Theharmsofenvy—eightwaysitdestroys,startingwiththeenvier

Eight harms

The source gathers the damage ḥasad does into eight points, and most of them land on the envier himself before they touch anyone else.

1. It is a despicable trait that harms the body and corrupts the religion. Envy does not stay in its box: it eats at the envier’s health and at his faith together.
2. It has no limit. The envier’s envy knows no boundary; it reaches the near and the far alike.
3. It spares no one, not even the envier himself. He envies everyone, and even his own self is not safe from him. As the saying goes: “A man’s conceit in himself is one of the enviers of his own intellect.” Self-admiration robs a man of his judgement as an envier would rob him of a blessing.
4. It melts the soul and strips away its virtues. A heart occupied with resenting others’ blessings has no room left for its own excellence.
5. The envier sets himself against Allah, against His blessings and against His wisdom in dividing them.
6. It breeds hatred, and hatred leads to conflict and killing. The road from a grudging heart to a raised hand is shorter than people think; the first murder in history travelled it.
7. It invites misery. Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them both, was asked which is worse, ḥasad or wretchedness. He answered: “Ḥasad is the summoner of wretchedness. Iblis envied Adam, and his envy became the cause of his misery — he became accursed after he had been honoured.”
8. It corrupts acts of worship and generates sins and evils. Envy does not sit still: it spoils the obedience a person has, and drives him into wrongs he would not otherwise commit, from backbiting and scheming to slander and worse.

Set the eight side by side and the envied person barely appears in the list. His blessing does not move; the decree does not bend. Envy consumes the envier’s own body, faith, soul, deeds and standing with Allah, which is why the cure for envy, covered in its own article, is aimed at the envier’s heart: he is the disease’s first victim.