The Evil Eye

Besides the jnūn the evil eye is a very frequent cause of misfortune. It is said that "the evil eye owns two-thirds of the graveyard "—L-'ain 'anda t^sult^sä́yin fĕ l-mqâbar; ¹ or that "one half of mankind dies from, the evil eye"—N-nůṣṣ fĕ bnä̂dem käimût^s bĕ l-'ain; or that at any rate one-third of all living beings are killed by the same enemy. There is another saying, that "the evil eye empties the castles (or 'houses') and fills the graves"—L-'ain t^sů́ḫli l-qôṣōr wa t^sů'ámmir l-qôbōr (Fez), or L-'ain t^sḫli d-dúyōr wa t^s-ů'ámmir l-qóbōr (Tangier). So firmly is the evil eye believed in, that if some accident happens at a wedding or any other feast where a person reputed to have an evil eye is present, it is attributed to him and he may have to pay damages; and if such a person looks at another's animal and it shortly afterwards dies, he is likewise held responsible for the loss.