سپلنيَ spalanaey - a cure for the evil eye

[Catya Sher]

What could the smell best be compared with ?

I'm glad you guys are saying it smells great. That is what I had assumed, but before I order any...just want to know.

Do people use that little brazier in the picture at the website he gave ?

[شمله ور خراساني]

it smells like burning tyres.

[Laila]

its better if they steal than to have them do spelanay. Because spelaney is shirk. And theft is lesser sin than shirk. Besides if the kids are stealing because they dont have food, then their crime is not punishable in islam.

Well here is the thing with me. If they stole a few dollars here and there for food for their family that day, thats okay. Since they stole *a lot* of things, knowing it was all in a bag, that is not okay. I gave them each 200 Afganis before.....it wasnt okay for them to steal my bag....with everything inside.

What could the smell best be compared with ?

I'm glad you guys are saying it smells great. That is what I had assumed, but before I order any...just want to know.

Do people use that little brazier in the picture at the website he gave ?

LOL Cata Sher, the smell is honestly strong. Some like it, majority hate it. It smells like thick smoke, its hard to inhale air with it going around you. And the smell stays on your clothes.

[Catya Sher]

Thanks for the divergent opinions here....
from what Laila said, it sounds like some thick INCENSE, like Myrrh or something like that?

Or it's more medicinal, like Eucalyptus ?

Or...it's fit only for purification of one's car wheels !

[شمله ور خراساني]

i am joking.

[Catya Sher]

Oh good !!

Kalamala doesn't have it, I checked, but that won't stop me from searching around to find it on the internet.

I am so glad this topic got brought up.

After all, it is clearly an ancient practise of ....
KHORASAN

so, it must be put on the agenda to be re-introduced after the foreigners leave to elevate the country back to higher levels !

[afghan]

oh i didn't know this one. I never heard a pashtun doing spelanay in Kabul. Its usually hazara's and tajiks. Pashtun poor kids would be shepherds.

it works really great when its done in pashto. sangar khana try it on yourself.

[شمله ور خراساني]

it works really great when its done in pashto. sangar khana try it on yourself.

i rather sing naghma's songs than commit shirk wa ayadhu billah.

[Manzareh]

Of course.

But is there any harm in following age-old ritual like this?

I'm very grateful you posted this, Manzareh.

If anyone comes across a reliable place to order this leaf over the Internet, send an anonymous PM or something like that !

I'm keen to find these leaves !
[Is Nazar Paana pretty much the same, then? Which country does it come from, India by the sound of it?]

Yeah Catya there is harm in following a ritual like this WITH the intention to ward of evil as it becomes Bid'ah (an innovation) to islam, any innovation leads to hell fire. so yaa its ALOT of harm lol..

far as im aware its native to Swat i believe and maybe other areas too they grow the leaf and the name means: nazar = seeing, paanaa = Leaf

p.s i am going to get some though if i get a chance lol

[Feroza_Banu]

i love the smell

[eyeliner]

Even greeks do spalaney.

[*Mahzala*]

This has no roots in Islam, it is considered superstition and is considered a minor form of shirk based on the argument that we resort to other forms of healing than the ones prescribed and permitted. Before this is twisted into a hard and fast logic that can be applied to everything, let me make it clear that, because there is a cure for the evil eye in Sahih narrations, something as futile as burning the spelaney/spand goes against the teachings of our religion. This practice is similar to wearing amulets/taweez and having the belief that they have the power to cure. The ability to cure lies with Allah alone and so resorting to such means is a grave matter in Islam. This is a classic example of culture clashing with the Deen. There are many Surah and portions of the Quran and duas that can be recited instead, which also have reward. I am surprised no one has yet pointed this out.

[Catya Sher]

^ good comment, Aseer Jan.
Nonetheless, I feel compelled to ask the following : how can physicians practicing Western medicine be OK and spalanaey not?

Because all over the world people have been indoctrinated to believe that "the doctor will cure you".

This is ridiculous. If he or she are people of Allah, well they may do better for their patients than an atheist.

But medicine is truly in its infancy in so many ways.
To give the entire huge machine of American prescription drugs, surgery, etc. all this immense confidence, as though IT were Allah, is crazy to me.

I would NEVER visit a doctor's office for anything. One could not pay me to go there.

Why? There are too many demons in such places, is one problem.
Second problem is you pay huge amounts these days, according to anecdotes I have heard. Then the physician says nothing but "I need you to get some blah blah test"

That test will cost 1-3,000 dollars!

Maybe the results are not even accurate.

If a surgeon, perhaps he or she will take out some vital part of the system, like a gall bladder, which is truly unnecessary. But it justifies his staying in business.

Let's say he or she orders the surgery in the most compassionate, well-meaning way.

Still, all one has to do in this particular example is a gall bladder flush by drinking olive oil. This is the safe and EASY way to eliminate the gall stones.

Would the physician ever tell his or her patient : "Don't bother me, just do a natural remedy" - NEVER. Unless it's a naturopath.

So when one compares what is to me though not to others a nice uplifting burning of spalanaey/esfand, what's the harm?

In this and other examples too, I prefer the Old Ways of the region which is now the Muslim world of Central Asia and the Middle East. These are in my opinion the ways of accumulated folk wisdom over ages. The Western mentality laughs at these. I like them, though.

While burning the spalanaey can not be used to CURE something, I'm not agreeing with that, I view it as a useful way to make oneself feel more pure.

We all need that desperately in this world -- especially in America and Western-oriented countries -- filled with homosexuals and all sorts disgusting people and phenomena.

I still haven't located this aromatic leaf yet online, but I plan to track it down Inshallah in the next month or two - !

I know there used to be an import store in Queens, New York, I saw a long time ago.
Wonder if still there...

--A defiant Catya - !

[Catya Sher]

I can picture the street but I don't remember its name! It was a main shopping boulevard, centrally located.
It was a neat little store too.