Masha’Allah, No Evil Eye Will Envy You, Insh’Allah!

I’m a person who believes in energy. And call it superstitious but, among different forms of energy, I believe evil eye has been the most effective one in my life…  Especially common in the Middle Eastern culture, evil eye is believed to be able to cause bad luck on the person at whom it is directed for reasons of envy, dislike or jealousy. In Hebrew it is called “ayin ha’ra” (the evil eye), in Italian “mal occhio” (the bad eye) , in Spanish “mal ojo or el ojo” (the bad eye or just the eye), in French “Mauvais Oeil” , in German “böse Blick” , in Arabic “ayin hasad ” (eye of envy) , in Greek ” matiasma “or ” mati “, in Hungarian “szemmel verés ” (beating with eyes), in Farsi “ bla band” (the eye of evil) and in Turkish we call it “nazar”.

The history of evil eye dates back to antiquity. There are written references within the texts from the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians, around 3000 B.C.  It’s a power that can cause an injury or bad luck, but the person who gives the evil eye is not necessarily an evil person. It’s also believed that people with green or blue eyes are relavitely powerful to give evil eye. In some cases, it is like putting a cast on the victim unintentionally, by only expressing appreciation… That’s why in our culture it’s customary to say “Masha’Allah” (meaning ‘God has willed it’) to prevent the evil eye. Sometimes the expression can be improved as “Masha’Allah, no evil eye will envy you, insh’Allah!” (insh’Allah means ‘If God wills it’). It’s also common in Turkey to wear an evil eye jewelry against ‘nazar’. Called as “Nazar Bonjuk”, this Turkish ‘evil eye charm’ is believed to prevent bad luck. Throughout the history, people have used talismans to defy evil objects. As being one of these talismans, the nazar bonjuk has no religious significance but it’s a tradition for protection. It is also a beautiful piece of craft art which can be a bracelet, necklace, pin or just a decoration piece. From new-born babies to their houses, people like to attach this evil eye bead to everything they wish to protect from evil eye. It is like a good luck eye staring back at the world of evil spirits while sending the bad energy back to its owner. These nazar bonjuks are mostly in blue color which reflects the energy of sky or water (water represents prosperity and freshness). They are also fashionable accessories which can be worn any time of the day.

Like the quantum physics teaching that we are impacted by others around us, evil eye is a powerful negative force. Sometimes I don’t wanna believe it and try just to appreciate the appreciation. But for some reason, whenever I get that evil eye, even along with nice compliments, I end up with some kind of harm or bad luck situation.  That’s why I like to wear my nazar bonjuk and hear the expression of mash’Allah just in case.