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Magic, the evil eye and superstition
36 segments in 14 recordings · 2017 to 2021 · 0 verified · 26 checked positions · belief/unseen-beings/magic-evil-eye-and-superstition · Feed
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Click a year to jump to itLatest answer · 12 Jan 2021
12 Jan 2021Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth
LatestIf you deny the evil eye, why do you cite scholars who believed in it?
Mufti Abu Layth says scholars who believed in the evil eye were following the science of their day, and one does not take science from them.
machine3 min 50 s1:47:10on YouTube
Earlier answers · 35 · newest first
2020 · 17
21 Nov 2020video
Is the jinn exorcism and ruqya industry a fraud?
The ruqya industry is largely a fraud drenched in abuse; the Mu'tazila, who rejected possession, were never afflicted, and al-Jahiz already recorded a practitioner using a possession claim to explain away a lost virginity.
machine6 min 37 s43:12on YouTube
15 Nov 2020video
A clip of Shaykh Hassan Ali on the evil eye from loved ones
A played clip in which Shaykh Hassan Ali says the evil eye can come even from loving relatives, with a story about his own son.
machine2 min 41 s0:00on YouTube
15 Nov 2020video
Does the Quran mention the evil eye?
No: the Quran mentions envy (hasad) but never the evil eye, and the verse about eyes making the Prophet slip is a metaphor for hateful stares, as Ibn Ashur and others explain.
machine6 min 43 s2:41on YouTube
15 Nov 2020video
If the evil eye is real, why doesn't the Quran mention it?
The evil eye was believed to be an unseen force causing illness, death and impotence, yet the Quran never mentions it, unlike older scriptures. He finds that silence telling for something said to affect everyone.
machine8 min 20 s9:24on YouTube
15 Nov 2020video
Why did so many cultures believe in the evil eye?
Because people long believed the eye actively shot out rays, and the belief helped explain sudden illness and misfortune. He says the evil eye itself is nonsense.
machine10 min 48 s17:44on YouTube
15 Nov 2020video
Is the evil eye based on science?
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.
machine12 min 34 s28:32on YouTube
15 Nov 2020video
Confirmation bias: reading the evil eye into the Quran
Mufti Abu Layth says that people came to Islam already believing the evil eye was science and, through confirmation bias, found it in verses that do not mention it, such as the verse about eyes almost making the Prophet slip, even though many exegetes did not read it that way. He recommends the Urdu tafsir of Abdul Karim Athari, whom he describes as coming from a small, unusually reason-based circle within the Ahl-e-Hadith of India, and says Athari also reads the verse as the disbelievers staring as though to trip the Prophet, before calling him insane.
machine3 min 22 s41:06on YouTube
15 Nov 2020video
Does Surah Yusuf prove the evil eye is real?
No: Jacob told his sons to use different gates for their safety and to avoid drawing attention, not because of the evil eye. They had already been to Egypt, so the evil eye reading makes no sense.
machine11 min 39 s44:28on YouTube
15 Nov 2020video
Are the hadith about the evil eye authentic?
No: he says the evil eye hadith rest on weak or criticised narrators and odd reports, and a belief so important would have come from many companions and the Quran. He calls them baseless.
machine12 min 11 s56:07on YouTube
15 Nov 2020video
Is Surat al-Falaq about protection from the evil eye?
No: it seeks refuge from the harm envious people act out and from the superstitious culture around magic, not from an evil eye. The Quran's silence on the evil eye is, to him, a sign of its truth.
machine3 min 53 s1:08:18on YouTube
26 Jun 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Is seeing the number 19 everywhere a sign or a superstition?
The guest rejects personal and anecdotal sightings of 19 as numerology and chance, distinguishing them from the Quran's structure, and invites Zakir Naik and Nouman Ali Khan to debate him.
machine2 min 40 s2:17:50on YouTube
9 Jun 2020video
What does Mufti Abu Layth think of Hasan Farhan al-Maliki?
Mufti Abu Layth admires Hasan Farhan al-Maliki's open-minded rejection of folkloric Islam but disagrees with his dismissive, Shia-inclined stance on companions such as Mu'awiya.
machine2 min 24 s0:00on YouTube
1 Jun 2020video
If a religious teacher seduces someone, is the other person also to blame?
Mufti Abu Layth says both the mufti and the woman in the shared story are to blame, and dismisses the claim of a magic spell.
machine6 min 20 s0:00on YouTube
1 Jun 2020video
Should a person accused of magic be killed?
Mufti Abu Layth says calls to kill the 'magician' show the sorry state of Muslims and why they are a laughing stock.
machine1 min 40 s8:54on YouTube
22 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Is belief in magic spells and jinn possession part of Islam?
Belief in possession and magic spells holds Muslims back and harms mental health, and the guest says it is not a religious teaching because no verse or authentic hadith establishes it, whatever people believe they have seen. Mufti Abu Layth notes that to believers in jinn the ordinary explanation seems the far-fetched one.
machine6 min 33 s1:34:50on YouTube
22 Apr 2020MindTrap with Mufti Abu Layth
Does Surat al-Falaq confirm that black magic is real?
The verse about those who blow on knots does not establish that magic is effective: the guest says it asks protection from the fear such practices create, and Mufti Abu Layth says the surah names things not harmful in themselves but the superstitions attached to them. The question whether Islam is feudal went unanswered.
machine2 min 38 s1:40:04on YouTube
30 Mar 2020video
Should we recite Sahih al-Bukhari to protect ourselves from the coronavirus?
