In a hadith of the Prophet Saw, it is stated that the hasad or spiteful envy characteristics can undermine one’s goodness, just like a fire burns woods little by little until the woods run out. In addition, the spiteful envy characteristic can also lead to the emergence of ‘ain disease. The disease that once disturbed most of the public is known to come from the sight of people who are amazed as well as there is a sense of spite in their chests.
Moreover, in an increasingly advanced technology era like today, everyone can see the lives of others only through the screen of their mobile phones. So it will be easier for everyone to have the seeds of spite in their chests. For this reason, we need to know how to fortify ourselves to avoid envy. How? Check out the following review.
The Meaning of Spiteful Envy
The spiteful envy characteristic in Arabic is known by the word hasad. In the Quran, hasad is mentioned five times by Allah Swt, namely in QS al-Baqarah (109), an-Nisa’ (54), al-Fath (15), and al-Falaq (5). The word hasad or spiteful envy in the Quran is explained as the desire for a person to lose the bliss he/she has had, accompanied by an effort to kill the bliss from the person who has it.
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Spitefulness is also a feeling of hatred for the bliss that others have by expecting the bliss to go to his/her hands, or not. People who are spiteful feel unhappy when others get bliss and luck. A person who has a spiteful heart always expects and strives for the bliss obtained by someone else to be lost.
According to the interpreter al-Imam al-Sha’rawi, spitefulness is an act of despair that is more evil than the supernatural powers that bring ugliness to a person. Spitefulness is invisible power, but it has a great influence and it is capable of creating disaster.
The Prophet’s Hadith About Spiteful Envy
“From Abu Hurairah radhiyallahu ‘anhu he said, “The Messenger of Allah Saw said: Stay away from hasad (spiteful envy) characteristic, for indeed the hasad can eat goodness, just as fire eats firewood.” (Riwayat Abu Daud, Ibnu Majah dari Anas bin Malik)
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The hadith above is one of the hadiths of the Prophet Muhammad Saw about the dangers of spiteful envy which is quite famous. But in reality, the hadith has the status of weak or dhaif, because the perawi or the person who narrated the hadith is not recognized in the sanad of the hadith. However, scholars agree with the content of its meaning which is felt to be correct. Therefore, scholars still include this hadith in their books.
Among the scholars who list this hadith in their books are Imam Al-Mundziriy and Imam An-Nawawi. The dhaif hadith of the Prophet Saw is listed in the Book of At-Targhib wat-Tarhib and Riyadhush Shalihin.
Bad Impact of Spiteful Envy
Imam Al-Ghazali in the book of Bidayat Al Hidayah explains that a human has three very dangerous traits of the heart whose existence is eternal over time. The three characteristics are spiteful envy, love to show off, and arrogance or hasad, riya, and ujub. Among the three, hasad becomes one of the most devastating heart diseases.
Not only can hasad mess up one’s own life, but it can also disrupt the environment, society, and civilization. Although the spiteful envy is invisible to the naked eye, the effect of this trait on the soul and social order is very real. Countless fights, frictions, quarrels, and killings among humans have been caused by the emergence of spiteful envy.
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For this reason, Allah Swt asks His people to always ask for protection to avoid this heart disease as He said in the surah:
“And from the evil of an envier when they envy.” (QS. Al-Falaq: 5)
Psychologically, the spiteful envy characteristic also has tremendous impacts, such as:
- Shaping an ungrateful soul
- Torturing oneself because the heart is always not in peace due to uncomfortable feelings over others’ happiness
- The emergence of ghibah (bad mouthing others), backstabbing, etc that can cause disunity
- The emergence of hatred and hostility that inflict damage in an indefinite period of time
How to Avoid Spiteful Envy
When we have a feeling of spiteful envy in our chests, we are obliged to fight them with all our might. In addition, we also need to make an effort to praise the person we are spiteful of. In fact, if possible, give them a gift or mention their goodness. Make an effort to be close to them and get on well with them, so that the spiteful envy feeling will be gone.
Sometimes, when we get to know more about the person we are jealous of, that bad trait can disappear. On the other hand, if we continue to keep that spiteful envy deep in our hearts, Satan will also try to burn those feelings into a fire that can wipe ourselves out.
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Keep in mind, the only person who will feel the loss because of that feeling of spiteful envy are ourselves. This is because there is hatred, annoyance, and spite lodged in our chests, and that includes a disaster. The heart becomes restless, not in peace, hateful, to the point of wishing for the person we are spiteful of, doomed. It is not necessarily that the person we are spiteful of will be in danger, in fact, it may be that the person’s bliss will continue to be added by Allah Swt.
In the book of Ihya’ Ulumuddin, Imam Al-Ghazali said: “This heart disease cannot be cured except by knowledge and good deeds. The useful knowledge to fight hasad disease is that you know that the bad things of hasad will return to you, both in the world and in the hereafter. And the hasad you do will not inflict any bad things upon the person you are spiteful of, both in the world and in the hereafter, even he/she will be benefited by your hasad.”
Thus, the way to avoid spiteful envy is to realize that spiteful envy is a form of self-zulm (self-hurt). After realizing that, then we need to always take refuge in Allah from the dangers of spiteful envy that can destroy the goodness we have, in the sense of “transferring” our goodness to the person we are spiteful of.