that one of them be preferred over the other, as in the envy felt by Joseph’s brothers, or by one of Adam’s two sons toward his sibling. He envied him because Allah accepted his offering but did not accept the other’s, begrudging the faith and piety with which Allah had distinguished him—just as the Jews envied the Muslims—and he killed him for that reason. For this it was said: the first sins by which Allah was disobeyed were three—covetousness, arrogance, and envy. Covetousness is traced to Adam, arrogance to Iblis, and envy to Qābil (Cain) when he slew Hābil (Abel).
A hadith states: “There are three things from which no one is completely safe: envy, suspicion, and pessimistic omens. Yet I will tell you the way out: if you feel envy, do not hate; if you are suspicious, do not pursue it; and if you sense an omen, continue on.” This was narrated by Ibn Abī al-Dunyā from Abu Hurayrah.
In the Sunan collections the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said: “The disease of the nations before you has crept into you—envy and hatred. They are the razor; I do not say it shaves hair, rather it shaves the religion.” He thus called it a “disease,” just as he termed miserliness a disease when he said, “And what disease is more debilitating than miserliness?” Hence envy is an illness.
Another hadith reads: “I seek refuge in You from reprehensible character traits, capricious desires, and diseases,” where “diseases” is mentioned alongside “character traits” and “desires.” A khuluq (character trait) is a quality that has become habitual and deeply rooted in the soul. Allah the Exalted says, “And indeed you are of exalted character” (68:4). Ibn ʿAbbās, Ibn ʿUyaynah, and Ahmad ibn Hanbal—may Allah be pleased with them—explained this as “upon a great religion”; another wording from Ibn ʿAbbās says, “upon the religion of Islam.” Likewise ʿĀʾishah—may Allah be pleased with her—said, “His character was the Quran,” and al-Hasan al-Basrī remarked, “The etiquette of the Quran—that is the exalted character.”
As for hawa (whims), it can be a passing impulse, whereas a daʾ (disease) is an abiding sickness: pain and corruption of the heart. In the first hadith envy was paired with hatred because the envier first dislikes Allah’s favor upon the other person, then moves on to hating him. Dislike of what is inseparable entails dislike of what is bound to it; when Allah’s blessing clings to someone and the envier wishes for its removal—and it can be removed only by the removal of its bearer—he comes to hate that person and to desire his absence.
Envy therefore leads to transgression, as Allah tells us about those before us in Surah Āl ʿImrān: they differed only after knowledge had come to them, out of mutual envy. Their disagreement was not due to ignorance—they knew the truth—yet some of them wronged others, just as an envier wrongs the one he envies.
In the two Ṣaḥīḥs it is narrated from Anas ibn Mālik—may Allah be pleased with him—that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “Do not envy one another, do not hate one another, do not turn your backs on one another, and do not sever ties; be, O servants of Allah, brothers. It is not lawful for a Muslim to shun his brother for more than three nights: when they meet, each turns away, and the better of the two is the one who first offers salām.”
He—peace and blessings be upon him—also said in another rigorously authenticated hadith reported by Anas: “By Him in whose hand is my soul, none of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”
Allah, Exalted is He, says: