Symptoms of and Cures for Al-Ayn | The Conclusion of the Ayn Series | Part 3 | Shaykh Dr Yasir Qadhi

Symptoms of and Cures for Al-'Ayn: Conclusion of the Series

So this is our, inshallah, conclusion for our series on Al-'Ayn. We had begun talking about the history of Al-'Ayn, the evidences of the Qur'an for Al-'Ayn, the evidences of the Sunnah. We talked about the interpretation of Al-'Ayn amongst various ulema from within and outside of our trends. And now, inshallah ta'ala, today, and also we talked about the mechanism of how Al-'Ayn takes place, the two opinions about whether it is something that there is a natural causality between the souls or it is through the medium of the jinn. We talked about all of this, inshallah ta'ala.

So today, inshallah, we will finish up by talking about two aspects. The symptoms of Al-'Ayn, how do you know you have Al-'Ayn, and then also the cure of Al-'Ayn. And we'll finish off with one or two miscellaneous points.

The Challenge of Identifying Symptoms

So, symptoms of Al-'Ayn, this is one of the most difficult topics to talk about. Why? Because the Qur'an and Sunnah did not come with a list of symptoms. And this entire category, this entire discourse today, it comes from what is called tajrubah, experience, experience. So if you went to 10 different specialists, you would get 10 different lists. This is not definitive. Rather, this is a type of prodding and testing. It's not litmus test. Litmus test means it's definitive. It is not a litmus test, I wanted to say. This is rather a checking and looking, is it possible or not?

Sorry to burst your bubble, but to get straight to the point. It is almost impossible to definitively claim that this is Al-'Ayn. This is, I'm just getting straight to the point here. It is almost impossible to make a yaqeeni claim because this is from ilm al-ghayb. And it is because of this that so many people are skeptical even of talking about this. Like if you're not even sure that it is, then why make a big deal about it? And the response is because if it is Al-'Ayn, then there are mechanisms to cure it. So here lies the problem.

The Cultural vs. Actual Reality

And I'm going to say this bluntly. Unfortunately, the cultural belief of Al-'Ayn is much more than its actual existence. This is definitive. Every single person you talk to of ilm will say this. This is not coming from me. This is coming from all specialists in the field. The cultural belief of Al-'Ayn is exponentially more than the actual existence of Al-'Ayn. This is the fundamental problem.

I spoke to a number of raqis preparing this lecture. I am not a specialist raqi. I told you this story multiple times when I was in Medina for 10 years. The last year I was there, I realized I don't know how to do ruqya professionally. And of course, they don't teach you ruqya in Islamic University of Medina. They don't teach you how to kick jinns out. One of the classes is jinn kicking. No, we don't have that in the University of Medina. So I realized I needed to study this. So I found one of the local shuyukh that was a raqi. So I spent a few months one on one outside of the curriculum just to get an idea about ruqya.

And I dabbled a little bit in ruqya when I came back. And I said this publicly, I stopped doing this because of the headache, because of the personal issues that happen when you open this door, because of the time that it just is just too much. And one of the main reasons, once you tell people you do ruqya, a hundred people come and maybe three of them need ruqya, 97 need to go to a psychiatrist. They don't need to come to me, right? And talk to any raqi, he will tell you the same thing. Any raqi will tell you the same thing. I'm not even exaggerating. Ninety, ninety five percent of people blame something supernatural and it's in their head.

So I believe in sihr, I believe in jinn being involved in the lives of people, I believe in al-ayn, but I also say. The reality is much, much smaller than what the majority of people believe, this is the problem.

Three Categories of Problems

So the purpose of this lecture, then, is to give you a little bit of tools so that you can self-diagnose and see whether there is potential for doing something more professional or not. So that having been said, we have to talk about three different aspects.

Number one, a physical or a mental problem that has nothing to do with jinn and al-ayn and black magic. You have a disease, you have a virus, you have a diagnosable disease and you go to the doctor, the doctor says, oh, your skin is discolored because you have this or you have this issue here. If your disease can be diagnosed by a doctor, this is not sihr, it is not al-ayn. Sihr and al-ayn works in ways that modern science does not understand. There are people that have psychiatric problems, they have mental imbalance, has nothing to do with al-ayn, it's just their chemical imbalance or they have some issue, Allah created people with differently, different tests, different struggles and the default when you're struggling with something, don't bring in al-ayn and ruqya and sihr, the default, as I said, no exaggeration, 90 to 95% of the time, it is a physical or a medical issue, nothing to do with ruqya.

