his standing out from them in goodness—either out of envy, lest that virtue raise him above them and win him praise while they remain unmentioned; or lest it furnish him with an argument against them; or out of fear that he might punish them himself, or by appealing to someone who would do so; or because they do not wish to be beholden to his favor or placed under his influence, and for other, similar reasons.

Allah, Exalted is He, says:

“Many of the People of the Scripture wish they could turn you back to unbelief after you have believed, out of envy within themselves, after the truth has become clear to them.” [Qur’an 2:109]

He also says about the hypocrites:

“They wish that you would disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you would all be alike.” [Qur’an 4:89]

ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, may Allah be pleased with him, remarked: “The adulteress wishes that all women would commit adultery.”

Their desire for company may focus on the very same act of depravity—joint drinking, lying, or embracing a corrupt creed—or on the general kind of vice: the adulterer wants others to commit adultery, and the thief wants others to steal as well, though not necessarily from the same object he himself violated.

As for the second motive, they may order a person to join them in their wrongdoing; if he complies, he is left in peace, but if he refuses they oppose and harm him, sometimes to the point of outright coercion and sometimes short of it.

Furthermore, those who insist that others share in their disgraceful deeds, or who command them to do so and enlist their help in achieving their aims: whenever someone joins, assists, and obeys them, they belittle and disdain him, using his compliance as leverage against him in other matters; and if he does not join them, they treat him as an enemy and persecute him.