Tom Facchine – How Envy Destroys Nations
AI: Summary ©
The use of "rowley" in the Bible is discussed as a way to indicate a person in a relationship with someone, and it is noted that people may not realize its negative impact on emotions. The importance of being aware of one's jealousy and envy is emphasized, and serving people in one's home and community is emphasized as a way to prevent similar behavior. The speaker also emphasizes the need to be grateful for people's actions and not trusting their own will and influence to heal from jealousy.
AI: Summary ©
So, we have حَاسِد and حَاسِد means the
envier.
It is اسم فاعل.
Notice when Allah uses nouns versus when He
uses verbs.
When Allah ﷻ uses verbs, it indicates an
action that someone is doing, but it might
not be an essential unchanging quality that they
have.
Okay?
When Allah ﷻ uses nouns, it means that
this is an essential quality that this person
has.
It is like جامد.
It is like ثابت.
Right?
So, when Allah ﷻ says حَاسِد, it is
the envier.
It is somebody who is gripped with envy.
Somebody who, envy is a consistent, relentless part
of what they do.
They are in the clutches of envy.
Allah ﷻ could have had us ask for
protection from many things.
And a few things are mentioned in Falaq.
So, He chooses very specific things.
One of them is this, envy.
Why envy?
Why not like murderers?
Why not like, you know, burglars?
Why not like, you know, genocide cheerleaders who
teach at Columbia University?
I don't know.
No, He had us ask for protection from
the envious.
And it is really interesting because envy, within
the Qur'an, is, it is almost like
a medicine.
It is a sin that leads to many,
many other types of sins.
The first story that Allah ﷻ tells us
in Surah Al-Baqarah is the story of
Adam ﷺ and Iblis.
And essentially, the story of Iblis is a
story of envy and jealousy.
Why does Iblis reject Allah's commandment?
Why does Iblis, after having been raised due
to his own merit to be hanging out
with the angels, why does he go through
the fall and become so disgraced, because of
his envy of Adam ﷺ and the pride
that he demonstrates in other Surahs, like Surah
Al-A'raf and other places where he
says, how can I bow to this one?
I'm better than him.
I'm created of fire.
He's only created from clay, etc., etc.
Now, the other interesting thing is that why
do you think after telling the story of
Adam and Iblis, Adam ﷺ and Iblis, in
Surah Al-Baqarah, Allah ﷻ goes right to
the story of Bani Israel and most of
the Surahs taken up with the story of
Bani Israel, because Bani Israel is also affected
with hasad.
Allah ﷻ says elsewhere in the Qur'an
that the reason many of the people of
previous prophetic nations have disbelieved in the Qur
'an and disbelieved and rejected and denied the
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is because they're jealous, is
because of their envy, that they thought that
they were special, God's chosen people, children of
the light, you could say, because God gave
them revelation and prophets at a certain point
in history without realizing that the point of
being given revelation is to follow God's guidance
whenever and wherever it comes.
And so if a new prophet or a
new revelation emerges, I should say a new
prophet emerges or a new revelation is sent
down, your relationship with Allah ﷻ is such
that you follow that guidance, you follow that
prophet, whether he's from you or not, whether
it's from your chosen group of people or
somebody outside.
But if you are in the clutches of
jealousy and in the clutches of envy, that
becomes impossible.
You can't do it.
You can't bring yourself to do it.
You will be prevented from following the truth
because the jealousy and the envy has wrecked
your heart.
And so it's a big deal, which is
why Allah ﷻ has us, قُلْ وَمِنْ شَرِّي
حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ You say it.
Ask Allah ﷻ for protection from the envier
when they envy.
Abdullah asked, do you think there is a
relationship between envy and bigotry?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
The coward and the person who is envious
at the end of the day is prone
to this sort of totalitarian streak.
They can't tolerate any sort of difference.
And we see that play out over and
over and over again.
Yeah.
Iblis was the first bigot technically.
And by bigot we mean you're taking characteristics
that are not chosen, you don't have any
control over, and you're claiming supremacy based off
of them.
So this is Zionism, right?
Zionism is a specific example of this.
How can you heal your heart from jealousy?
There are several ways.
One of them is to spend time with
people who are lower than you.
Spend time with the poor.
Spend time with those who are injured in
such a way where it is a debilitating,
permanent injury, paralyzed people, things like this.
Spend time in their service.
Okay?
Because at the end of the day, jealousy
is tied to ingratitude.
And so if we're jealous of somebody else,
we're not grateful for the ni'ma and the
ni'm, the blessings that Allah ﷻ has given
us.
And the Prophet ﷺ said, make sure that
you do not look to those people who
are above you, look to those below you,
so that you do not belittle Allah's blessings.
So spending time with people who are worse
off than you is extremely important.
Serving, khidmah, is the second thing.
Serving people, and that could be serving people
in your home, in your extended family, in
your neighborhood, at your mosque, whatever it is,
spending your time in service is one of
the most important, humbling things that's out there.
Yes, 100%.
So Seamus brings up a point that when
it comes to not being grateful, it's also
not trusting Allah's qadr and your own naseeb.
What is your rizq?
What has Allah decreed for you?
You're basically saying you're not happy with it.
Right?
And this is, I mean, bil munasaba, right?
Like we're talking about, some sins are like
meta sins, like sins of the heart, and
they can trickle down to other sins.
People who resort to magic, people who resort
to sorcery and fortune telling and black magic,
what's the vast majority of people, what are
they motivated by to do such a thing?
They're not happy with Allah's decree for them.
They're not, usually with a relationship or with
kids or with a job or something like
that.
They're not content with what Allah has decreed
for them and they want more or they
want different.
We can also make, sure we make dua.
Thank you very much.
I forgot that one.
Make dua for the one that you're jealous
for.
Excellent.
Very good.
Abdullah says, is there a healthy kind of
jealousy?
Like I wish I was more like so
and so.
Yes, the Prophet ﷺ actually said that jealousy
is permissible with two things.
With the Quran, right?
So you're able to be like, man, I
wish I was a hafidh like that guy.
I wish I could recite like that guy.
And with someone who spends wealth in the
way of Allah, someone who spends wealth in
a way that Allah likes in charity and
the like.
Now you can say, oh, I wish that
I was wealthy like him so that I
could spend my money in the way that
he spends it so that I could help
the ummah so that I could, you know,
feed the poor, this sort of thing.