And of course, you can do ruqya spiritually, you can do it anytime, you have a headache, take Tylenol and read Fatiha, no problem, but the headache has nothing to do with jinn and whatnot, you can read Fatiha for barakah, no problem.

Symptoms That May Suggest Al-'Ayn

So how then do we differentiate? Here's some generic symptoms, none of them is definitive, none of them is a litmus test is what I want to say, none of them is a litmus test.

Number one, it is not diagnosable. If a doctor can diagnose, oh, I'm sorry to tell you, you have cancer, cancer is not al-ayn, cancer is not black magic, this is a medical issue, and it has nothing to do with the world of the unseen, the world of the unseen, by definition operates in ways that are unseen, unknown, in ways that have nothing to do with our causal dunya.

Number two, that something sudden changes, where things were going good, things were going normal, and then overnight, changes occur. This is not normal. So for example, if your business is going to fail, usually it takes a while for the business to fail. If the business is going absolutely great, and then overnight, no customers are coming in, something's not making sense. And you don't have a causal explanation, you don't have an actual reason. If you did something different marketing, you change the cook in the restaurant, then you know what's the problem. But if there's no tangible reason, then you start thinking, okay, maybe this is supernatural. When you don't find a natural connection, you start thinking maybe is this supernatural.

Number three, and this is the biggest symptom of either sihr or ayn. This is the biggest, if you like, mechanism, and that is reading the Quran has an impact on you. This is the most powerful symptom that this is not a natural issue. This is a supernatural issue. Because the Quran is barakah, yes, no doubt about that. And if Allah wills a miracle, a miracle happens. But the sihr and the ayn cannot be cured by natural remedies. If you have sihr, taking Tylenol will not make the sihr go away. Whereas reading the Quran will impact the sihr. You see the difference here? Same with ayn. If you have ayn, and let's say the skin is discolored. So one of the common issues is pretty common for ayn is to have patches in your skin. Especially as I said, or for men, issues of business, as I said, in our last lecture, women generally the ayn is about beauty and marriage, and men generally it is about wealth and about fame.

Specific Verses for Al-'Ayn

Okay, so if these issues you find for no reason, it just starts, things change in your relationship for no reason, then reading Quran has an immediate impact. Now, this is warning bells. Okay, this looks ayn or sihr. How do you know if it's sihr or ayn? This is even more complicated now. And I'm not going to go there today. I'll simply say by the choice of verses that the raqi uses and the impact of each verse on the person. So sihr, the verses of sihr will impact on the person. When you recite the verses of sihr, then an impact is seen in the person. Whereas if it is al-ayn, the impact is not going to be seen. If you recite verses that are different in nature.

So what are those verses? So for example, and again, this is a quick summary. And for longer, you need to go to special. Remember what I said? Remember what I said? The choice of these verses is experiential. By the cumulative experience of raqis around the world, they have noticed that these verses have an impact. It's just experience. Take it or leave it.

Of these verses, basically, to put it in a nutshell, all the verses that deal with hasad or that mentioned the word ayn in it, it seems to impact the person that has al-ayn in an immediate manner. So for example, in surah Baqarah verse 109, Allah says:

If you say this verse and you keep on saying hasad, hasad, hasad, hasad. You say this from the Quran upon the person and you notice an impact. We'll talk about what impact in a while. Then this looks like this isn't sihr, this is ayn.

Another example is surah al-Ahzab verse 19 that Allah says:

You will see them staring at you, their eyes rolling around as if they're about to die. So Allah is criticizing the munafiqeen about how they stare at you. When you quote this verse, surah al-Ahzab verse 19 upon the one that has ayn, it has an immediate impact, generally speaking.

Another example, surah Yaseen verse 66:

If we wanted to, we could have blinded their eyes and they would struggle to find their way. So basically multiple verses.

Of course, surah Qalam verse 51 is especially important because it is probably the most implicit, explicit verse of al-ayn. We've already mentioned it:

So memorize this as well. Surah at-Tur verse 48:

Allah is watching you with his ayn. Allah is watching you. So you recite that verse, surah al-Munafiqoon verse 4:

So on and so forth. And surah al-Insan verse 6:

These are all verses that you should memorize.

