I think the best Qur’anic verse about Hasad is in Sura Al-Falaq Chapter 113, which talks about the dangers of evil and in the last verse ‘And from the evil of the envier when he envies (Hasad)’. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has constantly warned us about this, for instance he has said, “Entertain no ill-will, or envy (hasad), nor indifference, nor cut off mutual relationships; be servants of Allah, brothers to one another. It is not permissible for a Muslim to keep away from his brother for more than three days.” (Bukhari)
“Beware of envy (hasad) for envy devours good works as fire devours fuel.” (Abu Da’ud).
In Islam there are three roots of evil which can eat away and destroy a person’s spirituality. They are pride, greed and jealousy and relate to the time of the Prophet Adam (may peace be upon him). It was pride that made Iblis refuse to submit to Adam; It was greed that caused Adam to take the apple and it was jealousy (Hasad) that caused one son to kill the other son.
1. Pride
The Holy Qur’an relates: ‘And remember the time when We said to the angels. ‘Submit’ to Adam,’ and they all submitted. But Iblis did not. He refused and deemed Himself too big; and he was of the Disbelievers’ Chapter 2, verse 35
Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Promised Messiah and Imam Mahdi has said: ‘Pride is a form of shirk i.e. the setting up of equals with God. Disobedience to those who are in authority is a common demonstration of pride. Islam teaches that it is incumbent to obey those who are placed in authority providing one is not called upon to do something contrary to the teachings of Islam. In religious affairs it matters not who is appointed the Imam or leader – he must be obeyed. The Holy Prophet said ‘Hear and obey even though as person with a head the size of a raisin be appointed to rule over you.’
Arrogance and pride are emotions which can quickly overtake you. It is for this reason that we do not clap hands after hearing someone speak. By clapping they may believe that they have done something remarkable and not attribute it to Allah. That is why we can say ‘Subhallah’ (Holy is Allah)etc. instead, as our mind then turns to Allah and we become reminded that it was Allah who gave us the ability to speak well and gave us the knowledge and understanding, therefore, it is really Allah who we should be thanking.
The Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said
‘He who has a jot of arrogance in his heart will not enter Paradise.
Someone said, ‘What about a person who likes to have beautiful clothes and beautiful shoes?’
The Prophet answered, ‘Allah is Beauty and He loves beauty. (One cannot be called arrogant if one beatifies oneself). Arrogance lies in the rejection of the truth and in looking down upon people’
2. Greed
Concerning Greed, the Holy Qur’an relates in Chapter 2, verse 36:-
“And We said, ‘O Adam, dwell thou and thy wife in the garden, and eat there from plentifully wherever you will, but approach not this tree, lest you be of the wrongdoers.”
But Adam was tempted by Satan and this was a trial that he faced. In fact we all face this trial by Satan. He is constantly trying to tempt us and make the things of this world seem very desirable. Until we become greedy for them.
Look at the television, how often do you watch the T.V. – watching a film, but not enjoying it? What stops you from turning it off? But instead of turning it off and spending our time doing something better, we continue with the film, hoping that it will become better, or flick through the channels looking for something to watch. Satan has made us waste our valuable time, hooked us on TV, so much so, that now nearly every programme contains some sex, violence or bad language. Even the cartoons! When T.V. first started there was heavy censorship, but that has slowly been lost, as things become more acceptable for us, until nowadays it has to be very bad before they will censor it.
But it is not just TV. It is everywhere. Everything is trying to pull us away from the worship of Allah and we are becoming greedy for material things. Look at your children; they are drawn into computer games. All their friends play them and eventually they get tempted and then hooked. Even on their mobile phones, there are games! This is the modern society. Man’s desire to acquire things and outstrip others in wealth, position and prestige lies at the root of all human troubles and of neglect of his spirituality. We are finding very little time to think of God or the hereafter. Instead we remain engrossed in these worldly distractions till death overtakes us. Satan must be laughing his head off.
He has no power over us except to tempt us and through our greed we are running after him and leaving behind Allah, the One God!
