# Is the evil eye based on science?

*Extramission, Ibn al-Haytham and Ibn al-Qayyim's 'arrows' of the eye*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/mnpgdvjs2nk/s/5/
- Date: 2020-11-15 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: There is NO evil eye in Islam (Detailed Overview) | Mufti Abu Layth (28:32–41:06)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnpGDvjs2nk&t=1712s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/mnpgdvjs2nk/

**Topics:** Magic, the evil eye and superstition; Science, the universe and big questions

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** It rested on the old belief that eyes shoot out rays, which people once took as science; Ibn al-Qayyim described envious 'arrows' from the eye. Ibn al-Haytham and later science showed that eyes only take in light.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says that in antiquity the evil eye was regarded as science, built on the belief that the eyes emit rays, a theory since debunked.

**Evidence, his words at 39:49:** “people were coming from this backdrop that this is how the eyes work so to them this was science” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnpGDvjs2nk&t=2389s)

## Longer summary

Mufti Abu Layth says that if the eye emits rays, it was reasonable to think those rays could harm, and that the intromission theory, that light enters the eye, was first posited by the Muslim scientist Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) but did not become mainstream in Muslim literature. He presents Ibn al-Qayyim's widely followed definition, in which the envious viewer fires little arrows at the one looked at, which strike the unprotected and are blocked by protection, and says the imams who teach the evil eye base it on this. Citing a study of the evil eye and the language of distress, he says the belief is a way to explain and cope with suffering, and that intelligent people such as Bacon, Shakespeare and Dante held it because, before germ theory, they explained the inexplicable, as people did with the plague. He says that in antiquity it was regarded as science, not superstition, and that studies by Winer [?] found about half of adults still believe the eye emits something, though it has been shown that the eyes only take in light.

## Sources and names cited

- Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen)
- Ibn al-Qayyim [?] (name garbled in the transcript)
- Francis Bacon
- William Shakespeare
- Dante
- Ibn Khaldun

## Transcript (machine tier, 28:32–41:06)

[28:32] if i can just bring this up here just to show you that you will see that look it's only up until recently that intro mission theories that actually light comes into the eye as opposed to the eye shooting out light uh has actually taken off you know this is not uh this is something which is quite recent it's not an old so you can see there from the ancient text this is how people believed the eyes worked so if the eye does work like that

[29:09] you see it makes perfect sense it makes sense that since the eye works in this way it is scientific to believe that well maybe the rays that i'm shooting are in fact also causing some kind of a harm because that was the belief that people felt extra mission not intermission was the way forward it was reality surprisingly surprisingly people uh you have to realize that when this belief was conquered uh oh

[29:48] sorry when this belief was contrasted with actually no light is taken in by the eye not cast it out it's not actually extra mission it's intermission that this belief was first posited by a muslim scientist ibn haitham and you can see that that he was known as al hazen he's uh in in western literature abnormal haitham was one of the first people to highlight that that actually the eye

[30:25] it does not you know it does not project it actually brings in it takes in light it absorbs the light that's coming in it's not firing out those images that people think but if you come back to muslim literature right because if you come back to muslim literature you're going to find that even though ibn hatham did write this and he explains how light works and how it kind of comes in and light and refraction and other things but it does not proliferate does not become mainstream his

[31:04] view people are still on the old theory you know that's where so here is an example of uh look this is ibrahimovic you know the often quoted oh i say you know he's not the dada that's hypnotamia this is uh he's uh he's one of the the the what can we say one of the uncles if you like one of the judges but who i do like by the way for some of his uh reasoning some of them him highlighting here that look tanafasa

[31:41] that look that you will see that the scholars they they competed against one another in trying to define the eye and this is being written but one of the most prominent definitions that remains is that of ibn josiah and he writes they by the person who is viewing who is looking

[32:18] the person the object the one that they are viewing and looking at these he uses the word arrows these little arrows are fired or you could say today raise that that you are extra meeting these mini arrows firing them these projectiles towards whoever you're looking at and he says sometimes they get them sometimes they miss them because these are evil rays they're not your normal vision rays these are the envious rays that come out these little arrows and you shoot them but sometimes they don't hit the target you know they miss for insta

