The Harm of Envy on the Student of Knowledge
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Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets and the Imam of the righteous, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
To proceed: This is the sixty-fifth session of the weekly gatherings known as (The Open Door), which take place every Thursday, and this Thursday is the seventeenth of the month of Jumada al-Ula in the year (1418 AH).
In this session, we continue with what has preceded regarding the etiquettes of the student of knowledge. We have reached the point in the etiquettes of the student of knowledge that it is obligatory for the student of knowledge to avoid envy. So, what is envy? It is known in its definition among many scholars that it is: wishing for the removal of Allah’s blessing upon His servant.Meaning: If Allah bestows upon a person knowledge, wealth, status, a child, or anything else, and you wish for Allah’s blessing to be removed from him, this is the well-known view among many scholars.
And Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) said: In fact, envy is: disliking Allah’s blessing upon His servant, even if you do not wish for its removal.Meaning: Whenever you dislike that Allah has bestowed a blessing upon His servant, you have envied him.
And envy is a great affliction; it is among the major sins, because it devours good deeds just as fire devours wood; and because it is a characteristic of the Jews,As Allah the Exalted said: [An-Nisa: 54] And Allah the Exalted said: [Al-Baqarah: 109].
And because the essence of envy is being dissatisfied with the divine decree of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). The One who bestowed this blessing upon this servant is Allah. So, if you dislike this blessing, you have not been satisfied with the decree of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And because envy devours the heart, and it begets regret and remorse. The more Allah’s blessings increase upon His servants, the more a person feels regret over that blessing.
And he sees that he is in a position where he cannot attain the rank that this envied person has achieved, so he laments and says: I will never reach this. And at that point, he falls far behind in what Allah has bestowed upon His servants.
And because envy plunges a person into constant worry and grief, because the blessings of Allah upon His servants are innumerable. Do you increase in worry and grief every time Allah bestows a blessing upon His servant?!! If you do that, you have killed yourself.
Based on this, it is obligatory for the student of knowledge first, and for other Muslims second, to avoid envy, not in his heart, nor in his speech,Nor in his actions: As for the heart: his envy is what he does in the form of disliking Allah’s blessing upon the servant and wishing for its removal.
And as for speech: That he engages in slandering his envied brother, and conceals every blessing that Allah has bestowed upon him,You find him, for example: When the people collectively pressure him and do not accept what he says about this envied person,You find him praising the envied person and saying: He is the noble man, the brave one, the scholar, the worshipper, and the like of that,Then he says: But such and such. And this happens often; he brings up one defect from his defects against several virtues of this person, so that he lowers his status. This is aggression by speech against the envied person.
Aggression by action against the envied person: That he tries not to publish his books, not to publish his tapes, so he does not point to them in the bookstores, nor in the recordings,And he may be asked: Is there a book by so-and-so in such-and-such bookstore? Are there tapes by so-and-so in such-and-such recordings?So he says: No, and he knows that they exist, but out of envy he envies him, and this is undoubtedly aggression against his brother. For this reason, it came in the hadith: (If you suspect, do not verify, and if you envy, do not seek to harm) meaning: if envy of a person arises in your heart, do not seek to harm him by concealing his virtues and being aggressive toward him.
In conclusion: That the aggression and wrongdoing of the envious person increases;Meaning: It increases his envy in sin and calamity. If we know that, then it is recommended for the student of knowledge, if his brother needs something from books, or notes, or tapes, to help him obtain them as long as he has them,And he does not respond to the call of Satan who says to him: If you help him, he will surpass you and advance ahead of you, so strive not to help him. If this is the case, it is from the whispering of Satan, and it is one of the causes of this envious person’s delay; because (Allah the Exalted is with the servant as long as the servant is with his brother) so help him (Whoever is in his brother’s need, Allah will be in his need).
To proceed: This is the sixty-fifth session of the weekly gatherings known as (The Open Door), which take place every Thursday, and this Thursday is the seventeenth of the month of Jumada al-Ula in the year (1418 AH).
