5 – Quranic Gem

‘Lowering the Gaze’
قل للمومنين يغضوا من ابصارهم…
“Say to the believing men to lower their gazes……Say to the believing women to lower their gazes.”

The evil glance is the first stage towards Zina. If a person protects his gaze, he can easily save himself from zina.

Rasulullah صلي الله عليه و سلم said,
النظرة سهم مسموم من سهام ابليس من تركها مخافتي ابدلته ايمانا يجد حلاوته في قلبه
“The evil glance is from the poisonous arrows of the devil. (Allah says) Whosoever controls himself for my sake by lowering his gaze, I will grant him the sweetness of faith in his heart.”

Jarir RA says I asked Rasulullah صلي الله عليه و سلم about ‘the sudden glance’, he ordered me to lower my gaze. (Muslim)

Rasulullah صلي الله عليه و سلم told Ali RA,
يا علي لا تتبع النظرة النظرة، فإنما لك الأولى، وليست لك الثانية رواه ابو دَاوُدَ
“O Ali! Don’t keep looking (when mistakenly you cast an evil glance) because the first glance is forgiven not the second one.”

Whatever a person sees, it has an impact on the heart. Then the mind starts to play with the thoughts, and eventually a person does something wrong. This same meaning comes in one Hadith of bukhari in which Rasulullah صلي الله عليه و سلم says,
“The zina of the eyes is to see, the zina of the hands is to touch, the zina of the feet is to walk, the zina of the ears is to listen, and a person’s Nafs arouses and the private part either makes these thoughts become a reality or it denies it.”

قال ابن القيم رحمه الله: وقد جعل الله سبحانه العين مرآة القلب، فإذا غضّ العبد بصره، غضّ القلب شهوته وإرادته، وإذا أطلق بصره أطلق القلب شهوته. (روضة المحبين)
Ibnul Qayyim RA says, Allah has made the eyes the mirror of the heart. When a servant lowers his gaze, the heart lowers its desires. And when a servant lets loose his eyes, the heart lets loose its desires.

Note: looking at porn, magazines, movies etc with dirty pics is also classified at casting the evil glance.

So, protect yourself from this great illness. This is for both men and women.
Just on a side note; nowadays women go to such places for cosmetics where they show their Satar to other women e.g. Waxing, hair removal etc. This is HARAM. In no condition it’s permissible to show your Satar to another women except under dire necessity.

The only way to protect oneself from ‘The Evil Glance’ is:
1. Use your will power
2. Think about resurrection, Allah says in the Quran, يوم تشهد عليهم that on the day of judgement every limb of a human will give witness against him for the ring he committed with that limb.
3. Make Dua, Dua is the most powerful weapon of a believer.