The Green Arrow

In the name of God, compassionate & merciful بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Peace be with you السلام عليكم

By: Guest writer on group blog Muslims In England.com

I looked at her once, and twice, and yet again. I did not smile at her as I did to everybody else, oh no, I wasn’t about to make her the recipient of my affection. Instead she smiled at me, the cheek of it all, but I merely looked away, ha! A smirk passed over my face and my eyes became cold, devoid of emotion.

I crossed my arms and held my chin high. My heart suddenly clenched, what was unseen though was the little green arrow that pierced it. I didn’t realise, but the arrow rapidly spread a vile poison throughout my body and my mind gulped it all, producing all sorts of loathsome thoughts about that girl. Just because she has the beauty, wealth, and authority, just because she has it all, she thinks she’s better than me. I became certain that if I had all that, I would be so much higher in status than her… I became envious.

And this is probably a flicker of what Satan must have experienced when he refused Allah’s order to bow down to Adam. Satan was envious that Allah commanded him, a creation of fire to bow down to a formation of clay. Jealousy was Satan’s downfall and today, Satan so easily finds his prey, prepares his arrow and shoots; his work thus done. The prey is now inflicted with a disease, hot bubbling venom runs through its bloodstream, a cancer ensnares its mind and just like Satan, the human also begins his spiritual demise.

Envy (hasad) is one of the first diseases that mankind is inflicted with and probably ranks the highest in the hierarchy of the most dangerous. We all have, at some point, experienced envy and jealousy towards someone else’s God given blessing, whether that is beauty, wealth, authority or any other worldly matter. It is human nature to want and when someone has something more than us, for some oblivious reason we think we deserve it more, almost as if Allah made a mistake in bestowing that person with this blessing when it was rightfully ours. We forget that Allah is All-Wise in what He distributes to His creation. We forget that He is Just and has given us our share too, and if not in this world then in the Hereafter, which should immediately make everything better, for the Hereafter is our ultimate destination.

The Prophet (pbuh) said that envy consumes good deeds the way fire devours at dry wood, but the Prophet (pbuh) also mentioned that any possessor of a good is exposed to envy. Thus, envy is common to human nature, almost inherent and the best way to combat it is to turn it into something good or eradicate it by contradicting it. For example, presenting a gift to the other person, praising them (instead of slandering) or even doing a particular dua’ (pray) for them and mentioning their name will starve envy of the negative thoughts it produces, and not to forget it will and bag us some good deeds as well. Or how about a heartfelt smile (when all you really feel like doing is snatching that person’s blessing away from them!), this is a good way to tame envy and it might just be that you and the envied(well, the no longer envied) strike up a good relationship.

If one has envy however, it should be of non-worldly matters and righteous intentions. For example envy of one who is blessed with wisdom and knowledge can be very motivating as it encourages us to seek knowledge. Also, envying one who is blessed with abundant wealth and who spends it in charity is fine because the intention is to carry out a good deed. Even if we do not acquire that wealth and do not have the opportunity to give so copiously, we mustn’t forget that even thinking about carrying out a righteous action will bag us a good deed.

Muslims In England.com ★

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