the unbelievers, nor do they inflict any injury on an enemy without its being written down for them as a righteous deed. Surely Allah does not allow the reward of those who excel to be lost.

This contrasts with the afflictions that strike a person without his choosing—such as illness, the death of a loved one, or robbers seizing his property. For those calamities he is rewarded only for bearing them with patience, not for the calamity itself or for what results from it.

As for those who are hurt because of their faith and their obedience to Allah and His Messenger—should that harm take the form of constraint, illness, imprisonment, exile, loss of wealth or family, beating, verbal abuse, or a reduction in status or income—they are following the path of the prophets and their earliest followers, like the first Emigrants. Such people receive reward for the very harm done to them, and it is recorded for them as a righteous deed, just as the combatant in Allah’s cause is rewarded for the hunger, thirst, fatigue, and for the anger he provokes in the unbelievers. Although these consequences are not actions he directly performs, they arise from his voluntary act and are therefore called “generated effects.”

Scholars have differed over whether these effects should be ascribed to the person who set the cause in motion, to Allah alone, or to no agent at all. The sound view is that the causal agent shares responsibility with the other operative causes; hence a righteous deed is duly recorded for him.

The point, however, is that envy is an ailment of the soul—a pervasive ailment from which only a few are spared. It is said, “No body is free of envy: the ignoble person reveals it, while the noble conceals it.” Al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī was asked, “Does a believer feel envy?” He replied, “Have you forgotten Joseph’s brothers—may you lose your father! Suppress it within your breast, for it will not harm you so long as you do not act upon it with hand or tongue.”

Whoever detects envy within himself must confront it with piety and patience, loathing it in his own soul. Many religious people do not attack the one they envy—they do not assist his oppressors—yet they also fail to give him the rights he deserves. If someone criticises him, they refrain from joining in, but they do not mention his virtues; similarly, if someone praises him, they remain silent. Such people are blameworthy for neglecting the duty they owe him: they are negligent, though not aggressive. Their recompense is that their own rights will likewise be diminished; they will not be treated justly in certain matters, nor will they find support against those who wrong them—just as they failed to support the envied person.

Anyone who does transgress by word or deed is liable to punishment. But whoever is mindful of Allah and patient, thus avoiding the company of the wrongdoers, Allah will benefit him through his piety. This is what happened to Zaynab bint Jahsh—may Allah be pleased with her—for she was the one who rivalled ʿĀʾishah among the Prophet’s wives.

Envy among women toward one another is widespread, especially among co-wives sharing a single husband. A wife is jealous over her husband because his attention is her personal share, and sharing him reduces that share. The same pattern of envy frequently appears among partners in leadership or wealth: if one obtains a portion that another misses, or among peers who dislike