Is Envy a Sin, or Merely a Reprehensible Trait?

Many people believe that envy amounts to nothing more than a breach of honorable conduct or a reprehensible habit incompatible with nobility of character, and similar descriptions that do not strongly condemn it. The correct view, however, is that the envier disobeys Allah Most High and incurs sin through his conduct. Indeed, he sins even by pursuing the causes and preliminaries of envy, for in the Sharia, means take the same ruling as their ends, as established in the principles of jurisprudence.

A servant should therefore become angry only when Allah’s rights are violated, hate only for Allah’s sake, and neither harbor rancor nor envy. If he does so, he sins. Envy is one of those sins whose prohibition pertains both to the act itself and to its consequences. The harm inherent in the act is evident: it entails resentment toward Allah’s decree and His wisdom in distributing provision, coveting what one does not possess, and filling the heart with rage and rancor until this spills over into one’s gaze. The person then envies the recipient of the blessing, wishing that he would perish and that the blessing would leave him. This is intrinsically prohibited. It is also prohibited because of its consequences: the envier’s faith diminishes in proportion to it; blessings depart from those who possess them; ruin or damage results; and hatred spreads among people until a man no longer feels safe from his neighbor’s evils, whereupon that neighbor forfeits the completeness of faith—Allah’s refuge is sought.

Allah Most High says:

“Or do they envy people for what Allah has given them of His bounty? We had already given the family of Abraham the Scripture and wisdom, and We gave them a mighty kingdom.” Al-Nisā, verse (54)

Al-Qurtubī, may Allah have mercy on him, said: “His words, ‘Or do they envy,’ refer to the Jews. ‘People’ refers specifically to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), according to Ibn Abbās, Mujāhid, and others. They envied him for prophethood and envied his Companions for believing in him. Qatāda said that ‘people’ means the Arabs, whom the Jews envied because of prophethood. Al-Dahhāk said that the Jews envied Quraysh because prophethood was among them. Envy is reprehensible, and the one who harbors it is grief-stricken. It consumes good deeds just as fire consumes firewood;