Surah 68:51–52:
And indeed, those who disbelieve would almost make you slip with their eyes when they hear the message, and they say, 'Indeed, he is a madman.' But it is not except a reminder to the worlds.
The Surah concludes by describing the physical intensity of the Meccans' hatred, claiming they "would almost make you slip with their eyes."
In classical Islamic theology and jurisprudence, this verse is the primary scriptural proof-text validating the objective physical reality of the "Evil Eye" (Al-Ayn), where a malicious, jealous glare from a human being is believed to emit an invisible, magical force capable of causing physical illness, injury, or death.
To a secular anthropologist or behavioral scientist, the "Evil Eye" is a classic, cross-cultural pre-scientific superstition common across the ancient Mediterranean and Middle East for millennia, designed to explain sudden bouts of misfortune or sickness before the discovery of germ theory or psychology.
By integrating this superstitious mechanic into the text—asserting that the glares of the Meccans possessed a tangible, supernatural power to cause the Prophet to physically stumble—the Quran locks itself directly into the localized, magical worldview of 7th-century desert tribesmen.