The Most Powerful Verses

Then the most powerful verses that you already know. Surah Fatiha, Ayatul Kursi, surah Ikhlas, surah Falaq and surah Naas. You already know these. I don't need to go over them. If you don't know any of the previous verses that I mentioned, even though I mentioned every verse number, if you cannot do any of them, the most powerful verses are the ones that you already know.

Fatiha is ruqya, the process of call it ruqya. Ayatul Kursi is أعظم آية في كتاب الله. It is the most powerful verse in the book of Allah. And surah Ikhlas, as you know, Falaq was revealed for ayn. Falaq was revealed for ayn. And Naas was revealed for sihr. So Falaq and Naas, both of them, they were revealed for sihr and ayn. So when you recite surah Falaq and surah Naas on the person or on yourself.

Self-Treatment and Professional Help

So, by the way, nobody should think that the raqi has special powers that I don't have. No, you can do ruqya on yourself. You can do ruqya on your spouse, your child, your mother, your father. It's just that the raqi has two things that you can also acquire. Number one, he knows which verses to use. I'm telling you which verses to use. And number two, no doubt there's experience that comes. Otherwise, as you know, we Muslims don't believe in a clergy. We don't believe in a church body appointing holy people and ministers. That's the Catholic Church. That's not us.

General Principles of Ruqya

All of us can lead the salah. But some people have better tilawat than others. But all of us can lead the salah. You know this. Similarly, all of us can do ruqya. But yes, some people have better verse choices. And there is an issue here which needs to be said. The iman of the one doing the tilawat impacts the tilawat upon the ruqya, right? So that has nothing to do with knowledge. It's iman. Take an elderly grandfather. He hasn't studied any madrasa. He's a muttaqi. He's praying tahajjud. That person's tilawat will not be like the tilawat of the one who's struggling to pray five times a day. The iman of the qari has an impact on the ruqya. So try to find a person that you think has good iman and say, أخي, please recite Falaq and an-Nas on me. Please recite these surahs on me. Go to your grandfather, go to an elderly person and do it on yourself. Even if you go to somebody, make sure you do it on yourself because ruqya is always done on yourself.

Symptoms and Signs of Al-Ayn

Now, I said these verses have an impact. What impact? Listen, I'm going to go over a list that I have compiled by talking to many raqis, by doing ruqya myself and by reading from raqis that have done this. And once again, these symptoms are from tajrubah, from experience.

Differences Between Sihr and Ayn Responses

Reciting the Quran. If the person, sorry to be explicit here, guys. Is it going to sound funny? But it's factually correct. If the person flips out and becomes an alter ego. The jinn comes out. This is almost for a certain sihr. Because in ayn, generally speaking, generally speaking, the jinn does not come out that quickly. Ayn is a different type of battle. So and it's again, generally, because you have exceptions in both. That's the problem. There's no definitive, right? But generally speaking, when you recite verses of sihr, you will see an impact that indicates that there is a jinn inside this person. And that indication is typically blabbering. You will see the eyes flip out. You will see the person close their eyes and speak in a different voice, different language. All of this is true. I have personal tajrubah. So please, nobody tell me anything. I have so many stories which I don't want to go into. But my eyes and ears have seen too much to doubt sihr and ayn. That's what I'm trying to say, guys, like enter our world and you will realize it is a reality. Sihr is definitely a reality and ayn is a reality.

So when you recite verses of sihr, generally things begin to happen. A trembling that is quite unique. You recognize it, right? Or rippling of the skin. The skin ripples. You see it, which is the entity going up and down the body. Generally, that is sihr. When you recite verses of sihr, right? If you recite verses of ayn upon the one that has sihr, generally that doesn't happen, right?

Specific Signs of Ayn

When you recite verses of ayn upon the one that has ayn, what happens? A number of things. And again, it doesn't mean all of them have to happen. Of the things that happen, excessive yawning. You're reading Quran, the guy's yawning back at you. Of them is sweating. It's cold weather or normal. And when you read Quran, he's just sweating. Of them is when you're just reciting, he's about to faint. He feels very lightheaded for no reason. He was fine, normal. But when you recite within a few minutes and he's like, OK, stop, I'm going to faint. And you're not supposed to stop. You need to keep on keep on going. But he's wanting to faint of them is he might start gagging, vomiting actual or the sounds coming of it. And also when you start reciting. Make sure if that happens, you get in touch with the brother or sister within a few hours and ask him what happened after the recitation did.

