In short
- 01Real ḥasad: wishing that the blessing be removed from its owner.
- 02Figurative ḥasad (ghibṭah): wishing for the like of another’s blessing, without its removal from him.
In this article
Two kinds
Al-Nawawi, in his commentary on Sahih Muslim, divides ḥasad into two kinds:
- Real ḥasad: wishing that the blessing be removed from its owner.
- Figurative ḥasad (ghibṭah): wishing for the like of another’s blessing, without its removal from him.
Four degrees
Within those two kinds, the scholars grade envy into four degrees, from worst to best.
Four degrees, worst first
Read them as a mirror, not as a label for somebody else.
- 01Wanting the blessing gone, even though it would never come to youThe envier loves the removal of the blessing from the envied although he gains nothing by it. This is the utmost malice: pure destruction, with no profit even to the destroyer.Purely blameworthy
- 02Wanting the blessing transferred to youHe wants the blessing gone from its owner because he wants it for himself: the beautiful house, the lovely wife, the position of authority, the prosperity another attained. His real object is the blessing, not its loss; what he hates is going without it, not that another enjoys it.Lighter than the third
- 03Wanting the like and, failing that, wanting it goneHe does not desire the very blessing itself, but its like; and when he cannot reach the like of it, he wants the other’s gone so the gap between them will not show. This degree is mixed: part of it blameworthy and part not.Mixed
- 04Ghibṭah: wanting the like, and nothing moreHe wishes for the like of the blessing for himself; and if he cannot have it, he does not wish its loss on its owner.Excused, and encouraged in religion
The verdicts: the fourth degree is excused in worldly matters and encouraged in religious ones; the third is mixed; the second is lighter than the third; and the first is purely blameworthy.
A note on the fourth degree
Even calling the last rung “ḥasad” is a loose extension of the word. Yet one caution attaches even here, from the verse:
وَلَا تَتَمَنَّوْا۟ مَا فَضَّلَ ٱللَّهُ بِهِۦ بَعْضَكُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍۢ…
wa lā tatamannaw mā faḍḍala llāhu bihi ba'ḍakum 'alā ba'ḍ
"And do not wish for that by which Allah has made some of you exceed others."
The prohibition is on coveting the very thing Allah gave to another, his blessing itself, singled out. Wishing for the like of it is not blameworthy. The whole difference between a heart at war with the decree and a heart making du‘ā within it lies between “give me what he has” and “give me such as he has”.
Medical first, alongside ruqyah — nothing here replaces a doctor’s care.
Sources
- Al-Nawawi, Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim
- Classical and practitioner sources — see Methodology → Our sources
Signs and symptoms of sihr — before, during and after treatment
See a doctor first.
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