10 Means of Protection Against The Evil of Enviers & Magicians!

Indeed, one of the deadly diseases and great evils is the illness that afflicts a person due to magic, the evil eye or envy. Magic has an extremely evil effect on a person because it can cause illness or death. Also this is the case with the evil eye of the envier when the soul complies with malice and evil is intended in the heart, for indeed one can harm the envied person, i.e. by the Will of Allah; rather it can cause illness or death, i.e. by the will of Allah. 

Magic is real and has an effect, and also envy is real and has an effect. Indeed, one of the blessings bestowed on a believer is that he has been facilitated with blessed means and beneficial things by way of which the evil of the magician and envier are repelled and the calamity that results from their evil is stopped.

 

Ibnul Qayyim summarized those means of protection into ten great affairs, and if a believing servant fulfills and applies them, the evil of the envier, the evil of the one who afflicts with the evil eye and the evil of the magician will cease.

The First Means of Protection:

Seek Allah’s Refuge against their evil, just as Allah said: "Say: I seek refuge with (Allah) the Lord of the daybreak; From the evil of what He has created; And from the evil of the darkening (night) as it comes with its darkness; (or the moon as it sets or goes away). And from the evil of the witchcrafts when they blow in the knots; And from the evil of the envier when he envies.” [Surah Al-Falaq]

 

Allah hears the one who seeks His Refuge and knows what the person is seeking. Allah is able to do all things and He alone is the One from Whom refuge is sought – none amongst His creation has the right to be invoked for refuge nor for shelter; rather He is The Only One Who gives refuge to those who invoke Him for refuge. He is the One Who protects and shelters them against the evil of that which they seek refuge against. The reality of seeking refuge is to flee from something that terrifies a person and(seeking protection from one who can protect and give shelter.

There is neither a protector for a servant nor one to grant him refuge besides Allah. Allah suffices the one who relies on Him and He is enough for the one who seeks shelter from Him. Allah is the One who provides safety against the fear of the one who is fearful and gives support to the one who seeks support. He an Excellent Protector and an Excellent Helper.

 

The Second Means of Protection: 

Taqwa - The one who fears Allah will be protected and safeguarded by Allah and will not be left to others. Allah said: "But if you remain patient and become Al-Muttaqun(the pious), not the least harm will their cunning do to you. Surely, Allah surrounds all that they do." [3:120]

 

The Third Means of Protection: 

Patience - Neither fighting nor complaining about the evil doer, nor reminding oneself of his harm. The envied person is not given victory against the envier with the likes of anything that greater or more effective than patience. Whenever the envier’s transgression increases, it becomes a powerful host for the one who is transgressed against and a means through which the transgressor fights himself unknowingly. His transgression is an arrow fired against himself. Allah said: "But the evil plot encompasses only him who makes it." [35:43]

 

If the envied person exercises patience and does not transgress, he will receive a good end by the permission of Allah.

The Fourth Means of Protection:

At-Tawakkul - Reliance upon Allah. Whoever relies upon Allah, Allah will suffice him. Reliance upon Allah is one of the most powerful means by way of which a person is protected regardless the extent of the harm, oppression, and enmity of the creation. The one who suffices himself with Allah as his Protector, the enemy cannot have any hope of harming him. If a person relies upon Allah, in a manner in which Allah deserves to be relied upon and firmly believes in Allah’s absolute control of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, Allah will grant him a way out from the difficulty or harm and aid help him.

 

The Fifth Means of Protection:

 

Isolate one’s heart from being preoccupied with the affair of the enemy and not to think about him – intending to eliminate his affair from one’s thoughts whenever he comes to one’s mind; neither paying attention to him nor fearing him, nor filling one’s heart with thoughts about him. This one of the most beneficial remedies and the most powerful means of repelling his evil, for indeed it is similar to the case of a person who is sought after by the enemy in order to seize and harm him, but neither does the enemy see him nor have contact with him; rather he abandons the enemy and the enemy is not able to do anything to him. This is because evil occurs if both have contact and are connected to each other. This is the case with the souls that are similar, i.e. if a person allows himself to be dragged to the level of the enemy, for there will not be tranquillity if both souls have contact with each other and evil will continue until one of them is destroyed. However, if a person turns his soul away from the enemy, protects it from thinking about him and preoccupies himself with what is more beneficial, the envious transgressor will consume himself with envy, for indeed envy is like fire and some of it burns the other part if it does not find something else to burn.

 

The Sixth Means of Protection:

Devotion to Allah - be sincere to Allah, i.e. in deeds and statements, seeking after Allah’s Love and Pleasure, turning to Allah in repentance and complete submission in all of one’s thoughts and desires. Striving to direct one’s thoughts and desires to conform gradually to what Allah loves and is pleasing to Him, etc until this overcomes, dominates, and repels everything that opposes what Allah loves. So the person directs his thoughts, concern, and desires to be in agreement with what his Lord loves and he seeks to draw close to his Lord, i.e. in obedience and keeping away from disobedience, and remembers and praises his Lord. Allah stated that Iblees said: "Iblis (Satan)) said: By Your Might, then I will surely mislead them all; except Your chosen slaves amongst them (faithful, obedient, true believers of Islamic Monotheism).” [38:82-83]

The sincere person is like one who retires to a fortified fortress – neither is the one fortified in it fearful nor is the one who retires to it destroyed, nor does his enemy hope to approach it.

