All the praises and thanks are due and belong to Allah, and may His peace and blessings be upon the best of mankind; Prophet Muhammad, his family and all companions.
Islam as religion recognizes the innate and instinct nature of man and hence, provided guidelines and solutions to all the spiritual, material and psychological problems of man. Islam considers the purification of man’s innate nature as a necessary step to his attainment of Allah’s proximity, and hence, it provided solutions to all the inner ailments of man which includes envy. Envy is such an obnoxious illness that is capable of destroying the envious individual himself and his society. It leads to unwarranted hatred, insults, fault finding, backbiting and if not controlled leads to the wish and will of the destruction of the object of envy be it a property or life or any gift of nature.
WHAT IS ENVY?
It is the wish for the envied person to be deprived of a favor Allah bestowed upon him and for him to be afflicted with some harm, or for the particular favor to be destroyed, be it a religious gift, intellectual or some material things of the world. This thought is forbidden in the words of Allah and His messenger (SallAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam).
Allah says:
“Or do they envy the people for what Allah has given them of His grace?”
(An-Nisaa’: 54)
The holy Prophet of Islam -SallAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam – also warned from envy, he said:
“Beware of envy, for envy eats up good deeds just as the fire eats up (dried) wood”
[reported by Abu Daawud]
The cure of envy from the perspective of the Qur’an and the Noble sunnah.
This is of two types:
1 – Curing oneself of being envious towards others and
2 – Seeking cure and protection from the envious eye or evil eye.
As for the former, the following guidelines are very necessary to be followed.
1 – Overcoming one’s emotions and gaining control over them. Allah says:
”And those who restrain anger, and those who forgive people. Allah loves the doers of good.”
(Aali-Imraan: 134).
One who restrains his anger and pardons people for the wrong done to him obtains a pure heart and pure feelings. This helps him to maintain a heart free of hatred and envy.
2 – Constancy in remembering Allah and seeking refuge from envy.
One who constantly remembers Allah while seeking his refuge from envy and the envious will find himself being protected against this illness either from him or from others to him. This should be done by frequently asking Allah’s forgiveness and seeking His protection from being envious by reciting the Last Two Surahs of the Glorious Qur’an which contains protection against envy and the envious ones.
3 – Remembering the favors of Allah upon you.
If you see someone who is blessed with a certain favor which you are enticed with remember the many bounties Allah has bestowed upon you and then invoke the blessings of Allah upon the person by saying: Ma Sha Allah, laa hawla walaa quwwata illa billaah” (By the will of Allah, there is no might nor power except in Allah) doing this makes you admit that everything is by Allah’s will and power. This also free your heart of envying the person for such a favor.
One can also seek protection from the envy of others by following some of the above enumerated guidelines such as reciting the last three chapters of the Qur’an on daily basis in the mornings and evennings, saying: laa hawla walaa quwwata illa billaah” (By the will of Allah, there is no might nor power except in Allah) whenever he sees some bounties of Allah in himself, his family and wealth.
Anas (RadiyAllahu Anhu) narrates that the Messeneger of Allah (SallAllahu Alaihi Wa Sallam) said:
“Never will a servant be blessed with a favor whether with regards to his wife, wealth or child and he says: “laa hawla walaa quwwata illa billaah” and he will be afflicted with an evil except death”