My mother thinks that my sister is infected with evil eye so she was using an egg to get rid of the evil eye. Is it shirk?

Question

My sister has been experiencing signs of evil eye so my mother used a raw egg to wave around my whole sisters body while reciting some dua or the 4 kuls (I'm not sure what exactly she said). I found this extremely weird and sketchy but I couldn't stop her no matter how hard I tried. Later, she went outside and threw it on the ground and said some birds will come eat it. I'm very confused on what she did and if its shirk or not. Please tell me ! Thank you.

Answer 1

Most people including believers live in Shirk, but that's almost ok!

وَ مَا يُؤْمِنُ أَكْثَرُهُمْ بِ��للَّهِ إِلَّا وَ هُمْ مُشْرِكُونَ

And most of them believe not in Allah except while they associate others with Him.

it is not really ok in the strict sense, but it is ok in the sense that this Shirk is not that Shirk that is assumed the greatest sin:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَ يَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَ مَنْ يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَالًا بَعِيدًا

Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly gone far astray.

Indeed Shirk is graded like believing is graded. The Shirk mostly blamed is called the manifested Shirk (شرک جلیّ), in which the person explicitly worship someone/something beside Allah/the God. But the former shirk, which almost all of us are smeared with is called the Hidden Shirk (شرک خفیّ). In Ahadeeth it is stated that the hidden shirk is sometimes more hidden than a black ant over a black stone in a dark night. Whenever you drink water because you feel thirsty and you assume drinking water will stop your thirst, that would be a hidden shirk, because it is indeed Allah who stops your thirst, as Allah has characterizing water to have such an effect.

ز یزدان دان، نه از ارکان، که کوته‌دیدگی باشد که خطی کز عنان خیزد تو آن را از بنان بینی

identify every effect to be from Allah, as it is unwise to see a beautiful hand writing an praise the fingers instead of the writer

This is called Tawhid Af'ali, which is abstracted in "لا حول و لا قوة الّا بالله". So your mother if uses an egg for a benefit, that is not more shirk than you drink water to stop your thirst. However, this specific story has also another aspect. That water really stops the thirst, but does an egg really prevents/stops/negates evil eye? Is there a verse or Hadeeth about it? Probably not, but we do not seek root in Hadeeth/Quran for many other statements we accept e.g. from scientists. Therefore, maybe not very different in that regard as well. But if your mother does what she does and claims it to be the command of God at the same time that she knows it is not, then that would be another sin, the innovation:

وَ مَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنِ افْتَرَيٰ عَلَي اللَّهِ كَذِبًا

Who doth more wrong than he who inventeth a lie about Allah

So relax, I personally doubt if this is a major Shirk, or an innovation, although better to avoid if there is no authenticate source for it. People usually recite these verses of Quran to prevent evil eye, as far as I have seen:

وَ إِنْ يَكَادُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لَيُزْلِقُونَكَ بِأَبْصَارِهِمْ لَمَّا سَمِعُوا الذِّكْرَ وَ يَقُولُونَ إِنَّهُ لَمَجْنُونٌ . وَ مَا هُوَ إِلَّا ذِكْرٌ لِلْعَالَمِينَ

And indeed, those who disbelieve would almost make you slip with their eyes when they hear the message, and they say, 'Indeed, he is mad. But it is not except a reminder to the worlds.

or give money to charity (صدقة), or things like that ...