Random Reflexions

When I made a kindly remark about the beautiful tuft of thick black hair on the crown of the new born child I was warned by the father that saying such things might inadvertently cast "esfeena" on the baby. That's bloody rubbish, I tell him. "Yeah, I don't think anyone believes that crap anymore", he chuckled.

In many cultures the "esfeena" is known as the curse of the Evil Eye.

The evil eye is commonly associated with envy, and transmitted by a look, touch or verbal expression of envy, or by excessive praise without a blessing (Elworthy).

This Evil Eye business has been a recurring notion for as long as I can remember. It is believed it can be cast on anyone, but children, women and pregnant women are especially vulnerable. It is, of course, a superstitious belief like so many others beliefs in our society. What is different about this one is that it is not unique to us.

The notion of the Evil Eye is fairly widely spread and very ancient. In his book "Wet and Dry: The Evil Eye", Professor Alan Dandes theorizes that the concept of the evil eye may have its origins in ancient Mesopotamia from where it might have propagated to Europe and India. The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft says the oldest references to it appear in the cuneiform texts of the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, around 3000 BC. Other texts say it is much older suggesting that prehistoric cultures had documented the belief in various ways. Although believed by many to be a universal concept, the Evil Eye is non-existent in Chinese culture and various other Asian cultures - including those of aboriginal Australia.

In our society, especially in the olden days, children were made to wear eye shadow (adhun or kohl), as they still do in some parts of India - as a way to ward off or stop the evil eye from entering the child. Amulets and charms containing verse from the Quran were also worn until recently. Today, although practices such as these have largely disappeared (my observation), the belief is still held by many - but only as an afterthought to a praising comment. And since the ancient times of Sumer, the eye shadow has definitely found its use in fashion and makeup than anything else in modern times.

So how did this superstitious belief find its way into our culture? It is very likely that our notion of Evil Eye may have its origins with the introduction of Islam.

History shows that the Bedouins were quite a superstitious people and among their beliefs, even after the arrival of Islam, the evil eye remained a powerful defining social belief. In fact, numerous Arab and Islamic sources show ample evidence of the prevailing belief, then and now, in almost all Arab societies of the region. The belief in the evil eye is also found in Islamic doctrine and it is here, in Quran and the Hadith, that we come across the most important pieces of evidence to support how this belief may have been transmitted to us with the arrival of the religion.

In Quran, Surah al-Falaq [113:5], "And from the evil of the envier when he envies,".

In Hadith reported by Sahih Muslim [026.5427], the Prophet saying "The influence of an evil eye is a fact; if anything would precede the destiny it would be the influence of an evil eye..."

It is clear how the above lines could have shaped our belief system over the centuries. Our beliefs may have evolved since the olden days and we might know for a fact that the Evil Eye is only a superstitious belief - that envious feelings and jealousy towards others don't physically affect them. Such beliefs can be constructed and attributed to anything if we want because illnesses, accidents and generally bad "omens" are nothing but everyday occurrences in a less-than perfect physical world.

The Evil Eye is a good example of our inclination to believe in superstitions. The fact that the Evil Eye has found its way into religious texts and prophetic words stands as testimony to this very human trait. There is, after all, only a thin line separating religious beliefs and superstition.

References:
The evil eye and cultural beliefs among the Bedouin tribes of the Negev, Middle East
The Evil Eye
The Evil Eye
Evil Eye