Spirituality #05 – Dealing with Envy

The issue of envy is of particular significance today in the age of comparison, yeah, social media has made the world like a global village, you've got Instagram, you've got YouTube, you've got all these kinds of Facebook, whatever it may be, and people are just kind of comparing one another with one another. And as such envy creeps into the heart and creates great discomfort and inconvenience, I think we should start by talking about the main a hadith that relate to hazard. Of course, we all know the verse in the Quran, or machete has said in either hazard that we seek refuge from, and one of the things that we seek refuge from so the follow up is the envy of the envious person when they

envy, but there is a that's more of a protective measure. We see

in the Hadith, which is also an 40 Hadith of unknowing, we have a very interesting and very powerful Hadith which is, starts actually the prophesy solemn said led to has said, you know, do not envy one another. And there's all kinds of things that he continues saying, you know, do not inflate prices of one another, do not hate one another do not turn away from one another, do not undercut one another and trade. However, instead be what Kuhn why bed Allah He when l Muslim, Muslim, yeah, that instead be, you know, the brothers and faith. And a Muslim is a brother of another Muslim. He does not oppress him. Notice he failed him, nor does he lie to him, nor does he hold him in contempt. And

then he pointed to his heart of Allah. It was elements of Taqwa Hoonah. That Taqwa is here, that attack which is God, consciousness of piety is in the heart. And so this is the first thing you know. And another Hadith, which has been as important maybe, is where the Prophet SAW Selim told us once again, Yak one has said, you know, that be aware of envy, because envy consumes the virtues, just as fire consumes the firewood. Now, the Roselli mentions in his book, and this one is his book of basically Hekate.

of hazard sorry, of envy, that the way you got to conceive of this is that God gives gifts to people, you see. So to envy somebody is to express displeasure with the distribution of God. Now, I want you to think about this for a second.

If your issue with someone is that they have something you don't have you wish you had it. And we're going to talk about the levels of envy here. But if you you have this new Aha, why did they have a knock me this question pops into your mind. Few, if you're a female, you thinking about someone else who has, you know, another woman, for example, who has certain things that you don't have a certain life that you don't have certain house that she lives in that you don't have, because these are the kinds of, if you're a man, that you may be thinking, once again, the man just this guy's making more money than I am, he's driving a different car, I occurred to me he's got better status or worldly

status. And of course, religious people will tend to be jealous over religious matters. So this person is more knowledgeable than I am, we'll come to this as well, wherever it is that comes into your heart. This is problematic, because it expresses a displeasure with the distribution of God. Of course, we've got the famous story of sort of Joseph in the Quran, which kind of exemplifies his point. And however, there is one thing which is important I should mention, which is that the Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Sallam who said, you know, Lucha Ileft, fitna, Taney, that there is no fee like, envy that is justified except for in two types of thing, which is the process of a

man who Allah has given knowledge of the Quran, and so he recites it during the night and the date, and the man who Allah has given well, so he spends from it during the day in the night. What kind of envy is allowed him and scholars seydel Is that he mentions as well, it's a kind of end of so called envy. And this is envy and kind of quotation marks. Yeah. It's the kind of envy where you don't wish that the other person lost their blessing. And so, there are three stages of envied Alpha dimensions. The first one is that you'd love something, for example, wealth and wish that the person didn't have it. Now this is a blameworthy type of asset, which there is nothing in the religion of

Islam, or in fact, that justifies, generally speaking, having this kind of devotion towards someone else, and you can and you'll tell yourself, if you have this, and we have to be honest about it, expand yourself have such a feeling. The second is that you wish to have something that someone else had, but you don't wish for them to lose that blessing. Now, this is lawful, but it's not commendable. So you're still kind of thinking because there is a there's an aspect of okay, well, I'm not happy with what I have. Half. There's an actual aspect of lack of care.

