What Islam Says About Envy

Envy means feeling of discontent, jealousy or resentment agitated by the sight of another’s successes, his prosperity, his advantages or his possessions. It is jealous resentment against a successful rival or the owner of any coveted benefit. Envy is a mental restlessness due to doubts or fear of competition. It is a feeling, may be on account of suspected rivalry or known, that makes a person envy another in respect of his good luck.

Islam convicts envy or jealousy which is a negative desire, while it inspires healthy competition amongst its groups specially in the matter of pious acts and religion. Medicine for overpowering negative feeling of envy set by Islam is that one should have a strong faith that all our misfortunes or fortunes have been prearranged and they come from Allah Almighty. Envy is one of the lethal diseases of the heart and it harvests additional vices such as backbiting, hypocrisy, slandering, taunting, abuse and torturing, all of which are serious sins. This ugly condition makes the human heart so gloomy and narrow that its effects permeate the dominion of one's outer and inner being. The grief and fears of the hasid rotate around the person(s) of whom he is jealous.

The jealousy he harbors in his heart blinds him to the qualities of the coveted, and he becomes unfortunate over the blessings of Allah Almighty conferred upon the other. The spiritual light and the divine stimulus of faith which makes the human heart superior than anything else in the world cannot go along with the narrowness and darkness produced in it by hasad. The heart becomes depressed and suffered, suffocated and the chest narrow, and the face frowning and grim.

The more this state gains in intensity, the more it lessens the intensity of faith, while this faith is the basis of his salvation in the Hereafter and the life and strength of his heart. In our current times, we see many people who feel jealousy for those who go for hajj through Umrah Pilgrimage Tour. They must abstain from this evil practice as it invites many other evil thoughts and activities.