The Ruling on Rejoicing at a Muslim’s Misfortune
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you and may He reward you with good. The two brothers, Fawzi al-Hamidi and Fayyaz al-'Utaiq, from Riyadh, ask about the joy that an envious person feels in himself at the misfortune of the one he envies. Does he sin because of it, when it is merely a psychological feeling that he cannot control? It is established from our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:Sahih al-Bukhari 5269 And our Lord the Exalted said: [Al-Baqarah 2:286] Is there any guidance for repelling what the envious person feels in himself, if there is a means to repel it?
Answer:
Yes, this is a blameworthy form of happiness, which is when a person rejoices at what causes distress to the Muslims. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, mentioned something like this regarding the hypocrites, saying: "If a good thing befalls you, it distresses them, but if a bad thing befalls you, they rejoice over it." A person is held accountable for this. This is not like the whisperings of the self for which a person is not held accountable. So whoever is afflicted with any of this should repent to Allah, seek Allah's forgiveness, and abandon this bad habit, because this is the driver of the blameworthy envy that Allah the Exalted warned against in His saying: "Say, I seek refuge with the Lord of the Daybreak... until His saying:[Al-Falaq 113:5] The envious one is the one who wishes for the removal of the blessing from the one who is envied, and rejoices at its removal, and this is evidence of his hatred for his Muslim brother. Yes.
May Allah reward you and may He reward you with good. The two brothers, Fawzi al-Hamidi and Fayyaz al-'Utaiq, from Riyadh, ask about the joy that an envious person feels in himself at the misfortune of the one he envies. Does he sin because of it, when it is merely a psychological feeling that he cannot control? It is established from our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that he said:
Allah has overlooked my followers the evil thoughts that occur to their minds, as long as such thoughts are not put into action or uttered.
تجاوز عن أمتي ما حدثت به أنفسها ما لم تعمل أو تتكلمAllah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity
لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَاAnswer:
Yes, this is a blameworthy form of happiness, which is when a person rejoices at what causes distress to the Muslims. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, mentioned something like this regarding the hypocrites, saying: "If a good thing befalls you, it distresses them, but if a bad thing befalls you, they rejoice over it." A person is held accountable for this. This is not like the whisperings of the self for which a person is not held accountable. So whoever is afflicted with any of this should repent to Allah, seek Allah's forgiveness, and abandon this bad habit, because this is the driver of the blameworthy envy that Allah the Exalted warned against in His saying: "Say, I seek refuge with the Lord of the Daybreak... until His saying:
And from the evil of an envier when he envies."
وَمِن شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، شعور الحاسد بالفرح والسرور بمصيبة المحسود هل يأثم عليها؟ وهل يمكن دفع هذا الشعور؟ الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.