[32:59] imagine he had no prevention no nothing to protect him no protection he wasn't wearing no protection i have advertising for t-rex so if the person wasn't wearing any protection

[33:27] see how day and age makes so much of a difference today would be like huh what's he talking about so if the person didn't have no protection over him uh he says then he says it affects him impacts him and there's no escaping from it he says says however if they were to impact him and he did he did have if they were to impact him

[34:05] and he did have protection [Laughter] if he did have protection then in that case the arrows he says can't penetrate through the protection i'm not quite sure he doesn't go through what the protection is that the person has but he says that then the arrows can't penetrate through uh into and this is this definition is one of the most widespread definitions that people like you saw earlier on all these imams are basing their beliefs on they're basing it on this kind of belief

[34:44] of ibm josiah that the eye is shooting these arrows at people so now just coming back you will see here that look it's important to understand that look here as part of this study this was a study done on the evil eye and the language of distress reviews eight theories focusing on various interrelated phenomena now uh in this uh what the conclusion is that he views evil i believe as a means to explain express

[35:22] and cope with personal experiences or suffering now that is a very important to understand that because because that explains why these people are doing that you see you can't you can't just you see because what these people weren't necessarily stupid people i mean sorry they weren't stupid people you know ibrahimovic

[35:55] whether it's francis bacon whether it's even shakespeare whether it's dante whether it's leonardo da vinci whether these people were intelligent people they weren't stupid when they're saying oh these arrows are firing out and this and why they've come up with this first of all there's a background to this the background is these people are trying to explain phenomenon or phenomena around them that otherwise is very difficult to explain when somebody just suddenly falls ill remember the theory of germs has not been introduced yet

[36:33] bacteria and stuff like this this is why when the plague was spreading people didn't understand how the plague was spreading so initially they think oh is it particular animal is it this is they didn't realize it was these fleas and things like this they didn't understand that kind of microbial um essences so eventually they just say oh it's a curse from god because after you know even ibn khaldoon and these people they write after exhausting everything they say is it this is it this is it this then you know it's not that it's not these particular mice it's not these rats it's not the water

[37:12] it's not this it's not that the disease is still spreading eventually they just say well you know what it's god god's punishing us then because you resort to the unseen because as humans we are rational beings we attempt to rationalize things we need even if our conclusion is irrational but it's still a rationalizing of the phenomenon at hand like we're still trying to give some explanation and that is incredibly important so you see here that look uh in a study you've got uh recast ricoxy

[37:52] or however they pronounce his name uh he he goes to highlight that it's very important to understand that you see in antiquity this was not seen as superstition like the way they saw magic and things like this they believed this the evil eye to be scientific this to them was a scientific belief so if you went to uh you know if you went back then to to people and said look that you know how do you believe in this

[38:31] the the answer is because it's scientific this is actually science the eye is a meeting the eye is actually a meeting raise ex you know this extra mission and once again coming back to that picture this is their kind of medical scientific journals of the day and age it's very important to understand that and what's weird is even today you see when winery towel conducted certain studies they found that you will see that in their studies that

[39:11] almost 50 percent 50 people that's half of the public that they are you know that they are researching believed of adults not kids adults believed in the omission theory in the extra mission theory that the i still omit raise or omit something not in the passive intramission theory so that's to understand that because it is important

[39:49] that we do grasp what is going on that you see people were coming from this backdrop that this is how the eyes work so to them this was science it wasn't like they weren't basing this on um oh this is a particular ritual or a cult practice or this was science of the world and this is why it was so universal because people believed that's how the eyes work now obviously in the last few centuries these theories have been debunked thankfully first of all to ibn haitham the muslim

[40:28] scientist who who kind of first posits this and then later research clearly can demonstrates that the eyes do not emit anything there are no rays or arrows or things that the eyes fire it doesn't work that way the eyes you know they are passive they take in the photons that reach the eyes and the light that reaches us so once you understand this you understand that people are coming from this backdrop they are then imposing what they're doing is finding this with a confirmation bias in psychology a confirmation bias is

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment mnpGDvjs2nk/s/5. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/mnpgdvjs2nk/s/5/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.