Eman al-Hammadi was excited to start a family, but her three consecutive pregnancies ended in miscarriages. She attributes the tragedies to "al-ayn" — the evil eye — which is an Islamic belief that misfortune is transmitted from one person to another out of jealousy or envy.
“Even though I [was not particularly superstitious], I slowly started believing in the evil eye after I had my second miscarriage,” Hammadi, a 24-year-old Qatari student, told Al-Monitor.