil eye can make a man go into the grave and a camel go into the pot." If a magnificent camel suddenly falls ill — what's the owner going to do? He'll have to slaughter it quickly before it dies. Nabi ﷺ said: that is how the evil eye works.

The Ayah of Protection from 'Ayn

The Quran — the last ayahs of Surah Al-Qalam — Allah says:

"Indeed, the disbelievers are so close to making you slip with their eyes when they hear the Quran. They hate it. And they say, 'He is a madman.' Allah says: This is nothing but a reminder for the worlds." So this is an ayah for protection — the last ayahs of Surah Al-Qalam are ayahs for protection from 'ayn. You read it and blow it upon someone, or upon yourself, if you feel you've been afflicted.

Summary: What Can 'Ayn, Hasad, and Sihr Affect?

So 'ayn, hasad, and sihr — three things. What can they affect? They can affect your relationships, your sustenance, your physical health, your emotional health, your psychological health, and your spirituality. A person who was reading three juz of Quran every day suddenly cannot touch the Quran for a week. Ever since he had a big party or gathering, something changed. Shaitaan can affect you in any of these dimensions.

The Solution: Ruqya Alongside Medical Treatment

What's the solution? If you're going through these things — say someone is becoming OCD all of a sudden, someone is having panic attacks all of a sudden, someone is having what they call multiple personality disorder all of a sudden, someone developed ADD or ADHD or depression out of nowhere — by all means, go see the therapist, go see the psychiatrist, go see whatever you need. But alongside that, immediately also start your ruqya. You don't have to choose one or the other. If you're going for marriage counseling, go — but also do ruqya. If you suddenly have back pain, shoulder pain — connect with ruqya alongside medical treatment.

InshAllah, we'll have the Isha adhan now and salah, and I will finish up with some closing remarks on the methods of treatment after salah. Please stay back for the methods of treatment, and then we'll take some questions. InshAllah.