whereas if she placed it there after becoming pure, it would not spoil. She may enter an orchard and harm many of its vine trellises without touching them. A healthy person may look at someone suffering from ophthalmia and then develop it himself; one person may yawn in his presence, prompting him to yawn as well. It has also been said that there is a species of viper whose gaze causes a person to die. Accordingly, the evil eye may result from a poison that travels through the air from the eye of the one casting it to the body of the afflicted person.

Allah has made it His customary way that many powers and properties exist in bodies and spirits. For example, when someone whom a person holds in awe looks at him, he may become embarrassed and his face may suddenly turn intensely red; likewise, a person may turn pale upon seeing someone he fears. This occurs through the effects Allah has created within spirits. Because of their close connection with the eye, the act is attributed to the eye, although the eye itself does not produce the effect; rather, the effect proceeds from the spirit.

Spirits differ in their natures, powers, modalities, and properties. Some affect the body merely through sight, without contact; some through direct encounter; some through the spirit’s directed intent, as occurs with supplications, ruqyahs, and seeking refuge in Allah; and some effects arise through suggestion and imagination. Thus, what issues from the eye of the one casting the evil eye is an arrow charged with the evil eye: if it strikes a body that has no protection, it affects it; otherwise, it does not—just like a physical arrow. It may even rebound upon the one who cast it. (1)