Is the evil eye real, and how do I protect myself from it?

What the eye actually is

The scholars describe the eye as something that issues from the soul of a person who envies what Allah has given others. Ibn Uthaymeen رحمه الله explains that the one who casts the eye is a person of ill will, who does not want people to enjoy Allah's blessings — and when he sees a blessing in someone, the envy latent in his soul is released and strikes the one who has been blessed.

Two things follow from this. First, the eye is not always deliberate. Ibn Baz رحمه الله notes that it may come from a person without his choosing: he sees something he admires — someone's health, someone's wealth — and harm reaches the one he looked at. Second, envy (hasad) and the eye are related but not identical. Ibn Uthaymeen distinguishes al-ghibtah (admiring someone's blessing without wishing it gone) from al-hasad (wishing the blessing removed): the envier wants the blessing to disappear, the admirer does not.

The evidence

The Prophet ﷺ affirmed the eye in more than one narration. In the two Sahih collections:

"The eye is real."— Sahih al-Bukhari 5740 and Sahih Muslim 2187, from Abu Hurayrah

And in Sahih Muslim, with a striking addition:

"The eye is real, and if anything could outrun the divine decree, the eye would outrun it. And when you are asked to wash, then wash."— Sahih Muslim 2188, from Ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما

The scholars also cite Ya'qub's عليه السلام instruction to his sons not to enter by a single gate — the commentators said this was out of fear of the eye for them — and the Prophet's ﷺ counsel:

"Seek help in fulfilling your needs by concealing them, for every possessor of a blessing is envied."— narrated by al-Tabarani and others, graded authentic by al-Albani

How you protect yourself before anything happens

This is the part the question is really about, and the scholars set it out clearly. Ibn Uthaymeen divides the matter into what prevents the eye and what removes it after it has struck.

The preventive measures:

• Keep up the regular remembrances of the Sunnah. Ibn Uthaymeen names Ayat al-Kursi, the last two verses of Surah al-Baqarah, Surah al-Ikhlas, and the two mu'awwidhat (Surah al-Falaq and Surah an-Nas), recited morning and evening.
• Say the morning and evening supplications. Ibn Baz رحمه الله specifies: "I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of what He has created," three times morning and evening, and "In the name of Allah, with whose name nothing on earth or in heaven can cause harm, and He is the Hearing, the Knowing," three times morning and evening. He calls these among the causes of protection.
• Guard the obligatory prayers and follow them with the voluntary, and stay constant in the remembrances of the Sunnah — including those said on entering and leaving the home.
• Conceal what you fear for. IslamWeb notes that a Muslim may protect himself from the eye by covering what might be a cause of it, following Ya'qub's عليه السلام example.
• Bless what you admire. If you see something you like in yourself, your wealth, or your brother, ask Allah to bless it. The Prophet ﷺ said: "If one of you sees in himself, or his wealth, or his brother, something that pleases him, let him ask for blessing upon it, for the eye is real." Asking for blessing means saying, "O Allah, bless him," or "What Allah has willed — there is no power except with Allah."

If the eye has already struck

The scholars describe a treatment that is specific and worth knowing precisely, because people often mix it with things that have no basis.

The one who cast the eye is asked to perform wudu (ablution), or to bathe. The water that runs from his washing is collected and poured over the one who was struck, or he drinks from it. Ibn Uthaymeen says that when this is done, the effect of the eye is lifted by Allah's permission. The Prophet ﷺ said: "And when you are asked to wash, then wash" — meaning it is obligatory on the one asked to comply.

Two cautions belong here. IslamWeb (fatwa 326758) states that taking something from the eye-caster's traces, putting it in water, and bathing the affected person in it is a practice with no basis in the Shari'ah or in reason. Ibn Uthaymeen is quoted saying that taking from his urine or stool has no origin, and that what is narrated is only the washing of his limbs and the inside of his waist-wrapper — and perhaps the like of that, such as his head covering or his garment. And the same fatwa warns against accusing relatives or anyone else without evidence, quoting:

"O you who have believed, avoid much suspicion. Indeed, some suspicion is sin. And do not spy, nor backbite one another."— Qur'an 49:12

Ruqyah and the limits of fear

The ruqyah (recitation of Qur'an and supplication over a person) is permitted — for the one who is certainly afflicted, for the one who suspects it, and even for the one who has not been afflicted at all, to ward off harm before it comes. IslamWeb advises that you recite over yourself, or seek someone known for uprightness who uses only the lawful ruqyah, and warns against sorcerers and charlatans.

But the scholars also warn against the opposite error: excessive fear. IslamWeb (fatwa 326758) says one should not exaggerate the fear of the eye or attribute every matter to its effect. And in fatwa 225241, a person worried about being afflicted is told that what he describes may be mere misgivings — so he should seek Allah's help, keep to obedience and the remembrances, increase in supplication, and not accuse his friend or think ill of him without proof.

Key takeaways

• The eye is real, affirmed by the Prophet ﷺ in al-Bukhari and Muslim, and it may come from a person without his intending it.
• Protection is by the Sunnah's remembrances — Ayat al-Kursi, the last two verses of al-Baqarah, al-Ikhlas and the two mu'awwidhat, and the morning and evening supplications, said consistently.
• Bless what you admire in yourself or others by asking Allah for blessing; this is the remedy on the side of the one who might cast the eye.
• After being struck, the eye-caster is asked to wash, and that water is poured over or drunk by the affected person — but practices involving his other traces have no basis.
• Do not accuse anyone without evidence, and do not let fear of the eye grow into suspicion of others or into misgivings that consume you.

Further reading

• Fatawa Nur 'ala al-Darb, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen
• Majmu' al-Fatawa, Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen
• Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim

And Allah knows best.