(1) Arrogance, which brought Iblis to the fate that befell him.

(2) Covetousness, which drove Adam out of Paradise.

(3) Envy, which emboldened one of Adam’s sons against his brother. Whoever is protected from the evil of these three is protected from evil altogether: disbelief arises from arrogance, sins from covetousness, and transgression and injustice from envy. End quote. (1)

In the same book, in the ninety-sixth lesson, he also said: “The pillars of disbelief are four: arrogance, envy, anger, and base desire.

Arrogance prevents a person from submitting; envy prevents him from accepting and offering advice; anger prevents him from being just; and base desire prevents him from devoting himself to worship. Once the pillar of arrogance is torn down, submission becomes easy for him. Once the pillar of envy is torn down, accepting and offering advice become easy for him. Once the pillar of anger is torn down, justice and humility become easy for him. Once the pillar of base desire is torn down, patience, chastity, and worship become easy for him.

It is easier to dislodge mountains from their places than to remove these four traits from someone afflicted by them—especially when they have become deeply rooted dispositions, ingrained habits, and fixed attributes. No deed of his can ever be sound while they remain, nor can his soul be purified so long as they persist within it. Whenever he strives to perform good deeds, these four corrupt them, and every malady springs from them. When they become firmly entrenched in the heart, they make falsehood appear in the guise of truth, truth in the guise of falsehood, good in the guise of evil, and evil in the guise of good. They bring this world nearer to him and drive the Hereafter farther away. If you contemplate the disbelief of past nations, you will see that it arose from these traits. Punishment falls on account of them, and its mildness or severity corresponds to how mild or severe they are. Whoever gives them access to himself thereby opens against himself every door to evil, both in this world and in the Hereafter; and whoever bars them from himself has the doors of evil barred against him. For they prevent submission, sincerity, repentance, turning back to Allah, acceptance of the truth, sincere counsel to Muslims, and humility before Allah and His creation.