over others.
There are four levels of envy: The first is to want the blessing to leave him. If that happens, you do not want it to return to him. This is the very limit of malice. The second is to want the blessing to leave him in the same way that you desire a fine house, a beautiful woman, or a lofty, wide sufi lodge (zawiyya) which someone else has obtained and which you want for yourself. Your aim is not to remove that blessing. You hate the absence of the blessing, not that it has been bestowed on someone else. The third is not to desire the blessing itself, but to desire its like for yourself. If you cannot have its like, you want it to leave the person who has it so that the contrast between you will not be apparent. The fourth is to desire its like for yourself. If you do not obtain it, you do not desire that it depart from the person who has it. This last level is excused if it is about this world, and it is recommended if it is about the religion.
As far as the remedy of envy is concerned, you should know that envy is one of the serious sicknesses of the heart. The sickness of the heart can only be treated by knowledge and action. Useful knowledge concerning the sickness of envy is to really recognize that envy is harmful to you, both in your religion and in this world. There is no harm for one who is envied, either in this world or in his religion. Rather, he profits by it both in this world and in his religion. When you recognize this with your inner eye—that you are only an enemy to yourself and a friend to your enemy—then you will inevitably part company with envy.
As for its being harmful to you in the religion, this is because by envy, you are angry about the decree of God Most High and you hate His blessing which He has apportioned to His slaves, and His justice which He establishes in His Kingdom and which is hidden in His wisdom. You reject that. This is an offence which strikes at the core of tawhid and an obstruction in the path of iman. That in itself is enough of a crime against the religion. You act dishonestly toward one of the believers (mu’minun). You abandon his good counsel and you part company with the awliya’ of God and the Prophets since they desire good for the slaves of God. You form a partnership with the Devil (Iblis) and all the enemies of faith (kafirun) since they desire that the believers experience afflictions and they desire that blessings depart. These are malicious things in the heart. They eat up the good actions of the heart like fire consumes firewood, and obliterate them as the night obliterates the day.
As for its being a harm in this world for you, this is because you are pained and punished by your envy. You are always full of grief and sorrow since God does not cease to pour out blessings on your adversaries. Therefore, you are constantly being punished by every blessing you see, and you are pained by every affliction which is turned away from them. You are constantly full of sorrow. Your breast is constricted in the manner you desire for your enemies and which your enemies desire for you. You wanted severe trial for your enemies, but now you immediately come to severe trial and sorrow yourself. Blessing does not leave the envied person because of your envy. Even if you did not believe in the Rising and the Reckoning, it would still show a lack of astuteness on your part. If you are at all intelligent, you should be on your guard against envy because of the pain and evil it contains and its lack of benefit. How much more should it be when you know that envy is the cause of intense punishment in the next world. How astonishing is a man of intellect who exposes himself to the wrath of God without obtaining any profit at all from it. Indeed, it carries harm and pain which he must endure. His world is destroyed without any gain or benefit.
As for its not having any harm for the envied, one either in his religion or this world, it is obvious that blessing will not leave him because of someone else’s envy. God decreed it as good fortune and blessing, so it must last until the time which God decreed for it. There is no way to repel it. Everything is decreed with Him and every term has a book.
The one who is envied profits by it both in his religion and in this world. It is clear that his profit in the religion is that he is wronged by you, especially if you publicize your envy by speech and action, by slander and calumny of him, and by destroying his veil and mentioning his bad qualities. It is a gift which you present to him, i.e. by that, you give him your good deeds and so you will meet him bankrupt on the Day of Rising. You will be deprived of blessing then as you were deprived of blessing in this world. It is as if you wished to remove blessing from him while the blessings which God bestows on you continue as He gives you success in good deeds. You give these to him and increase him with blessing upon blessing while you multiply misery for yourself.
As for his profit in this world, the most important of the desires of created beings is grief and sorrow for their enemies. No punishment can be greater than that which you experience from the pain of envy. The goal of your enemies is to have blessing while you are sunk in sorrow and loss. You have done to yourself what they desire to do to you. Because of that, your enemy does not desire your death. He desires to prolong your life in the punishment of envy. This is the knowledge-cure.
As far as the action-cure is concerned, you must make yourself do the opposite of what envy calls you to. If it makes you arrogant, you must humble yourself. If it provokes you to withhold blessing, you must make yourself increase blessing. This is the action-cure.
As for what is necessary in order to prevent envy in the heart when someone irritates you, you should know that if you want blessing to leave him and you direct your tongue against him, then you are an envier. By your envy, you commit an act of rebellion. If you want the blessing to leave him while you restrain yourself outwardly in every way, but you do not dislike your state, then you are also envious and you commit an act of rebellion. This is because envy is an attribute of the heart, not an attribute of action. If you dislike this state by insight, and you restrain your outward actions as well, you have then done what is necessary.
The purification of the heart from showing-off (riya’)
Showing-off is one of the blameworthy qualities which it is forbidden to have. God Most High said, “Woe to those who pray and are heedless of their prayers, to those who show off and withhold” (Q 107:4–7).
As far as its reality is concerned, you should know that showing-off (riya’) is derived from seeing (ru’ya). Its root is to seek reputation in people’s hearts. You desire to make them see good qualities in you, and by that, to obtain high rank in their hearts. You can seek high rank by all actions. However, the name “showing-off” specifically refers to seeking high rank in people’s hearts through acts of ‘ibada. The definition of showing-off then, is the obtaining of people’s own desires through obedience to God, the Majestic, the Mighty.
Showing-off is of five types: The first is showing-off with the body. That is by outward emaciation so that people will imagine that you are intense in your striving. By emaciation, you also want to indicate scarcity of good. The second is showing-off by dress and appearance. That is by dishevelled hair, tattered garments, bowing the head while walking, leaving the mark of prostration on the face, rolling up your garment, and not cleaning it.
The third is showing-off by words. That is to make remembrance (dhikr) apparent in other people’s presence, and to command the good and forbid the objectionable in full view of created beings. It is to manifest anger at objectionable things in the presence of created beings, and to move the lips with dhikr in full view of other people. It is also to raise the voice, indicating that it is from sorrow and fear.
The fourth type of showing-off is by action. That is like someone who prays and shows off by standing for a long time, by doing ruku‘ and prostration for a long time, by not turning aside, by keeping still and silent, and by keeping the feet and the palms level. It is the same with fighting in the way of God, the hajj, and sadaqa.
The fifth is showing-off by associating with people. For instance, a man will mention the Shaykhs often in order to show that he has met many Shaykhs and profited from them. He says, “All the Shaykhs I have met,” and “I met so-and-so,” and “I