So another symptom, another characteristic is that ayn, for example, might cause one to feel dread, to feel anxious. When you read Quran, it's lifted up. He's going to call, say, I don't know what you after you recited. My anxiety went away. This isn't Tylenol. This is this is ayn. You see, this isn't medical. This is supernatural. For weeks, I couldn't concentrate. I open a book and I cannot read anything. But after you did ruqya, I can now read. This is an impact of the Quran. Right. And when a person tells you this, then you begin to start saying, aha, this could be ayn. You see what I'm saying here, right? This could be ayn here.

So being able to sleep peacefully after weeks of not sleeping peacefully. Right. He will say, I just cannot sleep as if I'm feeling anxious. I'm tossing and turning. By the way, again, not to frighten you and all that, but this is the reality. Sometimes you might feel a presence in your life entity in your whatever. Right. Somebody is watching you. These are all symptoms of supernatural. When you recite the Quran. Generally speaking, it will immediately, immediately impact. So you recite Quran the same night. He will say, I haven't slept like this for months. That's what I'm talking about. Now you realize, this is not medical. This is supernatural. This is now I need to ruqya on you more. And then, as I said, you will go to a raqi simply because the raqi knows more. And then you will tease out. Is it ayn or is it sihr? And that's going to be done by more recitation and various recitations.

Also, for example, this is pretty self-evident. One of the symptoms of ayn, one of the most common symptoms is that, as I said, skin discoloration, right? Or skin issues here, because as we said, ayn, a lot of it has to do with hasad and hasad is because of beauty. So when the ayn is there because of hasad, it's going to impact the beauty. So when you read Quran and it is ayn, miraculously within a day or two, the discoloration goes away. The problems, the wrinkles go away. I have seen this with my own eyes. No cream and lotion can do this because it wasn't caused by dryness of the skin. It was caused by something supernatural. Now, if you don't continue reciting, it might come back. So now, you know, aha, this is now something that has to do with al-ayn. So continuously reciting, you see the impact. This is the most significant mechanism of figuring out whether it is ayn or not. And if you recite and recite and recite and absolutely nothing happens, then in all likelihood, it is not ayn and sihr. If there's no impact, then in all likelihood, it is not ayn and sihr. So realize Quranic recitation, its impact, generally speaking, is fairly effective and immediate.

Case Study Example

And I'll give you examples from not just my life that I've done, but the raqis that I know. So, for example, one case happened that there was a very good student, always forming high grades, everything. And somebody visits the house. And as you know, mother praises, oh, my son, wow, wow, wow. You know, like that, you know, you have to we're going to talk about you don't do this right. That same day, he couldn't study anymore. He's opening the book and he's just I mean, he's nothing is coming in. He cannot cloudy this and that. And he fails exams like what happened? I used to get good grades. Overnight, a change happens and you have a gut instinct because of somebody's visit.

Now I have to pause here, go to a very awkward tangent. Are you allowed to suspect somebody of ayn? This is a very awkward topic response. You are allowed to suspect, but you cannot accuse definitively. And if you suspect you may take reasonable precautions, but this is not a judge and jury trial. There's no evidence you can submit. So in the end of the day. A heart feeling. And how do you know? Generally, like I said, in this particular case, the mother comes and tell or the son comes and tells the story that a family was visiting. My mother praised me in front of that family. I saw, you know, the lady looking at me. Next thing you know, she feels something that gaze impacted me. There's an intuition. Now, it's not a court of law, but you kind of sort of feel, something happened here, right? And the symptoms are there. So to be clear, you may feel something in your heart and that may cause you to act differently. But you cannot accuse people definitively because this is not you cannot bring evidence in this regard. But you're allowed to take precautions in your own life here.

So back to our issue here. So I give this example. So then the same day that Ruqya was done, he went home and lo and behold, he could read without any headache. He could read clearly. So within one Ruqya session, we realize, this is ayn. So then you give the treatment and I'll tell you what the treatment is, like what is to be done. But here's what I'm talking about in symptoms of what I might be.

So this is the first section today, which is the symptoms of ayn and how to test whether it is ayn. And that's, inshallah, relatively clear.

Protection from Al-Ayn

The second topic today is how to protect ourselves from it. What are the steps that the Quran and Sunnah has to prevent us from getting ayn in the first place? And this is much easier to derive from the Quran and Sunnah because some of these are explicit.

