Mal De Ojo!

Do you believe in the “evil eye”?

Living in a country with a culture filled with what some may call superstition, we often find ourselves facing the phenomenon of the “evil eye”.

The evil eye, also known as Mol de ojo, is a look that is superstitiously believed by many cultures to be able to cause injury or bad luck on the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy or dislike.

For example, if a girl is wearing something pretty like a nice scarf, and another girl sees it, admires it, and looks at it with envy filling her soul- and perhaps wishes it was hers instead- she then gives her the evil eye. It could be intentional or unintentional.

Islam confirms the existence of the evil eye, but it also confirms that the only protection from it is God; not eye beads, eye jewelry and other such trinkets that are commonly believed to shield from the evil eye by many cultures.

Some may call me crazy, but I have actually witnessed the evil eye in action more times that I can remember. If you think of it, it makes absolute sense. Think about the story of this boy I knew from back in university- he was brilliant, and always used to rank first even though he never attended any lectures, and according to him, he only studied a day prior to the exam. Everyone was so envious of him, I mean, we all had to study way ahead of time just to get a passing grade! So, with all eyes on him and people wishing he would fail a subject for once, he finally did. Not only did he fail one subject, but he failed so many subjects that he had to repeat the year. After repeating the year, he kept failing until he got discontinued from the university. All thanks to the evil eye.

Another story is that of this beautiful girl, an old neighbor of mine, who had long, thick black hair. Her hair was always so beautiful it always look as though she just came out of the shoot of a shampoo commercial. People would always comment on how pretty her hair was, until one day she started noticing locks of her hair starting to fall all at once. It was inexplicable; there was no reason for her hair to be falling...except for, again, the evil eye.

The most common stories are the stories of evil-eye-stricken brides. This bride I knew once danced at her wedding at the traditional Sudanese event of “ragees al’aarous”. She had the longest legs I have ever seen, and her complexion was spectacular. Only weeks into her marriage, her legs caught fire during a “dukhaan” session. The most effective evil eye is the one that comes from multiple people gathered in one assembly, it is believed.

So yes, I do believe in the existence of the evil eye- in fact, you all should. Most likely, you and I have both been struck by the evil eye at some point in our lives; the effects are not necessarily instant. Also, the effects of the evil eye vary according to its severity.

My advice to you? Put God in your heart at all times. Envy and hate are too present in our world, face them with the best weapon of all time: love.