but should instead enter through different gates. As Ibn ʿAbbās, Muhammad ibn Kaʿb, Mujāhid, al-Dahhāk, Qatāda, al-Suddī, and several other scholars stated, he feared that they might be afflicted by the evil eye.” End quote. (1) I have found no evidence establishing the name Benjamin, so it may derive from the Isrā’īliyyāt (Israelite reports).

Al-Nawawī said: Al-Qādī ʿIyād said, after mentioning the hadith concerning ʿĀmir ibn Rabīʿa’s envy of Sahl ibn Hunayf: “One point of jurisprudence contained in this hadith is what some scholars have stated: if someone is known to afflict others with the evil eye, he should be avoided and precautions should be taken against him. The ruler should prevent him from mixing with people and order him to remain at home. If he is poor, the ruler should provide him with sufficient sustenance and protect people from his harm.” Sahīh Muslim with al-Nawawī’s Commentary.

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “Another means of treating this and guarding against it is to conceal the attractive features of someone feared to be vulnerable to the evil eye with something that will avert it from him. Al-Baghawī related in his book Sharh al-Sunna (2) that ʿUthmān (may Allah be pleased with him) saw a handsome boy and said, ‘Blacken his nūna, lest the evil eye afflict him.’ He then explained that this means to darken the boy’s nūna, namely, the small indentation in a young boy’s chin.

“Al-Khattābī stated in his Gharīb al-Hadīth that ʿUthmān (may Allah be pleased with him) saw a boy who was vulnerable to the evil eye and said, ‘Blacken his nūna.’ Abū ʿAmr said: ‘I asked Ahmad ibn Yahyā about it, and he replied, “By nūna he meant the indentation in his chin, while tadsīm means blackening. He intended that this part of his chin be blackened to ward off the evil eye.”’ He added: ‘A similar usage occurs in the hadith of ʿĀ’isha (may Allah be pleased with her), which states that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) once delivered a sermon wearing a dasmā’ turban—that is, a black one.’ He cited this to substantiate the meaning of the word. The poet drew from this when he said:

How greatly one endowed with perfection needs …
a flaw to shield him from the evil eye!”

End quote. (3)

Muhammad ibn Muflih (may Allah have mercy on him) said: “A handsome person should guard against the evil eye and envy by making his beauty appear less attractive.” (4)