First: Avoid Boasting

Number one. Stop boasting. About the blessings you or your family have in front of other people. Don't come and say my better this and my better that just keep things. Now the problem comes, our culture has gone to an extreme. So not just not boasting, but then you think it is good to put people down. And that is an extreme. We don't do this. And it was common in our culture. I don't know if it's still common or not for the elders. If somebody said something good, they would literally say something nasty out of love. It doesn't work that way. So this is not a part of our culture. It's just you as an individual. You don't boast of your blessings and you keep them concealed.

Second: Take Reasonable Precautions

Number two, if you must. Like we all have cars that we drive, whatnot. Take reasonable precaution. And it's not as if you can hide everything that you have, but there's a difference between appreciating what Allah has given you versus flaunting your wealth. And that difference, everybody knows the difference, right? Allah has blessed some people with some wealth. So obviously they're going to dress according to their wealth. But some people, not only do they dress, they want you to know how they dress. It's a big difference between the two, right?

The story of Yaqub and his sons. What did he say to his sons? He has 11 sons. You can't change that. They're all tall, handsome. You can't change that. You're not going to tell them, don't go outside. But then you take reasonable precautions.

And Yaqub knows وَمَا أُغْنِي عَنكُم مِّنَ اللَّهِ مِن شَيْءٍ It's not going to help you. But and Allah says it didn't help except حَاجَةً فِي نَفْسِ يَعْقُوبَ قَضَاهَا Realize you take precaution in the end. Allah is in charge.

Third: Constantly Seek Allah's Protection

Number three. Constantly seek refuge in Allah from the evil eye and from Sihr and from jinn. So وَمِن شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ And the Prophet ﷺ would bring Hasan and Hussein رضي الله عنهما And he would blow on them أُعِيذُكُمَا بِكَلِمَاتِ اللَّهِ التَّامَّةِ مِن كُلِّ شَيْطَانٍ وَهَامَّةٍ وَمِن كُلِّ عَيْنٍ لَامَّةٍ This hadith is in Bukhari.

(Sahih al-Bukhari)

The Prophet ﷺ would do ruqya on his own grandchildren. أُعِيذُكُمَا I seek refuge in Allah for you too. From what? مِن كُلِّ شَيْطَانٍ From every shaitaan وَهَامَّةٍ And from every scorpion or snake. I don't want a scorpion to take to bite you. وَمِن كُلِّ عَيْنٍ لَامَّةٍ And from every ayn that is going to give lamm. That is going to give you grief and hassle.

Notice, I seek refuge in Allah for you from any shaitaan to harm you. Oh Allah protect them from shaitaan. Number two, protect animals. I don't want an animal, you know, scorpions and snakes. And number three, from an ayn that will harm you. So make dua to Allah upon yourself and upon your children and family.

Protecting Yourself from Al-Ayn: Practical Guidelines

Number four, that if your heart feels something either of jealousy or of amazement or awe, then you need to be careful and cleanse your own heart. Because if you allow your jealousy or your awe to go unchecked, you are responsible because you had to keep control. I spoke about this multiple times in this masjid. And that is as a default, emotions are forgiven, but some emotions are not forgiven. Of them, arrogance against Allah. Arrogance against Allah is not forgiven. If you feel arrogance against Allah, this is satanic. And of them is hasad. Hasad, you cannot allow hasad to remain in your heart. You can allow lust to remain. You are not sinful, it's not healthy, but Allah is not going to punish you. You can allow the desire to have haram wealth. Allah is not going to punish you. You can allow many things, but you cannot allow hasad to remain. You must fight it. You must cleanse your heart of it.

And therefore, we are taught in our tradition that when you see something, then you should make du'a for it rather than allow the hasad to penetrate your heart. And this is in Surah Kahf, they say, ولولا إذ دخلت جنتك قلت ما شاء الله لا قوة إلا بالله - "And why did you, when you entered your garden, not say, 'What Allah willed [has occurred]; there is no power except in Allah'"? Again, the story is not explicit about ayn, but they have derived from this. ما شاء الله لا قوة إلا بالله. That if you feel something, then say, ما شاء الله لا قوة إلا بالله. And ask Allah to give barakah. اللهم زد وبارك. You know, اللهم أعطه. You know, even more, Allah give you even more. Make du'a for the one you are feeling jealous of to remove that jealousy.

