Envy(hasad)

What hasad is

Hasad, envy, is to dislike a blessing that Allah has given to someone else and to wish that it were removed from them, whether or not you want it for yourself. It is a sickness of the heart before it is anything else. Ibn Taymiyyah described it as the pain a person feels at the good fortune of another.

The scholars distinguish it from ghibṭah, which is to wish for the same blessing without wanting the other person to lose it. Ghibṭah is allowed and can even be praiseworthy. The Prophet ﷺ said: "There is no hasad except in two: a man whom Allah has given wealth and he spends it in the way of truth, and a man whom Allah has given wisdom and he judges by it and teaches it" (Bukhari and Muslim). Here "hasad" means healthy admiration and aspiration, not the destructive wish that others lose what they have.

Hasad was the first sin committed in the heavens, when Iblīs envied Ādam, and the first sin on earth, when one son of Ādam killed his brother out of envy (Al-Ma’idah 5:27-31). Allah described the enmity of the People of the Book towards the believers as coming "out of envy from themselves" (Al-Baqarah 2:109), and asked:

أَمْ يَحْسُدُونَ النَّاسَ عَلَىٰ مَا آتَاهُمُ اللَّهُ مِن فَضْلِهِ

Am yaḥsudūnan-nāsa ‘alā mā ātāhumullāhu min faḍlih

Or do they envy people for what Allah has given them of His bounty?

Hasad and the evil eye

The two are close relatives but not identical:

• Hasad is in the heart. It can exist without the envier ever seeing you, and it may harm you through his words, plots or supplications against you, or through the eye.
• The evil eye (al-‘ayn) comes through the look. It can come from an admirer with no envy at all, even from a loving parent or from oneself.

So the envier can harm through his eye, and the eye can be cast without envy. When Allah commanded us in Al-Falaq to seek refuge from the envier, the scholars explain that this includes the evil eye, since the envier's look is the most common way his envy travels. Ibn al-Qayyim writes that whoever seeks refuge from hasad has sought refuge from the eye as well.

Practically, the symptoms, protection and cure overlap heavily. If you are unsure whether you are dealing with envy or the eye, it does not matter for treatment: the same ruqyah covers both.

Quranic proof

The clearest verse is the closing verse of Al-Falaq:

وَمِن شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ

Wa min sharri ḥāsidin idhā ḥasad

And from the evil of an envier when he envies.

Two things stand out. First, Allah commanded us to seek refuge from the envier, which tells us his envy can genuinely reach us. Second, "when he envies" shows that hasad only harms when it becomes active: when the envier acts on it, speaks, plots, or looks with malice. A person may feel a flicker of envy, hate it in himself, and suppress it; that person is not the ḥāsid we seek refuge from. He is a believer fighting his nafs.

The Prophet ﷺ said: "Do not envy one another, do not inflate prices against one another, do not hate one another, do not turn away from one another... and be, O slaves of Allah, brothers" (Muslim). And in Abu Dawud: "Beware of hasad, for hasad consumes good deeds as fire consumes wood." Some scholars grade this last narration weak in its chain, but its meaning is confirmed by the Quran and other authentic texts.

Effects on the envied

By Allah's permission, the envy of an active envier can cause harm similar to the evil eye:

• Illness, weakness, and low energy that arrive suddenly and have no medical explanation after proper testing.
• Loss of blessing (barakah) in wealth, time, family life or work: money that disappears without being spent, projects that stall, a home that feels heavy.
• Anxiety, sadness, and a persistent sense of dread after contact with a particular person or after making a blessing public.
• Damage through the envier's actions: slander, backbiting, breaking of ties, or, in extreme cases, going to a magician.

Remember, however, that Allah did not create the envier with power over you. Nothing reaches you except what Allah has written, and the same Lord who told us to seek refuge also promised to protect those who do.

Effects on the envier

This is the side that is often forgotten. Hasad is a disease of the envier before it is a danger to the envied:

• The envier objects, in his heart, to the decree of Allah. He is effectively saying, "You should not have given this to him." That is a subtle wound in his tawḥīd.
• He lives in constant grief. The blessings of others become his torment, and there will always be someone with more.
• Hasad drives him to sins of the tongue and the hand: mockery, backbiting, sabotage, and worse.
• It strips his good deeds of their sweetness and can strip them away altogether.

The scholars say the envier is punished before the envied, because he burns while the envied may never feel a thing. Every Muslim should therefore examine his own heart as carefully as he examines his symptoms.

Protection

• The daily adhkār. Al-Ikhlāṣ, Al-Falaq and An-Nās three times morning and evening, Āyat al-Kursī after each prayer and before sleep, and the morning and evening supplications. The Prophet ﷺ said that Al-Falaq and An-Nās are the best two surahs with which to seek refuge (Muslim, Nasa’i).
• Tawakkul and reliance on Allah. The heart that trusts Allah is not shaken by people. Say "ḥasbiyallāhu lā ilāha illā huw" and mean it.
• Discretion. Do not broadcast blessings unnecessarily. Sharing is not forbidden, but wisdom limits it, and social media has multiplied exposure to eyes and hearts you cannot see.
• Kindness to the envier. Ibn al-Qayyim advises meeting the envier with good treatment and generosity, which extinguishes his fire and often turns him into a friend. Do not respond to his hasad with your own.
• Ṣadaqah. Charity repels harm and draws blessing, and it reminds you that the blessing was never yours to hoard.
• No amulets, no talismans, no ta‘wīdh, no hanging eyes. These are forbidden and are themselves a door to harm.

Cure

• Ruqyah with the Quran, especially Al-Fātiḥah, Āyat al-Kursī, and the last three surahs, recited over yourself, over water for drinking and bathing, and, if needed, by a raqi who follows the Sunnah. This is exactly the ruqyah used for the evil eye.
• The prophetic supplications for healing: "Allāhumma Rabban-nās, adhhibil-ba’s, ishfi antash-Shāfī, lā shifā’a illā shifā’uk" (O Allah, Lord of mankind, remove the harm and heal; You are the Healer; there is no healing except Your healing) (Bukhari and Muslim).
• If the envier is known, and the harm came through his eye, the wash described in the hadith of Sahl ibn Hunayf may be requested from him, gently and without accusation. Do not seek to identify an envier through dreams, "readings", or a jinn's testimony.
• Repentance and gratitude. Sometimes hasad finds a way in when we ourselves have neglected shukr. Return to Allah, thank Him for the blessing, and use it in obedience.
• Patience. As with the evil eye, most cases lift with consistent ruqyah and adhkār. Do not go to fortune-tellers, "spiritual healers" who use the jinn, or anyone selling protection.

Healing your own heart from hasad

If you find envy in yourself, take it seriously and treat it:

• Recognise it as a whisper of the shaytan and seek refuge from him.
• Make du‘ā’ for the person you envy. Ask Allah to increase them. This is bitter at first and then astonishingly freeing.
• Remind yourself that Allah's division of provision is wisdom, not error, and that what He has written for you will reach you.
• Compete in the deeds of the Hereafter, where there is room for everyone.

Hasad is a fire, and Allah has given us water for it: the Quran, dhikr, du‘ā’, and a heart content with what its Lord has decreed. Whoever holds to these is safe from the envier outside and from the envier within.