intendant him going on, is so this is important. A third one is to wish someone sorry to wish that you have what someone else has on religious matters, like the Hadith mentions, you see, for example, more knowledge of the Quran, more money, so they can give it in charity, and these kinds of things. There are seven causes you mentioned, I was Allah mentions, of, of hazard of envy. The first one is enmity, that you feel like, Oh, this guy's my enemy. And therefore, I wish that whatever he had didn't have it. So anything that happens to good to that person, you know, you're actually you get disappointed, there's a feeling of your heart, your heart gets hard, maybe, you know, or it drops

your heart, your heart drops when something good happens to someone else that you dislike. I didn't want that to happen. Do you mean you didn't want that to happen? Why because you don't like that person. And this is something which is not allowed them to show you. The second one is dislike for another's good. The Annie, for example of someone else, someone's got something good. And you think like, you know what, I don't want that person to have that. But it's not because you necessarily hate them. But it is what is. The third thing is pride or Keba. So you hold a certain person in contempt. However, having said that, modern psychologists differentiate between arrogance and

contempt. And we're not going to go into the distinction, although suffice it for me to say at this juncture, that contempt by modern standards is where there's equality in the equation. And Kibera is when there's a supposed hierarchy in the situation. That's our point. But when you when you don't like somebody else, you feel like you're better than I should say, someone else. So it's more, you know, a feeling of superiority. I deserve this, not me.

So that's another reason. So prior to Kibana is to kind of keep it actually, the fourth thing is expressing the attack job that you feel like, what's this, like? Why is this happening should be me. And that's once again, it can link to Keba. The fifth thing is fear of failure, like an objective for it, for example, that you're both in business, you and a friend of yours, and when you're in the same line of work, and you feel like the more this guy succeeds, the more you're going to fail, you see, or Alexandra mentions co wives, the more he loves her, and less, he loves me. And both things are kind of misplaced here. The sixth thing is name and power that you want Jay, he wants status and

you want power. And so you feel like this guy shouldn't be getting that power should be me. And the seventh thing is basically you're narrow minded and believe everything good come to you, especially in this particular industry, why wasn't it me that got this interview? Why isn't me that got, for example, wasn't cool to do this talk, whatever it may be, I'm just speaking about kind of what happens in our industry. Why it wasn't me that happens here. Or why was, for example, in this classroom setting, why was the teacher didn't choose me? Or at a sports day event? Why didn't the team choose me, for example? So people everyone knows are for all kinds of reasons, power, wealth,

etc. But the truth is, on these points, religious people shouldn't really have it. That was the medicine because obviously religious people would you know, they shouldn't you want money and power and wealth is, at the end of the day, if you believe in an afterlife, these things are temporal and transient. That's the first thing. The second thing is what is the medicine now, the first thing is to know and this is point one of the medicine he says that you've got to know that this is injurious to someone in this world and in the hereafter that it hurts you it's only there is no benefit, there's no utility that comes from being envious. This is the first point. The second thing is that

it burns your heart and mind. It's it's kind of like a rash, or some kind of itch that is or an insatiable feeling or unquenchable thirst, it's, there is no end to it. So unless you realistically want there to be an end for it, and try your best to put an end to it, then there's not gonna be an end to it. And the third point is you should be the knowledge that you're not actually harming the person being envied the fact if the person being envied has a mutual dislike towards you, you're actually doing something which is in their favor, because you're injuring yourself. And of course, when someone does this, it's a waste of energy. And you can't change the decree of God anyway. So

it's like smashing your head against a mountain, you're not going to change anything. The fourth thing is that not only does it benefit the envied person, maybe this dunya through your worldly anxiety, and so on, but will also benefit benefit the envied person in the hereafter if you've sought backbiting the individual, and so on on the day of judgment. And so these are the kinds of medicines he also mentioned in terms of actions you should try. Maybe a facilitate that good that that person is doing, doing an app and because this is a theme that runs throughout as well, because if you feel a certain way, do the opposite. So do an action opposite of the course praise. The

envied person say good things about them, or even if you don't envy them, but you feel you may envy them, then praise them and do good for them so that the Envy doesn't come

Once you're up and these are the kinds of practical advices that he's put forward the Solomonic language

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