No: reciting Sahih al-Bukhari is not the way to tackle the coronavirus, and the Quran itself is not a medical cure; people can simply make du'a.
machine11 min3:43on YouTube
2019 · 1
14 Jan 2019Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Is al-Khidr a prophet, and is he still alive?
Classical scholars disagreed on whether al-Khidr was a prophet or a saint, and many held he is still alive while others denied it. Mufti Abu Layth likens the stories of his appearances to saint legends in other religions.
machine8 min 46 s14:02on YouTube
2018 · 15
20 Apr 2018Ponderings on the Holy Quran
Did Musa's staff really turn into a snake?
No: Mufti Abu Layth holds the staff was described as moving as though it were a snake, while the magicians' sticks moved by a chemical trick.
machine6 min 15 s0:01on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Why does it matter whether people believe in jinn possession?
Because the belief brings mockery on Islam and sustains an industry of abuse, with beatings, sexual violence and extortion, including a house gifted to a practitioner as a 'cure'. Mufti Abu Layth says Islam will bear the blame and future generations will treat it as mythology.
machine2 min 39 s34:00on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
If exorcisms and ruqya sometimes work, does that prove possession is real?
No: real symptoms can be produced or relieved by belief alone, as Ted Kaptchuk's study with fake pills and retractable needles showed, so an exorcism or ruqya can 'work' through the placebo effect. Some people would also have recovered regardless.
machine3 min 56 s40:37on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
If jinn do not possess people, what is ruqya for?
The Quran is a cure for what is in the hearts, meaning disbelief and superstition, not a medical treatment. Ruqya and the du'as taught against omens are a scaffolding that steadies a person's faith until it can stand on its own, because the mind clings to ritual.
machine3 min 55 s44:33on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
What magic means: fantasy magic versus illusion, and the Arabic sihr
The question is not illusion or trickery but 'fantasy magic' that changes reality, which he calls absurd; the Arabs used sihr for anything inexplicable.
machine5 min 07 s0:00on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Three kinds of what was called magic: mind control, potions and illusion
What people called magic fell into three kinds: mind control and hypnosis, chemical potions, and stage illusion, all of which have natural explanations.
machine5 min 06 s5:07on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Magic in the Quran: Musa and Pharaoh's magicians, an illusion
In the Quran the magic of Pharaoh's magicians was only an illusion; Musa's fear was a natural human reaction, not proof that the magic was real.
machine5 min 10 s10:13on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Was magic done on the Prophet? Why he rejects the report
Mufti Abu Layth rejects the report that the Prophet was bewitched, even though it is in al-Bukhari, as an insult to the Prophet that clashes with the Quran.
machine9 min 40 s15:23on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Where the story came from: polemic, the poisoning report and the ajwa dates
Mufti Abu Layth believes the story is misconstrued, possibly fed by polemical rumours of the time, and notes it contradicts the hadith that ajwa dates protect from magic.
machine5 min 09 s25:03on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Why great scholars accepted it: sectarian turf war with the Mu'tazila
Mufti Abu Layth argues that belief in magic, even on the Prophet, hardened as a sectarian reaction against the Mu'tazila, just as other issues hardened against Salafis or Shia.
machine10 min 12 s30:12on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Harut and Marut, and how magic 'splits' people
Harut and Marut may have been two pious men taken for angels who taught skills that looked like magic; the doll-and-needles idea of magic is not from the Quran or Sunnah.
machine3 min 14 s40:24on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
The seven ajwa dates hadith as hyperbole
The hadith that ajwa dates protect from poison and magic is hyperbole praising dates; classical commentators did not take it literally either.
machine2 min 37 s43:38on YouTube
15 Apr 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Exploitation by 'babas', and the solution: proper help and mental health
Magic healers exploit desperate people; seek real help from your network or professionals, and communities should take mental health seriously.
machine5 min 06 s46:15on YouTube
13 Feb 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Is the evil eye real in Islam?
Belief that a look can cause disease or disaster contradicts tawhid; the evil eye is simply envy, whose harm lies in how it is acted upon.
machine6 min 50 s0:00on YouTube
13 Feb 2018Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Did someone really do magic on the Prophet?
No: he calls the report of magic on the Prophet falsely attributed and an affront to his honour, and says the Quls were revealed years earlier in Makkah.
machine3 min 44 s6:50on YouTube
2017 · 2
20 Sep 2017Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
Why do jinn seem to afflict only people who believe in them?
Amulet writers, raqis and shrine touts run a business of lies, as the guest's stories of ambiguous amulets and promised sons show. Jinn never trouble him, atheists or non-Muslims, only those of weak belief, which he calls a lie against Allah and his Messenger that robs people of money and women of honour.
machine5 min 14 s44:09on YouTube
20 Sep 2017Debunking Myths On: Jinns, Magic, the Evil Eye, and Superstitions
If jinn do not possess people, what is ruqya for?
The Quran is a cure for what is in the hearts, meaning disbelief and superstition, and ruqya and the taught du'as are a scaffolding to steady people's iman because humans cling to ritual and fall easily into superstition. The du'a against omens shows the Prophet using this method.
machine2 min 36 s1:35:16on YouTube