Fire Within
It is a major cause of suspicions,
malice, enmity and hatred. It often leads to gossip, slander, character
assassination and even murder. It is the fire within…the fire called
JEALOUSY. It was the first sin committed on earth when the son of Hazrath
Aadam (A.S.), Qabil, became jealous over his brother Habil. It eventually
lead him to murder Habil. Therefore, Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam)
has severely warned against this malady of the heart which destroys
the fabric of society.
HOPE HE HAS AN ACCIDENT
Hasad (jealousy) occurs when one sees another person bestowed with some
bounty and desires that the person should be deprived of it. For instance,
one sees someone who has more wealth, beauty, intelligence or any other
such bounty and begins to “burn” within his heart over the person who
has been blessed. He then wishes that the blessing be snatched away
from him in some way. He hopes that the person has an accident, or that
someone should rob him of his wealth, etc. Much worse than this is to
desire that a person be deprived from any bounty of Deen. For instance
a person is pious, or he is blessed with the Qur’an in his heart or
the knowledge of Deen, or he has been blessed with making some efforts
for Deen. Upon witnessing these blessings upon him one now desires that
they should be snatched away from him. This is a grave crime.
OBJECTION AGAINST ALLAH TA’ALA
To desire that somebody be deprived of the blessings which Allah Ta’ala
has bestowed upon him is tantamount to a direct objection against Allah
Ta’ala. The jealous person is actually objecting against Allah Ta’ala,
that the person who was granted that blessing was not deserving of it,
so why was it given to him? It should rather have been given to the
objector! The severity of this crime is thus evident.
Hence Rasulullah (sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) is reported to have said:
“Hasad destroys one’s good deeds just as fire consumes wood.” In another
narration it is described as something that “shaves off” one’s good
deeds.
MISERABLE
Hasad does not only destroy one’s Hereafter. The immediate punishment
in this world is that the jealous person is constantly ‘burning” from
within. He simply cannot see the next person happy, hence he is always
miserable. Happiness remains far away from him. Hasad is therefore among
the most foolish crimes to commit. One destroys his happiness in this
world and his rewards in the hereafter, yet he gains nothing in return.
One desires the destruction of another person but in the process only
brings destruction to oneself.
Having realised that hasad is a serious disease, one should treat this
malady with utmost urgency. Among the ways of removing hasad from the
heart are the following:
* Ponder over the harm you are doing to yourself and the utter foolishness
of your action. The only thing that you will achieve is misery. Your
evil desire is not going to change anything except to make you burn
from within and to destroy your good deeds.
* Praise the person you are jealous over in front of others. Do this
even though you have to force yourself to do it.
* Make dua for the person you are jealous of as much as possible. Ask
Allah Ta’ala to protect the person’s bounties for him, increase it and
grant him barakah therein.
* Make salaam to him often
* Occasionally give him some gift.
Insha Allah by adopting the above remedies, the terrible evil of jealousy
will be cleaned from one’s heart. One will also find happiness in this
world and one’s good deeds will not be destroyed.
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