Avoid being Jealousy and purify your heart ( Abdullah Cheng)
Dear brothers and sisters,
In a time and world where displaying the blessings of Allah has become easier than ever, we are suffering severely from Hasad (envy and jealousy), either by having it, or affected by it. This is a disease of the heart, and it could lead to the destruction of our friends and family ties, and eventually our relationship with Allah.
Our Prophet (ﷺ) told us:
Allah has forgiven my Ummah for the evil thoughts occurring within themselves, as long as they do not speak of them or act upon them. [Sahih Bukhari]
It’s natural to have different emotions and thoughts in our minds. In some situations we may feel sad, angry, disappointed, shy. Allah does not hold us accountable for the emotions we can’t control. But there is an exception to this rule, which is jealousy. Jealousy is very different than just being angry. If you feel angry, you might have a reasonable excuse. It could be because of a matter of injustice happening. For example, people who bring excuses to justify the genocide in Palestine irritates us, because it is an action of injustice to our brothers and sisters.
But when it comes to jealousy, it has nothing to do with somebody doing anything to you. If you only mind your own business, you will not be affected by it at all. Jealousy occurs when Allah has blessed somebody with something that He did not give you, and you feel that this person doesn’t deserve it, or you should have been the one who received those blessings.
Of course, there is a difference between Hasad and Ghitbah. Both of them are translated as jealousy in English, and both have the meaning of wanting the blessing that the person received, but the fundamental difference between the two is that Hasad is the desire for the other person to lose their blessing, whereas in Ghitbah, you focus on the goodness and wish the goodness to be kept for the person.
The reason why Hasad is so dangerous is because it has nothing to do with the other person. You might think it’s about the other person not worthy of owning the blessing, but it’s about your ego, and it’s about you not being able to accept the Qadr of Allah, which is one of the main articles of faith that we Muslims have to believe in.
Which means, that Hasad has nothing to do with whether you believe in Allah or whether you are a Muslim or not. In fact, the worst case of jealousy came from someone who believes in Allah, which is the Shaytaan Iblis. He couldn’t accept the fact that humans are more favored, and he not only wished that he was supposed to be in the place of Adam (AS), but he even wished harm because of it.
And this is a rejection of Allah’s Qadr even if you believe in the existence of Allah, because Allah says in the Qur’an:
أَهُمْ يَقْسِمُونَ رَحْمَتَ رَبِّكَ ۚ نَحْنُ قَسَمْنَا بَيْنَهُم مَّعِيشَتَهُمْ فِى ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا ۚ وَرَفَعْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍۢ دَرَجَـٰتٍۢ لِّيَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُهُم بَعْضًۭا سُخْرِيًّۭا
Who is the one who is distributing Allah’s Mercy? Is it they or is it Allah? Allah alone has distributed their livelihood and blessings among them in this worldly life, and He made some of them higher in rank, and some of them lower, so that they may be in service of one and another [43:32]
This is why jealousy in the heart can be sinful even without any action. This means that we need to be cautious and aware of whether we have any jealousy in our heart by looking for its symptoms. If we have found any of these symptoms, then we need to be very careful:
We are obsessed with someone, and especially the blessings they have, even though they have never done anything harmful to us
We feel joyful or happy when someone suffered loss or felt sad
Or the opposite, we feel sad when they feel happy or gained blessings from Allah
We need to also be aware that jealousy occurs the most within our close circles, between our family members, our friends, and our community. We only feel jealous to those we interact with and those who are near us. The best example is the brothers of Yusuf (AS), the ones who hurt him wasn’t strangers, but the people that are closest to him, which are his own brothers. That is why it’s important to always put ourselves in environments that are full of Dhikr of Allah, to remind us of the blessings and power of Allah, and not to focus too much on ourselves.
If we find jealousy within ourselves, then we need to work hard on ourselves to try to purify our hearts. There are 4 things we can do to help us to get rid of jealousy in our hearts:
Seek advice and criticism. The problem of jealousy comes from our own ego, so we need to put ourselves in our place, and understand that we are nothing in front of Allah. That’s why we need other people to help us better understand ourselves and find out the weaknesses within us
Daily recitation of the Qur’an, because it helps us ease our heart and remember the Greatness of Allah compared to ourselves
Make Du’a for the person we feel envious of. The Prophet (ﷺ) said in a Hadith: if a person makes Du’a for his brother without him knowing, the Angels make Du’a for the person and says: “آمِينَ وَلَكَ بِمِثْلٍ” “Ameen, and for you as well”, which means that when we pray for the person, we are also getting the benefit at the same time.
Constantly say Alhamdulillah, and count the blessings that Allah has given us every day. Whenever we mention our someone mentions our blessing, always remember to say Alhamdulillah. We need to also realize that Allah has given us blessings that He has not given to others.
May Allah remove the diseases in our hearts and purify our thoughts. May Allah protect us and our families from the evil of jealousy. May Allah unite the hearts of the Ummah and our community.