The Holy Prophet has given us an answer to this, he has said:
“Look at one who is lower in status (and has lesser means than you) and do not look at one who is higher in status and better than you. This would enable you to appreciate better the bounties that Allah has bestowed upon you”
Through this guidance one can appreciate what they have, instead of trying to keep running after better and newer things. We have to find a balance, time for work, time for play, time for our family and time for worship. The Holy Prophet has said
“He who begins the day secure as to his life, in good physical condition and possessing one day’s provision, is as if the world and all it contains were bestowed upon him”
It is a lovely Hadith (saying). If we are content and are in good health and have enough food for the day, what else do we really need? That is really all we need in this world, therefore if we have these things, then we should be a thankful servant of Allah for providing them. Look at the Holy Prophet, he was the leader of the whole of Arabia, but he turned his back on worldly things and spent his time in the worship of Allah. This is what gave him real peace, not worldly things. He has said: “You should live in the world as if you are a visitor or a passer-by”
Here the Holy Prophet is trying to tell us that we should not be too attached to worldly things, instead as a visitor comes to your house leaving all his things behind, so we should go about in this world, realising that we are just visitors and the Paradise is are real home. This is why the Holy Prophet has said
“The world is a prison for a believer and a Paradise for a disbeliever”.
He means that worldly things distract us from our real purpose in life, the worship of Allah, whereas, for a disbeliever this world is like a paradise as they enjoy all the worldly things, this is their Paradise, they don’t need the next life!
So become greedy for the love of Allah and the nearness of Allah, not greedy for worldly things and the nearness of Satan.
3. Jealousy
The Holy Qur’an relates in Chapter 5, verse 28
“And relate to them with truth the story of the two sons of Adam, when they each offered an offering and it was accepted from one of them and was not accepted from the other. The latter said, ‘I will surely kill thee’. The former replied, Allah accepts only from the righteous.”
Jealousy undermines brotherhood which is one of the basic ideals of Islam. It eats away at your heart making you suspicious and incites you to hatred. The way to combat jealousy is to constantly seek the protection of Allah, through earnest prayer and pray for those persons towards whom our feelings of jealousy extend.
The Holy Qur’an relates in Chapter 4, verse 55
“Do they envy men for what Allah has given them out of His bounty?
The Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, has said:
“Entertain no ill-will or envy, not indifference, nor cut off mutual relationship; Be servants of Allah, brothers to one another. It is not permissible for a Muslim to keep away from his brother for more than 3 days”
As Muslims, we should always put Allah first, do things for Allah’s sake not our own, For the sake of Allah, be brothers and sisters to one another. Disunity will get you nowhere, but bring about the displeasure of Allah!
There is a big difference between vying with one another in good works and being envious of someone. If someone has something better than you, praise Allah for blessing him with it. It you feel you also need it, then strive after it, but do not strive after something solely because someone has it and you don’t! If you need it, if it is for your betterment, only then strive after it.
In this society, you are constantly being urged to acquire things which will promote your status, make people envious of you. This is not a good thing. Through acquiring that thing, it may put you in debt; it may make you do underhand things which will cause the displeasure of Allah and for what? To make others envy you? What will that achieve? You are striving after worldly things instead of developing your spirituality. Likewise, if a person is given a higher position than you, praise Allah and help that person. If you want a higher position yourself, then the way to acquire it is through the service of Allah. Allah will bless you with things that will benefit you.
But if you try to undermine the person in authority, strive to promote yourself as better, then even if you did manage to bring down that person in favour of yourself, you will have caused the displeasure of Allah and His Wrath. You may be successful in this worldly life, but then what? Allah judges us by our piety not our position. Your gain will be short term and you will suffer in the long run.
We see the example in the Holy Qur’an of the brothers of Joseph who were jealous of the love their father gave Joseph. Their father was the Prophet Jacob, may peace be upon him, who naturally loved all his sons, but he loved piety more and he saw piety in his son Joseph. And so it was his love for Allah that was extended to his son Joseph. But the other brothers became jealous of that love and that led them to committing a great sin.
The Promised Messiah has said:
“I tell you truly that the habit of thinking ill of others is a great affliction which destroys a person’s faith, flings him far away from truth and converts his friends into enemies. In order to acquire the qualities of the righteous it is necessary that a person should altogether shun the habit of thinking ill of others, and should he happen to fall into that attitude concerning someone else he should seek forgiveness repeatedly and should supplicate God Almighty that he may be safeguarded against such sinfulness and the consequences that flow from it. This habit should not be underrated. It is a dangerous disease which destroys a person Very quickly.” (Malfoozat Vol. 1: p356)
Jealousy is a very powerful emotion, but one that we must keep in control. The best way to control it is through prayer and striving to win the pleasure of Allah. If we do that then Allah will surely bless us from His wonderful bounty with things which will be good for us and instead of envying another person and talking bad things to him or about him, we will instead feel appreciation for what Allah has bestowed upon him and speak to him in a pleasing manner.
We should think over these 3 roots of evil and safeguard ourselves from them and if we manage that, then we will be protecting ourselves from all evil.