In this session, we continue with what has preceded regarding the etiquettes of the student of knowledge. We have reached the point in the etiquettes of the student of knowledge that it is obligatory for the student of knowledge to avoid envy. So, what is envy? It is known in its definition among many scholars that it is: wishing for the removal of Allah’s blessing upon His servant.Meaning: If Allah bestows upon a person knowledge, wealth, status, a child, or anything else, and you wish for Allah’s blessing to be removed from him, this is the well-known view among many scholars.
And Shaykh al-Islam (may Allah have mercy on him) said: In fact, envy is: disliking Allah’s blessing upon His servant, even if you do not wish for its removal.Meaning: Whenever you dislike that Allah has bestowed a blessing upon His servant, you have envied him.
And envy is a great affliction; it is among the major sins, because it devours good deeds just as fire devours wood; and because it is a characteristic of the Jews,As Allah the Exalted said:
Or do they envy people for what Allah has given them of His bounty?
أَمْ يَحْسُدُونَ النَّاسَ عَلَى مَا آتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِMany of the People of the Scripture wish they could turn you back to disbelief after you have believed, out of envy from themselves
وَدَّ كَثِيرٌ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ لَوْ يَرُدُّونَكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ إِيمَانِكُمْ كُفَّاراً حَسَداً مِنْ عِنْدِ أَنْفُسِهِمْAnd because the essence of envy is being dissatisfied with the divine decree of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). The One who bestowed this blessing upon this servant is Allah. So, if you dislike this blessing, you have not been satisfied with the decree of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And because envy devours the heart, and it begets regret and remorse. The more Allah’s blessings increase upon His servants, the more a person feels regret over that blessing.
And he sees that he is in a position where he cannot attain the rank that this envied person has achieved, so he laments and says: I will never reach this. And at that point, he falls far behind in what Allah has bestowed upon His servants.
And because envy plunges a person into constant worry and grief, because the blessings of Allah upon His servants are innumerable. Do you increase in worry and grief every time Allah bestows a blessing upon His servant?!! If you do that, you have killed yourself.
Based on this, it is obligatory for the student of knowledge first, and for other Muslims second, to avoid envy, not in his heart, nor in his speech,Nor in his actions: As for the heart: his envy is what he does in the form of disliking Allah’s blessing upon the servant and wishing for its removal.
And as for speech: That he engages in slandering his envied brother, and conceals every blessing that Allah has bestowed upon him,You find him, for example: When the people collectively pressure him and do not accept what he says about this envied person,You find him praising the envied person and saying: He is the noble man, the brave one, the scholar, the worshipper, and the like of that,Then he says: But such and such. And this happens often; he brings up one defect from his defects against several virtues of this person, so that he lowers his status. This is aggression by speech against the envied person.
Aggression by action against the envied person: That he tries not to publish his books, not to publish his tapes, so he does not point to them in the bookstores, nor in the recordings,And he may be asked: Is there a book by so-and-so in such-and-such bookstore? Are there tapes by so-and-so in such-and-such recordings?So he says: No, and he knows that they exist, but out of envy he envies him, and this is undoubtedly aggression against his brother. For this reason, it came in the hadith: (If you suspect, do not verify, and if you envy, do not seek to harm) meaning: if envy of a person arises in your heart, do not seek to harm him by concealing his virtues and being aggressive toward him.
In conclusion: That the aggression and wrongdoing of the envious person increases;Meaning: It increases his envy in sin and calamity. If we know that, then it is recommended for the student of knowledge, if his brother needs something from books, or notes, or tapes, to help him obtain them as long as he has them,And he does not respond to the call of Satan who says to him: If you help him, he will surpass you and advance ahead of you, so strive not to help him. If this is the case, it is from the whispering of Satan, and it is one of the causes of this envious person’s delay; because (Allah the Exalted is with the servant as long as the servant is with his brother) so help him (Whoever is in his brother’s need, Allah will be in his need).