In a time and world where displaying the blessings of Allah has become easier than ever, we are suffering severely from Hasad (envy and jealousy), either by having it, or affected by it. This is a disease of the heart, and it could lead to the destruction of our friends and family ties, and eventually our relationship with Allah.
Our Prophet (ﷺ) told us:
Allah has forgiven my Ummah for the evil thoughts occurring within themselves, as long as they do not speak of them or act upon them. [Sahih Bukhari]
It’s natural to have different emotions and thoughts in our minds. In some situations we may feel sad, angry, disappointed, shy. Allah does not hold us accountable for the emotions we can’t control. But there is an exception to this rule, which is jealousy. Jealousy is very different than just being angry. If you feel angry, you might have a reasonable excuse. It could be because of a matter of injustice happening. For example, people who bring excuses to justify the genocide in Palestine irritates us, because it is an action of injustice to our brothers and sisters.
But when it comes to jealousy, it has nothing to do with somebody doing anything to you. If you only mind your own business, you will not be affected by it at all. Jealousy occurs when Allah has blessed somebody with something that He did not give you, and you feel that this person doesn’t deserve it, or you should have been the one who received those blessings.
Of course, there is a difference between Hasad and Ghitbah. Both of them are translated as jealousy in English, and both have the meaning of wanting the blessing that the person received, but the fundamental difference between the two is that Hasad is the desire for the other person to lose their blessing, whereas in Ghitbah, you focus on the goodness and wish the goodness to be kept for the person.
The reason why Hasad is so dangerous is because it has nothing to do with the other person. You might think it’s about the other person not worthy of owning the blessing, but it’s about your ego, and it’s about you not being able to accept the Qadr of Allah, which is one of the main articles of faith that we Muslims have to believe in.
Which means, that Hasad has nothing to do with whether you believe in Allah or whether you are a Muslim or not. In fact, the worst case of jealousy came from someone who believes in Allah, which is the Shaytaan Iblis. He couldn’t accept the fact that humans are more favored, and he not only wished that he was supposed to be in the place of Adam (AS), but he even wished harm because of it.
And this is a rejection of Allah’s Qadr even if you believe in the existence of Allah, because Allah says in the Qur’an:
أَهُمْ يَقْسِمُونَ رَحْمَتَ رَبِّكَ ۚ نَحْنُ قَسَمْنَا بَيْنَهُم مَّعِيشَتَهُمْ فِى ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا ۚ وَرَفَعْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍۢ دَرَجَـٰتٍۢ لِّيَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُهُم بَعْضًۭا سُخْرِيًّۭا
Who is the one who is distributing Allah’s Mercy? Is it they or is it Allah? Allah alone has distributed their livelihood and blessings among them in this worldly life, and He made some of them higher in rank, and some of them lower, so that they may be in service of one and another [43:32]
This is why jealousy in the heart can be sinful even without any action. This means that we need to be cautious and aware of whether we have any jealousy in our heart by looking for its symptoms. If we have found any of these symptoms, then we need to be very careful:
We are obsessed with someone, and especially the blessings they have, even though they have never done anything harmful to us
We feel joyful or happy when someone suffered loss or felt sad
Or the opposite, we feel sad when they feel happy or gained blessings from Allah
We need to also be aware that jealousy occurs the most within our close circles, between our family members, our friends, and our community. We only feel jealous to those we interact with and those who are near us. The best example is the brothers of Yusuf (AS), the ones who hurt him wasn’t strangers, but the people that are closest to him, which are his own brothers. That is why it’s important to always put ourselves in environments that are full of Dhikr of Allah, to remind us of the blessings and power of Allah, and not to focus too much on ourselves.
If we find jealousy within ourselves, then we need to work hard on ourselves to try to purify our hearts. There are 4 things we can do to help us to get rid of jealousy in our hearts:
Seek advice and criticism. The problem of jealousy comes from our own ego, so we need to put ourselves in our place, and understand that we are nothing in front of Allah. That’s why we need other people to help us better understand ourselves and find out the weaknesses within us
Daily recitation of the Qur’an, because it helps us ease our heart and remember the Greatness of Allah compared to ourselves
Make Du’a for the person we feel envious of. The Prophet (ﷺ) said in a Hadith: if a person makes Du’a for his brother without him knowing, the Angels make Du’a for the person and says: “آمِينَ وَلَكَ بِمِثْلٍ” “Ameen, and for you as well”, which means that when we pray for the person, we are also getting the benefit at the same time.
Constantly say Alhamdulillah, and count the blessings that Allah has given us every day. Whenever we mention our someone mentions our blessing, always remember to say Alhamdulillah. We need to also realize that Allah has given us blessings that He has not given to others.
May Allah remove the diseases in our hearts and purify our thoughts. May Allah protect us and our families from the evil of jealousy. May Allah unite the hearts of the Ummah and our community.