And by the way, when you make du'a for somebody, angels will come and say, may you also be given the same. So go ahead and be selfish. You like somebody's new car. Say, may Allah bless you with an even better car. And in your niyyah, you actually want that car yourself. That's halal. That's halal. You're making du'a for him. But in your heart of hearts, you want the angel close by to say ameen. And may you get the same. And that is halal. That's why the Prophet ﷺ told us this incentive. It's all good. Let him get a better car and let you get an even better car. No problem. Yes, that's totally halal jealousy. That jealousy is not haram. That you want him to get good, but you also want a good car. No problem. No problem inshallah with that. Same goes for any issue, whether it's beauty, whether it's a good marriage. May Allah bless your marriage even more. And you want your own marriage to be blessed. Yes. Make du'a like that.

The Power of Adhkar

Number five: The adhkar of the morning and evening. Especially the adhkar after Fajr and after Maghrib. These adhkar protect you from sihr and from ayn like nothing else. Sitting after the salawat and not racing away, sitting after Fajr and after Maghrib. Five, 10 minutes and just doing the adhkar. سبحان الله والحمد لله ولا إله إلا الله والله أكبر. And then Ayatul Kursi. And then whatever the adhkar, just these adhkar are the fortifications against all supernatural calamities. So the adhkar.

The next point is number six: constantly reciting Quran. And there is no protection better than the Quran.

The Water of Ghusl: A Sunnah Method

And then the final one, this is a little bit strange, but it's straight from the sunnah guys. So if you find it strange again, because you haven't been taught this. In the hadith of Sahl ibn Hunaif that I talked about where Sahl ibn Hunaif was literally overcome with ayn and he fell down in front of everybody. And the Prophet ﷺ said, what happened to him? And they said, well, so and so saw him and then he just fell down. So the Prophet ﷺ called him, said, why would you harm your own brother? Why didn't you say baraka, تبارك الله, why didn't you say baraka, اللهم بارك when you were amazed by this? By the way, this shows you that sometimes some type of ayn is not coming from an evil heart. It is coming from a heart of amazement, ta'ajjub. And that is more rare, but it is also possible that it's not as if the heart is burning with evil, but it's like a sense of overwhelming. Wow, that's nice. I wish I had that too. That you have to be just careful in that regard.

So when this happened, the Prophet ﷺ said, now this is mukhtalaf, what exactly happened here? He said, do ghusl and take the water of your ghusl and store it and then give it to Sahl. What does this mean? Our scholars have differed about this. And there's a whole controversy, a whole ikhtilaf. Some scholars like Imam al-Tahawi, he says this is abrogated. You don't need to do this anymore. Only al-Falaq and an-Naas, this was before al-Falaq and an-Naas. So Imam al-Tahawi says this technique should not be done. That's an opinion.

The other opinion is that either wudu or ghusl, you do the wudu and you have a pot. So the water that comes, you store that used wudu water. And you store it in that pot. Or the water of ghusl even. So you just pour some water on you when you're doing ghusl and that water you pour, you should have another pot underneath it and that pot will store it. And then you go to the one that has ayn and wherever he has it, you just pour that water on it. And it happened with Sahl ibn Hunaif and he was immediately cured.

So Ibn al-Qayyim and others, they comment that it is as if as the water purifies. So it takes the hasad, it takes the negativity and that negativity. Then you just throw it on the person to cleanse it off of him from the person who did it. But the issue is, you have to know who did it. And that's why it is a little bit awkward.

There is a hadith in Sahih Muslim. In Sahih Muslim, Ibn Abbas says, the Prophet ﷺ said, العين حق, al-ayn is true. And if anything were to change qadar, it would be al-ayn. Meaning al-ayn is so powerful, it has the potential to change qadar. Then he said, وإذا استغسلتم فاغسلوا - If somebody asks you to do ghusl for them, then do ghusl for them.

(Sahih Muslim, Book 39, Hadith 6712)

This is a lost custom completely. Because it means you will go up to somebody and basically say, I think you gave me al-ayn. Can you do wudu for me or do ghusl for me? And the Prophet ﷺ said, if somebody comes to you asking for your wudu water, ghusl water, do it for them. Because this is the most effective and easy mechanism to cure al-ayn. So I'm just telling you straight from the sunnah. Of course, Tahawi says this is abrogated. And the problem comes, number one, a lot of times you're accusing people and they didn't do it. Or number two, it will be very awkward for them because they're not going to know this hadith and whatnot. So it is what it is. I'm just teaching you from our tradition.

