Difference between evil eye and envy

6-12-2011 | IslamWeb

Question:

What is the difference between the evil eye and envy?
Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad sallallaahu `alayhi wa sallam ( may Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

 

If a person has envy, they wish that the person who is blessed be deprived of the goodness which caused their envy in the first place.

The evil eye refers to the meaning of harming someone through the eye which gazes at the blessing they enjoy. The affecter is called ‘Aa’in in Arabic.

Some scholars mention that the common factor between the envier and the ‘Aa’in is that both want to harm others. However, the ‘Aa’in harms others by his eye when he sees them, whereas the envier harms others in both their presence and absence. Ibn Al-Qayyim may Allaah have mercy upon him stated that the envier may unintentionally envy others; meaning, he envies them by means of his nature, and this is one of the worst traits that a human can possess.

Allaah Knows best.

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