and, by unanimous agreement, it does not mean the private parts. Allah Most High knows best.

Ablution by the Person Who Cast the Evil Eye

This is based on the hadith of Abū Umāmah Asad ibn Sahl ibn Hunayf, who said: “Āmir ibn Rabīah passed by Sahl ibn Hunayf while he was bathing and remarked, ‘I have never seen anything like what I see today—not even the skin of a maiden kept in seclusion!’ It was not long before Sahl collapsed. He was brought to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who was told, ‘Come quickly to Sahl; he has been struck down.’ He asked, ‘Whom do you suspect?’ They replied, ‘Āmir ibn Rabīah.’ He said, ‘Why does one of you kill his brother? If one of you sees something in his brother that he admires, let him invoke Allah’s blessing for him.’ He then called for water and instructed Āmir to perform ablution, washing his face, his hands up to the elbows, his knees, and the inner portion of his waist-wrapper, and ordered him to pour the water over Sahl. Sufyān said: Maʿmar narrated from al-Zuhrī that he also ordered the vessel to be overturned behind him.” (1)

Abū Dāwūd narrated that Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) said: “The person who had cast the evil eye would be ordered to perform ablution, and the person affected by it would then be washed with that water.” This indicates that the practice is traced back to the time of the Prophet ﷺ, unlike Ibn Abī Shaybah’s narration, which presents it as her own practice and attributes it only to her.

Muhammad ibn Muflih said: “This is medicine prescribed by the Sacred Law and accepted by people of faith. Some have discussed the wisdom behind it. It is well known that there are special properties whose knowledge Allah has reserved for Himself; thus, something of this sort is not implausible, nor does anything contradict it. Such a treatment benefits only one who receives it with acceptance and confident belief, not with doubt and merely as an experiment.” (2)

Al-Qurtubī said in his comprehensive Quranic commentary: “In the hadith of Abū Umāmah, the Prophet ﷺ instructed the person who had cast the evil eye to wash for the person affected, whereas here he instructed that ruqyah be sought. Our scholars said: Ruqyah is sought for the evil eye only when the person who cast it is unknown. If the person whose evil eye afflicted him is known, however, that person is instructed to perform ablution, in accordance with the hadith of Abū Umāmah. Allah knows best.”