What Is Forbidden: Talismans and Charms

So let's conclude now with some miscellaneous points. These are the sunnah mechanisms of treating al-ayn. There are completely wrong and incorrect ways of treating al-ayn. And these are haram or even bordering on shirk or maybe even potentially shirk. And this is to believe in good luck charms. We are Muslims. We do not believe in good luck charms. We do not believe in talismans. We do not believe in wearing something that is shaped this way or has an eye or something like this. And that will protect you from al-ayn? No, that goes back to ancient Egypt. That goes back to ancient Greece. That goes back to the Akkadians, not the Quran and sunnah.

So there are many such icons. Perhaps the most famous one in the Muslim world is the turquoise eye. And it is especially common in Turkey and it predates Islam. And it actually has its origins even in the ancient Greek culture of Horus and others, the ancient gods. You've seen that eye of the ancient Egyptians. The same thing permeates throughout the eastern cultures until it becomes the turquoise eye. We are not allowed to hang this believing that it protects us from the evil eye. If you have it, you think it's decoration. I'm not talking about, I'm talking about it's just a piece in your house or whatever. I would still say people might misunderstand. But in the end of the day, what is إنما الأعمال بالنيات - If you hang this around your neck or in the house, thinking that will protect you. I mean, come on, guys, we are not people of superstition. That's not what we believe.

Also, another one that is somewhat common in Indian Pakistani cultures, not as common, but is there is the what's it called? The Panjatan, like it's basically the hand. Like this, you find a symbol that is like the hand, and then especially in some Sufi and Shiite cultures, you will have Ali, Hassan, Hussein, Fatima like that, you will have the names of the Imams on their whatnot, and the notion is that the hand is going to stop the ayn. It's going to come and go. Khalas, no ayn. And again, no, it's the Quran. It's not the hand. We don't believe in these types of talismans. We don't believe in these types of things.

And our Prophet ﷺ said, من تعلق تميمة فقد أشرك - Whoever holds on to some talisman, whoever hangs one of these things, it is as if he has done shirk. We have to be careful. We don't believe in these types of things. So avoid all of this.

Summary and Call to Action

Let us now conclude with a summary and a call to action. The summary is that Al-Ayn is an almost universally accepted reality in almost all pre-Islamic civilizations. And Islam came and it acknowledged this reality because people have lived this reality and it acknowledged it as a reality that exists in the world of the souls. Whether this reality is soul to soul or whether it is through the jinn, we don't know. But it seems to be a reality, and it is not something Islam invented. It's not something that Islam is unique about. It is people around the world had accepted it.

In our times, it has become something that is not believed in by many people. And perhaps one of the reasons is that it has been exaggerated even in pre-Islam and in Islamic cultures. It has been exaggerated. So we all acknowledge that its existence is much less than the perception of its existence. We all acknowledge this. Nonetheless, it is real. And therefore, we should take reasonable precautions to not flaunt our wealth, to avoid bringing suspicion to us, to live simple lives, to cleanse our hearts of evil. And these are all good things. They're all pure things. And we should protect ourselves via extra adhkar, extra Quran.

Don't Jump to Conclusions

And last point, we should not jump to conclusions about ayn and sihr affecting our lives. This is not from the Quran and Sunnah that every tragedy happens. Oh, this is somebody gave me ayn, somebody gave me sihr. I challenge you to find this in the Quran and Sunnah. This is the exception that when symptoms are very clear, then you think it is sihr or ayn. Otherwise, as a default, please, this is I want to conclude on this point. As a default, what is affecting you is not sihr or ayn. That is the general rule.

What is affecting you is the normal reality of human life. We go up, we go down. We lose a job, we gain a job. Marriages come up and down. That's the reality. You pass an exam, you fail an exam. That's the reality. Stop blaming ayn for every single problem that happens to you. If a problem doesn't make sense and certain conditions are met and the Quran has an immediate impact, then perhaps it is ayn. And even if it is, you can do nothing other than dhikr and Quran and turning to Allah and becoming more religious. That's the only way we can protect ourselves from ayn.

So we ask Allah to cleanse our hearts of any hasad and to protect us from the evil of the envious ones.

And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to avert from us the ayin of the one that has hasad and to avert from us the harms of anyone that wants to harm us. And Allah is indeed the ultimate protector.

And I hope, inshallah, this three part series was a benefit. Wa jazakumullahu khairan wa assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu.