Purification of the Heart
Signs, Symptoms and Cures of
the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart
Translation and Commentary of
Imam Mawlud's Maášharat al-Qulub
by Hamza Yusuf
Envy
POEM VERSES 54-58
If you were to describe your desire that someone lose his
blessing as "envy," then your description will be accurate.
In other words, if you yourself were able, through some ruse,
to eliminate [someone's blessing], you would utilize that ruse to do so.
But if the fear of [God], the Eternally Besought, prevents you
from doing so, then you are not an envious person.
This is what the Proof of Islam [al-Ghazali] expected with
hope from the bounty of the Possessor of Majesty and Generosity.
He said that whoever despises envy such that he loathes it in
himself, then he is safeguarded from fulfilling what it customarily necessitates.
DEFINITION
Envy (hasad) is a severe disease of the heart that some scholars hold to be the root of all diseases, while others opine that the parent disease goes back to covetousness (tama'a).
Whatever rank envy occupies in the hierarchy of diseases, most scholars will agree that it is the first manifestation of wrongdoing and the first cause of disobedience against God, when Satan (Iblis) refused to obey God when commanded to bow down before the new creation, Adam pbuh, the first human being. Nothing prevented Iblis from bowing down except his envy of Adam, for God chose Adam to be His vicegerent on earth instead of Iblis. Iblis grew arrogant and objected to the command that he show Adam any honor, for Iblis saw himself, a creation from fire, superior to this clay creature. When confronted with his disobedience, Satan did not seek forgiveness from God.
Enviers develop a mindset that makes it impossible for them to admit they are wrong. To manifest envy is to manifest one of the characteristics of the most wretched creature, Satan.
In Arabic, hasud (or hasid) is the person who carries and emanates this envy, and his object of envy is called mahsud. The Quran teaches us to seek refuge in God from the evil of the envier [hasid] when he envies (QURAN, 113:5). The Prophet pbuh said that envy consumes good deeds the way fire devours dry wood. The Prophet pbuh also said, "Every possessor of any blessing is envied." Someone of means will have someone who envies him for what he possesses. Even two street-sweepers will envy one another. The one who pulls his cart on his own will envy the sweeper who has a donkey.
While it is believed that envy can bring about harm to the one envied, ultimately it is the envier who is harmed the most. The evil eye is generally related to envy, though not necessarily so. Some people simply have the eye, some type of psychic power that does not require envy. Every culture has a concept of the evil eye. In some cultures, parents used to pierce the ears of their firstborn males and dress them as little girls for the first five years, since firstborn males were so coveted. Many Chinese conduct rituals to prevent the evil eye from afflicting their homes by placing mirrors on walls to reflect evil looks. (The word invidious means envy, and it originally meant to look at something with a malevolent or evil eye.)
The Prophet pbuh said, "The evil eye is true." The evil eye is different from superstition, which the Prophet pbuh worked to eradicate from the minds of people. The Arabs believed, for example, that when the moon eclipsed it meant that a great person died. And it so happened that the moon eclipsed the day the Prophet's infant son Ibrahim died. Many of the Arabs were actually impressed that the moon eclipsed for his son. A charlatan would have seized the moment to get mileage out of such an event. But the Prophet pbuh announced to the people, " ."
Imam Mawlud explains that envy is exhibited when one desires that another person lose a blessing he or she has. This loss could be anything big or small—a house, a car, or a job. An envious person can become resentful that a coworker was promoted, to the point that he wishes that the person lose the position. A woman may envy another woman because of her husband such that she hopes that a marital crisis separate the couple. A man grows envious of another man's wife. There are endless variations of envy, but a common thread is the desire that someone lose a blessing. In sum, envy arises over what one perceives to be a blessing in someone else's possession. As the Imam says, it reaches the point that an envier would himself remove the blessing if he were able to do so through some kind of ruse. But what is perceived as a blessing could be based on a completely false notion. One may desire something that in reality is nothing but trouble and difficulty. Conversely, there could be a blessing hidden in something difficult.
A blessing (ni'ma) is something that God bestows. One of God's names is al-Mun'im, the Giver of Blessing. Envy, then, is desiring that a person lose what God has given him or her. It is tantamount to saying that God should not have given this person a blessing or, worse yet, that He was wrong to do so "because I deserve it more."
There is a well-known story about al-Asma'i, the famous Arab philologist and anthologer of poetry, when he once came upon a Bedouin and was invited to enter his tent. In Bedouin culture, the women serve guests in the presence of their husbands. This Bedouin happened to have had a very beautiful wife, though he himself was quite unattractive. And when the men went out to prepare a lamb for a meal, the guest couldn't resist saying to this woman, "How did such a beautiful woman like you marry such an ugly man like that?" The woman said, "Fear God! Perhaps he had done good works accepted by his Lord and I am his reward."
God is all-wise in what He gives to people. If one questions the blessing a person has received, then he or she is actually questioning the Giver. This makes envy reprehensible and forbidden.
POEM VERSES 59-62
As for the cure, it is to act contrary to (one's) caprice.
For example, being beneficent to a person when it seems
appealing to harm him or praising him when you desire to find fault in him.
Also [the cure is in] knowing that envy only harms the envier;
it causes him to be grievously preoccupied [with his object of
envy] today, and tomorrow he is thereby punished.
Moreover, [envy] never benefits [the envier], nor does it
remove from the one envied the blessing he has been given.
Treatment
Imam Mawlud prescribes two cures for envy. The first is to consciously oppose one's caprice. The Arabic term here for caprice (hawa) is derived from the Arabic word that means to fall. It is also related to the Arabic word for wind. One's passion is like the wind, in that it comes, stirs up emotion, and then dies down. One cannot really see it, only its effect.
More often than not, following one's whims takes a person away from the truth. The history of humanity is replete with false notions that have come and gone. The truth, however, is something that is fixed and that can be recognized as the truth, if one is truly objective. As for caprice, it has no foundation. For this reason, Imam Mawlud says one must resist his caprice.
The Quran repeatedly warns against following one's caprice. It speaks of bygone communities who grew arrogant when God's messengers came to them with admonitions and teachings that did not agree with their souls' caprice. So they rejected the message and even killed the messengers (QURAN, 5:70). Also, God praises those who resist the caprices of their souls and promises them Paradise (QURAN, 79:40). One of the names of Hell mentioned in the Quran is hawiya (QURAN, 101:9), which is derived from the same root as hawa. Perhaps the connection is that a person enslaved to his whims descends into the depths of depravity in this life, and, as a consequence, he faces perdition in the Hereafter.
As a remedy to the type of envy that prods one to bring about harm to another person, Imam Mawlud suggests that one contradict his temptation, that is, do something that will benefit the person who is envied. For example, give that person a gift or do a favor. This defies the commands of one's whims, gains the pleasure of God, and protects against envy. The Imam suggests also that one may praise the person toward whom one feels the urge to slander. There is no hypocrisy in this recommendation. The purpose is to starve envy of the negative thoughts it requires to thrive. Being beneficent to a person against whom one feels envy often makes that person incline towards the envier. In general, good people are inclined to love those who show them good.
Another treatment is to know with certainty that holding envy against another person brings harm to oneself. Human nature's most primordial instinct is to avoid harm. It is easier for a person to repel negative feelings when he or she realizes these feelings hurt the soul. A disgruntled worker passed over for a promotion becomes anxious and angry—two related emotions that harm his soul, mind, and body, and yield nothing for his future. The worker complains at length and within his own soul he becomes obsessed with the object of his envy, the person to whom the promotion was granted. He permits the disease to fester in his heart and cause grief. These cascading feelings will neither help him ascend in his profession nor alter the past. It is an entirely demoralizing exercise that can magnify the original injury he feels. Envy, in fact, can actually damage one's sanity. Resentment obviates one from accomplishing significant achievements. A person who shuns envy, even when others around him seem to be passing him by, is motivated to excel. He is not slumped over in depression and resentment.
One of the interesting things about the Muslim world now is that it is filled with envy. When Muslims, for example, look at Americans and Europeans, they hurl criticisms, applying all kinds of rhetoric. Ostensibly, one hears moral outrage. But the root of much of this rhetoric is envy: “They have worldly possessions, and we do not.” When Muslims glance toward the Gulf nations that have great stores of oil, they cannot resist passing judgment about how the Gulf Arabs squander “Muslim money.” This is a dialogue of envy. The issue is comparing what one has with what another has, and that only fuels envy and brings about no positive impact. This does not mean that one should not criticize; the point here is doing so with the purpose of construction and not destruction.
One can also look back at the Communist revolution, which was largely a manifestation of envy. It is apparent in his writings that Karl Marx was filled with resentment. Much of his theory is founded on observing the wealthy and desiring that they lose what they have. This is not to say that when the wealthy are unjust to the poor and to the working class they should not be censured, but from the point of view of Sacred Law, both the affluent and the needy have obligations. One obligation of the poor is not to envy the rich and harbor resentment toward them; and the obligation of the rich is not to belittle the indigent, grow arrogant, hoard wealth, or work to keep others in need.
The imam says that one way to uproot envy is to realize with solemn reflection that envy can never benefit its holder. One should also realize what people attain in terms of material wealth or prestige is from God. He is all knowing; we are not.
The basis of the remedy for envy is taqwa or the awe of God or having an active awareness of Him as the ultimate power over all creation. This defuses false notions of misappropriated blessings. A hadith states, “If you have envy, do not wrong [others].” If one does not work to remove another person’s blessings, then his or her envy is in check and is not the kind that necessarily devours one’s good deeds. Envy that devours righteous deeds is envy which impels someone to wrong others. Imam al-Ghazali makes a distinction between various strains of envy. He states that if one hates envy and is ashamed that he or she harbors it, the person is not essentially an envious person. It is important to be aware of the feelings that reside in one’s heart. This self-awareness is essential for the purpose of purification.
POEM VERSES 63—66
Its etiology includes animosity, vying for the love of others,
arrogance, poor self-worth, vanity,
Love of leadership, and avaricious cupidity [for things]. These
[seven] causes engender envy.
As for a blessing that a disbeliever or corrupt Muslim has that
enables them to harm others or show aggression
Because of it then the “malady of second wives” is in such
instances permissible.
Etiology
Now the Imam delves into the etiology of the disease, for without discovering the causes of envy, it would be difficult to excise it. He mentions first enmity (‘adawa). Harboring feelings of animosity toward another makes one prime for envy. Another cause of envy is vying for another’s affection or love, which can become vicious; and its effect can linger in a person for a very long time, which is often the case when siblings compete for parental love. (on this topic, one may read Frank J. Sulloway’s Born to Rebel, a book with a complex statistical study about birth order and how children are affected by it—how competition for parental love and attention informs a child’s personality.)
The Imam next mentions arrogance (takabbur), a major cause of envy. An arrogant man who sees someone advancing ahead of him will feel that this person is not worthy of such advancement. The pre-Islamic Arabs exhibited this when the Prophet pbuh preached. The disbelievers among the Quraysh, like Abu Jahl, Umayya ibn Khalaf, and al-Walid ibn al-Mughira, waxed arrogant that this man among them, their own kin, Muhammad pbuh, received revelation from God. The Quran exposes their feelings, informing us that each of them secretly wished to receive a revelation from Heaven the way the Prophet did (QURAN, 74:52). This was flagrant envy aimed at the Prophet pbuh. When all is the same between people, arrogance does not show itself. But when someone is suddenly elevated in rank, the dynamic changes. Pharaoh grew arrogant and envious when Moses pbuh came to him with God's message. Part of Pharaoh's problem was seeing a prophet chosen from among people that Pharaoh enslaved and deemed less than the Egyptians.
Imam Mawlud mentions low self-esteem (ta'azzuz), the feeling that one's worth is compromised by the fact that another person has gained more. This also was a pathology found in the days of the Prophet pbuh when the disbelievers of Quraysh protested aloud, "If only this Quran had been sent down to a great man of either of the two cities!" (QURAN, 43:31). In other words, they were so entrenched in their mode of tribalism, they could not accept that Muhammad pbuh was a true prophet since he was not one of the elite of the two cities, that is, Makkah and Ta'if. The Prophet pbuh was too ordinary for them, too much like them, to have been chosen for such a lofty station. This is like saying, "How can he be a prophet, while he is like us and we are not prophets?"
Love of leadership is another cause of envy. People in leadership often resent others achieving something significant, fearing a change in the equilibrium of power. The envious leader desires that others are deprived of accomplishment and authority. This is akin to covetousness, which the Imam mentions in the same line. There is, though, a distinction between covetousness and love of leadership. The latter afflicts those who have position already, while covetousness relates to those who do not have it but desire it avariciously. This type of covetousness is called shuhh in Arabic, a desire to have what is in possession of another person. God says, Whoever is safe from the covetousness of his own soul, he is truly successful (QURAN, 59:9).
Al-Ghazali mentions that because these diseases are common to human nature, the objective should be to transform them into something beneficial—transform a disability into an advantage, which is what successful people tend to do. The Prophet pbuh said, "There is no [acceptable] envy except of two people." One of them is a person who has been given wealth and spends it toward good causes. Envying such a person is permissible because one's desire is to have wealth in order to do the righteous deed of giving to the needy. One may envy such a person, but not in the sense of hoping that he lose his wealth. The other person is one who has been given wisdom and teaches it to people. A person may envy the wise because he or she wishes to be imbued with some of that wisdom in order to teach others. If one has envy, let it not be of fleeting things, like worldly assets that are usually hoarded and displayed for show. Desire, instead, what will serve one's Hereafter. This is how to convert negative feelings into positive ones.
Source: Purification of Heart
to be continued ....
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