Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.
Firstly:
Undoubtedly the frightening dreams that this sister sees are from the accursed Shaytaan who is trying his hardest to prevent people from following the true religion and keep them away from their Lord Whom they worship, and he wants to cause grief to the believers. But his plots against the pious close friends of Allah are weak and insignificant, especially against those who fortify themselves with ruqya as prescribed in sharee’ah day and night.
Secondly:
You should note that the best way in which the Muslim can protect himself against the Shaytaan is to remember Allah. According to the hadeeth narrated by al-Tirmidhi (2863), Allah commanded Yahya ibn Zakariyya (peace be upon him) to tell the Children of Israel to do five things, including the following:
“I command you to remember Allah, for the likeness of that is that of a man whose enemy comes after him, until he comes to a strong fortress where he protects himself from him. Similarly, a person cannot protect himself against the Shaytaan except by remembering Allah.” Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Tirmdihi.
If the Muslim fears Allah in all his affairs, and adheres to that which Allah has commanded and avoids that which He has forbidden, and he constantly remembers Allah, praying and fasting and other kinds of worship, and he fortifies himself by reading Qur’aan night and day, out loud and silently, and he regularly recites the wirds and dhikrs prescribed in Islam for the morning and evening, and when eating, drinking, getting dressed and going to sleep, then the Shaytaan will go away from him, blameworthy and defeated, and will have no power to do anything to him. How can it be otherwise when Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“Those who believe, fight in the Cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve, fight in the cause of Taaghoot (Satan). So fight you against the friends of Shaytaan (Satan); ever feeble indeed is the plot of Shaytaan (Satan)”
[al-Nisa’ 4:76]?
The Shaytaan only comes close to those who are far away from their religion and Qur’aan. The Shaytaan may try to divert the righteous from the straight path, in order to ruin their lives and religious commitment and worldly interests. But protection may be sought against him in the manner described above. You can also refer to the books of dhikr such as al-Adhkaar by al-Nawawi; ‘Aml al-Yawm wa’l-Laylah by al-Nasaa’i; ‘Aml al-Yawm wa’l-Laylah by Ibn al-Sunni; and other books of dhikr that deal with this topic, or books of Sunan in general. If you do that we hope that your situation will improve and you will find peace of mind, and Allah will change your situation to a better one.
Among the dhikrs with which we advise you to recite regularly are the following:
1 – Adhkaar for morning and evening.
(a)Reciting every evening the words, “A’oodhu bi kalimaat Allah il-taammah min sharri ma khalaqa (I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of that which He has created).”
It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah said: A man came to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I am suffering because of a scorpion that stung me yesterday.” He said, “If you had said in the evening, A’oodhu bi kalimaat Allah il-taammah min sharri ma khalaqa (I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of that which He has created),’ it would not have harmed you.
Narrated by Muslim.
Indeed, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) encouraged us to say that in every place where we stop (when travelling).
It was narrated that Khawlah bint Hakeem al-Salamiyyah said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) say: “Whoever makes a stop in some place, then says, ‘A’oodhu bi kalimaat Allah il-taammah min sharri ma khalaqa (I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah from the evil of that which He has created),’ nothing will harm him until he moves on from that place.”
Narrated by Muslim, 2708.
(b)It was narrated that ‘Uthmaan ibn ‘Affaan (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “There is no person who says in the morning and evening of each day, ‘Bismillaah illaahi laa yadurru ma’a ismihi shay’un fi’l-ard wa la fi’l-sama’ wa huwa al-samee’ ul-‘aleem (In the name of Allah with Whose name nothing is harmed on earth nor in heaven, and He is the All-Hearing, All-Knowing)’ three times, but nothing will harm him.”
Narrated and classed as saheeh by al-Tirmidhi, 3388; also narrated by Ibn Maajah, 3869. Classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Ibn Maajah.
(c)Reciting Aayat al-Kursiy and al-Mu’awwidhaat before going to sleep.
It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah said: “The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) put me in charge of guarding the zakaah of Ramadaan. Someone came to me and started grabbing handfuls of the food. I took hold of him and said, ‘I will take you to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).’ He said, ‘I will teach you some words by means of which Allah will benefit you.’ I said, ‘What are they?’ He said, ‘When you go to your bed, recite this aayah (interpretation of the meaning): “Allah! Laa ilaaha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He), Al-Hayyul-Qayyoom (the Ever Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists)…” [al-Baqarah 2:255] – until he completed the aayah. Then Allah will appoint a guard for you who will stay with you and no shaytaan (devil) will come near you until morning.’ The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked me, ‘What did your prisoner do last night?’ I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, he taught me something, and claimed that Allah would benefit me by it.’ He said, ‘What was it?’ I said, ‘He taught me to recite Aayat al-Kursiy when I go to bed, and said that no shaytaan would come near me until morning, and that Allah would appoint a guard for me who would stay with me.’ The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, ‘He told you the truth, although he is an inveterate liar. That was the Shaytaan.’”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 3101; Muslim, 505.
There are many such dhikrs; we do not have room to mention them all here.
Thirdly:
With regard to the hasad (envy) and the evil eye of which you speak, it may be that this harm has come to you through hasad. Protection against that is to be sought by reciting the dhikrs prescribed in sharee’ah.
It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) used to seek refuge with Allah for al-Hasan and al-Husayn. He said: ‘Your father [i.e., Ibraaheem] used to seek refuge with Allah for Ismaa’eel and Ishaaq with these words: A’oodhu bi kalimaat Allah al-taammah min kulli shaytaanin wa haammah wa min kulli ‘aynin laammah (I seek refuge in the perfect words of Allah, from every devil and every poisonous reptile, and from every bad eye).’”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 3191.
With regard to the remedy:
It was narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “The evil eye is real, and if anything were to overtake the divine decree (al-qadar) it would be the evil eye. When you are asked to take a bath (to provide a cure) from the influence of the evil eye, you should take a bath”
Narrated by Muslim, 2188.
If you know that the evil eye has been put on you by a certain person, then you should ask him to do ghusl and wudoo’, then you should pour the water of his ghusl or wudoo’ over yourself. The way in which this should be done has been explained by Ibn al-Qayyim, who said:
In Sunan Abi Dawood it is narrated that ‘Aa’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The ‘aa’in (the one who put the evil eye on another) would be ordered to do wudoo’, then the ma’een (the one on whom he had put the evil eye) would do ghusl with that water.
In al-Saheehayn it is narrated that ‘Aa’ishah said: “The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded me or he commanded us to recite ruqyah for protection against the evil eye.”
Al-Tirmidhi narrated from Sufyaan ibn ‘Uyayanah from ‘Amr ibn Dinaar from ‘Urwah ibn ‘Aamir from ‘Ubayd ibn Rafaa’ah al-Sarqi that Asma’ bint Umays said: “O Messenger of Allah, the children of Ja’far have been afflicted by the evil eye, shall we recite ruqyah for them?” He said, “Yes, for if anything were to overtake the divine decree it would be the evil eye.” Al-Tirmidhi said: a saheeh hasan hadeeth. Then he mentioned the hadeeth which described how ‘Aamir ibn Rabee’ah afflicted Sahl ibn Hunayf with his eye, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded ‘Aamir to do ghusl.
So he washed his face, hands, forearms, knees and the sides of his feet, and inside his izaar (lower garment) in the vessel. Then that water was poured over him, and a man poured it over his head and back from behind. He did that to him, then Sahl got up and joined the people.
Al-Tibb al-Nabawi, p. 127-129.
For more information on the evil eye and the ways of dealing with it and protecting oneself against it, please see question no. 20954.
And Allah knows best.
