- The hadith of Abd Allah ibn Āmir ibn Rabīah (may Allah be pleased with him).
Abd Allah ibn Āmir reported: “Āmir ibn Rabīah and Sahl ibn Hunayf set out intending to bathe. They went in search of concealment among the trees. Āmir laid aside a woolen cloak he had been wearing. I looked at him and afflicted him with my evil eye. He then entered the water to bathe. I heard a splashing sound from him in the water, so I went over and called to him three times, but he did not answer me. I went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and told him what had happened. He came on foot and waded into the water. It is as though I can still see the whiteness of his shins. He struck the man’s chest with his hand and said, ‘O Allah, ward off from him its heat, its cold, and its persistent pain.’ The man then stood up, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, ‘If any of you sees something in his brother, himself, or his property that he admires, let him pray for blessing, for the evil eye is real.’” (1)
- The hadith of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him).
Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “The evil eye is real,” and he forbade tattooing. (2)
He also reported that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “There is no truth to the superstitions concerning the hām. The evil eye is real, and the truest omen is the favorable omen.” (3)
(1) Weak: Recorded by Ahmad (15273) and al-Hākim in *al-Mustadrak* (7500), both through Wakī ibn al-Jarrāh ibn Malīh, who said: “My father narrated to us; Abd Allah ibn Īsā narrated to us, from Umayyah ibn Hind ibn Sahl ibn Hunayf, from Abd Allah ibn Āmir, who said: ‘Āmir ibn Rabīah set out …’” In the *Musnad*, the name appears as Ubayd Allah ibn Āmir, which is a scribal error. Al-Hākim said, “This hadith has an authentic chain, although neither al-Bukhārī nor Muslim recorded it.” Al-Dhahabī concurred with him in *al-Talkhīs*, while al-Albānī declared it authentic in *Sahīh al-Jāmi* (556)! Their assessment is incorrect, for al-Jarrāh ibn Malīh was *sadūq* (generally trustworthy) but made mistakes. Umayyah ibn Hind was graded *maqbūl* (acceptable); Yahyā ibn Maīn said, “I do not know him,” whereas Ibn Hibbān declared him trustworthy, in keeping with his customary practice of declaring unknown narrators trustworthy! Moreover, Abd Allah ibn Āmir did not witness the incident. This hadith is transmitted by no route that does not pass through this Umayyah, so it is also a solitary report—a point that later scholars fail to notice.
(2) Authentic: Recorded by al-Bukhārī (5408, 5944), Muslim (2187), and Abū Dāwūd (3879). Ibn Mājah also recorded it (3507) through Mudārib ibn Hazn, from Abū Hurayrah; Mudārib was graded *maqbūl* (acceptable). The additional wording, “and he forbade tattooing,” is not found in Muslim or Ibn Mājah.
(3) Weak and *mudtarib* (transmitted in conflicting forms): Recorded by Ahmad (20158) through Shaybān, from Yahyā ibn Abī Kathīr, from Hayyah, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah. All the narrators in its chain are trustworthy except Hayyah, who was graded *maqbūl* (acceptable). The narrators differed in their transmission from Yahyā ibn Abī Kathīr. Ahmad (16191, 20156, 22705) and al-Tirmidhī (2061) recorded it through Alī ibn al-Mubārak, while Ahmad also recorded it (20157) through Harb ibn Shaddād al-Yashkurī; both transmitted it from Yahyā ibn Abī Kathīr as a report of Hābis al-Tamīmī (may Allah be pleased with him). All three—Shaybān, Alī ibn al-Mubārak, and Harb ibn Shaddād—are narrators relied upon by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. Shaybān is the most reliable of them in his transmissions from Yahyā, while Alī ibn al-Mubārak’s transmissions specifically from Yahyā ibn Abī Kathīr contain some weakness. The hadith has corroborating reports, as noted above, and the statement “The evil eye is real” is authentic and firmly established.