What should I do to absolve myself of responsibility for the death of my relative—the ten-year-old girl—after I wished her a bright future at the very time she fell ill and died, fearing that this might have been out of envy from me, knowing that informing her family could lead to corruption and the severing of kinship ties?

Firstly: Affliction by the evil eye is established in Islamic law, and its effect is not limited to sight; it can occur merely through description or imagination. The one who casts the evil eye can affect the envied person by simply describing something to them. The evil eye consists of arrows that emerge from the soul of the envious and the one who casts the evil eye, striking the envied person or missing them.

Secondly: Jurists differ regarding one who casts the evil eye upon a person, leading to their death. Some scholars hold that if a person is known to cast the evil eye, and they cast it upon someone, leading to their unintentional death, then blood money (diyah) and expiation (kaffarah) are incumbent upon them. Others are of the view that there is no retribution (qisas), blood money, or expiation upon them. The preponderant opinion is that there is nothing upon one who casts the evil eye upon a person, based on the assumption that they died from the evil eye, as certainty in such a matter is not possible. A ruling is based on a verifiable matter, not merely on conjecture.