 

The Seventh Means of Protection:

Repentance - sins are the cause behind being overpowered by one’s enemy. Indeed Allah said: "And whatever of misfortune befalls you, it is because of what your hands have earned." [42:30]

 

A servant of Allah is not overpowered by someone who harms him except due to sin, whether he is aware or unaware of it. The sins of a person – which he is unaware of- are several times as much as what he knows, and the sins he has forgotten – which he is aware of and committed – are several times as much as what he can remember. In a well-known supplication, the believer is commanded to say: "O Allah! I seek refuge with you from associating partners with you knowingly and I seek your forgiveness for what I do unknowingly." [Imaam Al-Bukhari in Al-Adabul Mufrad, Number 719 & declared authentic by Imaam Albani in Sahih Al-Adabul Mufrad, Number 551]

 

A person’s need for seeking forgiveness for his sins- which he is unaware of- are several times as much as the sins he is aware of. He is not overcome by someone or something harmful except due to sin, and no evil comes to him except as a result of sins and those other deeds that necessitate such evil. If a person refrains from sins, he is relieved of its evil consequences. And when a person is transgressed against by an opponent, there is nothing more beneficial for him than sincere repentance, which were a cause of being overcome by the enemy.

The Eighth Means of Protection:

Spending in charity and being good to others by benefiting them and repelling harm as much as one is able. Indeed, this has an amazing effect in repelling calamity, the evil eye, and the evil of an envious person. Hardly is the good doer and giver of charity overcome by the evil eye and the envy of an envious person, for if afflicted by some of that calamity, Allah treats him with kindness, gives him relief and support. Spending in charity and doing good are acts of gratitude to Allah for the favours He has bestowed on you and a safeguard against everything that will cause those blessings to cease.

The Ninth Means of Protection:

Eradicate the intense anger of the envier, the transgressor, and the harmful person by being good to him, offering him sincere advice and being compassionate towards him. Allah said:"The good deed and the evil deed cannot be equal. Repel (the evil) with one which is better (i.e. Allah ordered the faithful believers to be patient at the time of anger, and to excuse those who treat them badly), then verily! he, between whom and you there was enmity, (will become) as though he was a close friend. But none is granted it (the above quality) except those who are patient, and none is granted it except the owner of the great portion (of the happiness in the Hereafter i.e. Paradise and in this world of a high moral character).” [41:34-35]

And ponder upon the situation of that Prophet (as) about whom our Prophet (saws) informed us that he was beaten by his people until he bled, then he started wiping the blood off his face and saying, ‘’O Allah! Forgive my people, for indeed they do not know (i.e. they do not possess knowledge).’’ [Al-Bukhari]

 

The Tenth Means of protection:

Tawheed - Firm belief that Allah alone is the Creator of everything, the Provider and the one Who controls everything in the universe; firm belief in Allah’s Perfect Names and Attributes and that there is no similarity to Allah; firm belief that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah, constantly attaching oneself to Allah-The One Who created all the means to accomplishing what one seeks, The All-Mighty, The All-Wise - whilst giving consideration to the means of attaining protection and to know that nothing can bring harm or benefit, except by the permission of Allah.

 

Allah said: "And if Allah touches you with hurt, there is none who can remove it but He; and if He intends any good for you, there is none who can repel His Favour which He causes it to reach whomsoever of His slaves He will." [10:106]

 

The Prophet (saws) said to Ibn Abbaas, ‘’Know that even if the Nation (or the whole community) were to gather together to benefit you with something, they would not benefit you with anything except that which Allah has already decreed for you, and that if they gather together to harm you with something, they would not be able to harm you with anything except that which Allah has already decreed against you.” [40 Hadith Nawawi]

 

If a person fulfills Tawheed, then indeed fear of other than Allah will be removed from his heart. His enemy will be the weakest thing to him let alone something to be feared alongside his fear of Allah. He will fear Allah alone and no one else. He will find that his thoughts about the affair of his enemy, fear of his enemy and busying himself with the affair of his enemy is due to a deficiency in his belief in Tawheed. Had he been perfecting his belief in Tawheed, it would have been the uppermost thing in his mind and that Allah is the One Who will protect and defend him, for indeed Allah defends those who truly believe. If a person is a true believer, Allah will defend him based on the level or strength of his belief in Allah. Tawheed is the greatest shield and whoever embraces it will be amongst those who are safeguarded. Some of the pious predecessors said, “Whoever truly fears Allah, everything will fear him; and whoever does not fear Allah, Allah will make him fear everything.”