‘and enter through separate gates.’ He said: ‘He knew that he would encounter his brothers at one of those gates.’ Regarding His words, ‘Yet I cannot avail you in the least against Allah,’ this means that such a precaution cannot avert Allah’s decree and judgment, for when Allah wills something, His will cannot be opposed or resisted. ‘Judgment belongs to Allah alone. In Him I put my trust, and in Him let all who trust put their trust. When they entered as their father had instructed them, it did not avail them in the least against Allah; it merely satisfied a need in Jacob’s heart.’ They said that this need was to ward off their being struck by the evil eye. ‘He was indeed possessed of knowledge because of what We had taught him.’ Qatāda and al-Thawrī said: ‘He acted upon his knowledge.’ Ibn Jarīr said: ‘He possessed knowledge because We had taught him.’ ‘But most people do not know.’” End quote. (1)

The mention of the name Benjamin may have been taken from Israelite reports, which—as stated in the hadith—are neither affirmed nor denied. Allah Most High knows best.

• Allah Most High says: “If only, when you entered your garden, you had said, ‘Whatever Allah wills! There is no power except through Allah.’ Even if you see me as having less wealth and fewer children than you.” Sūrat al-Kahf, verse (39). This verse offers protection from the evil eye and envy.

• Allah Most High says: “Those who disbelieve would almost make you slip with their eyes when they hear the Reminder, and they say, ‘He is surely mad.’” Sūrat al-Qalam, verse (51).

The hadith master Ibn Kathīr said: “Ibn Abbās, Mujāhid, and others said that ‘make you slip’ means ‘pierce you through,’ while ‘with their eyes’ means that they cast the evil eye upon you with their gaze—that is, they envy you because of their hatred for you. They would do so were it not for Allah’s safeguarding and protecting you from them. This verse proves that the evil eye can truly afflict and affect a person by the command of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, as attested by the many hadiths transmitted through numerous chains.” End quote. Tafsīr Ibn Kathīr, in the commentary on this verse.

• … And Allah Most High says: “Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak, from the evil of what He created, from the evil of the night when it grows dark, from the evil of those who blow upon knots, and from the evil of an envier when he envies.” Sūrat al-Falaq (1–6)

Thus, His words, ‘and from the evil of an envier when he envies,’ offer the clearest possible indication of the evil eye’s effect