permissible in kind—eating, drinking, marriage, clothing, riding, and wealth—gives rise to injustice, miserliness, and envy when someone claims exclusive enjoyment of it. Both have their root in covetousness, as related in an authentic report from the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), who said:

“Beware of covetousness, for it destroyed those before you: it commanded them to be miserly, and they were miserly; it commanded them to commit injustice, and they committed injustice; and it commanded them to sever ties, and they severed them.”

For this reason, Allah Most High said, describing the Ansār, who had settled in the city and embraced the faith before the Emigrants:

“They feel no desire in their hearts for what the others have been given.”

That is, they feel no envy over what their brothers among the Emigrants have been given.

“And they give them preference over themselves, even though they too are in need.”

Then He said:

“And whoever is protected from the covetousness of his own soul—it is they who will succeed.”

ʿAbd al-Rahmān ibn ʿAwf was seen circumambulating the House and saying, “My Lord, protect me from the covetousness of my own soul. My Lord, protect me from the covetousness of my own soul.” When asked about this, he replied, “If I am protected from the covetousness of my own soul, then I am protected from miserliness, injustice, and severing ties”—or words to that effect.

This covetousness—the soul’s intense greed—leads to miserliness through withholding what one owes, and to injustice through taking another’s property. It also leads to severing kinship ties and to envy: resenting what someone else alone enjoys. Envy involves both miserliness and injustice: miserliness over what another has been given, and injustice in seeking to deprive him of it. If this is the case with desires for permissible things, what, then, of unlawful desires: