Part 7 (b): Battling Hasad: Remedies and Cures- Heart Therapy

Hasad must be cured with both knowledge and action:

Certain knowledge: the one who envies should realize the certainty of his envy being harmful to his duniya and aakhira; what is more, this envy cannot harm the person he envies whether that be in this life or the hereafter. In fact, it only serves to benefit him. His envy manifests his anger towards Allah‘s decree and his questioning of Allah’s wisdom in bestowing His blessings. This is a crime against Allah and he is only earning the wrath of Allah in so doing. Therefore, a true appreciation of the fact that jealousy only makes one one’s own enemy facilitates a cure from this disease.

Know, Envy is a crime against oneself and one’s fellow Muslims. This is because the one who envies another is insincere and has departed way from the Prophets and Messengers; as a matter of fact he has taken, instead, the path of iblis, the first of creation to manifest envy. Moreover in doing so he has shown enmity to himself, as envy eats away goodness as fire eats away wood. It does not matter if he successfully manages to conceal his envy here as on te day of judgement the affairs of his heart will be exposed and his brother will find out that he was envious of him.

Reflection on the harms of envy in this life. Envy results in grief and sadness as each time someone is blessed the envious soul only increase in jealousy, sorrow and hatred, to the point that his heart becomes pre-occupied with envy.

Know, Envy cannot harm the one he is envying. One should realize that his envy will neither diminish the blessings nor increase the trials of the person he envies, as all this is only from the permission and qadar of Allah. His envy only earns him the wrath of Allah for he is questioning Allah’s wisdom and grace.

Striving for content in the face of Allah’s decree. One should reflect over and enumerate the blessings that they have been bestowed with and not occupy himself with that which He has given to others. Reflecting over one’s own blessings allows one to increase in gratefulness towards Allah.

Actions defying ‘natural’ envy. Some envy can be natural, however, it is becoming for the Muslim that if he feels anything of this nature he strive against his soul to curb any bad feeling and do the opposite of what one desires, instead of asking Allah to remove the blessings from this person he should instead do du’a that Allah increases his bounty on him; likewise, were he to be envois of someone’s praise he should not backbite them but strive, instead, to mention their good qualities too, thereby training his soul to fight and remove this envy.
So if a person’s soul craves to be proud and arrogant against the one whom he envies, he should try his best and force himself to remain humble and modest in front of that person. If his soul wants to be horrible to the person he envies, he should make every effort and compel himself to be good to that person. In this way, the one whom he envies will return the kindness and modesty back to him and this, in turn, will lead the envious person to show kindness. So it is like a circle. It is difficult not to show kindness to someone else that does show you kindness and happiness. Often, one loves people who love him.

Desisting from envious thoughts by engaging in good deeds etc. A person afflicted with envy should distract himself with dhikr and other good deeds. This will allow him to occupy himself with that which is beloved to Allah instead of that which is beloved to iblis.

Du’a for the one you envy: When afflicted with jealousy and envy for a person one should make du’a that their blessings are increased. This action is contrary to what the person is feeing and accepting of Allah’s decree, as such it will eventually force envy out of one’s heart.

Isti’adha: He should seek refuge in Allah from hasad and make du’a that Allah removes it.

Read the next Part 8: Lying