“Praise be to Allah, who has restored my spirit to me, granted me bodily well-being, permitted me to remember Him, and greatly favored me above many of those He has created.”

When he went to bed, he would say:

“O Allah, You created my soul, and You are the One who takes it. Its death and its life belong to You. If You retain it, have mercy upon it; and if You release it, protect it as You protect Your righteous servants.”

He would also say:

“In Your name, O Allah, I die and live.”

Section

Among the diseases of the heart is envy. Some have defined it as the pain one experiences upon learning of the prosperous condition of the wealthy. Thus, a virtuous person cannot be envious, for a virtuous person acts in accordance with what is good.

Some people have said that envy is wishing for a blessing to be taken away from the person envied, even if the envious person does not obtain its like. This differs from emulation, which is wishing for a similar blessing without wanting the person who enjoys it to lose it.

More precisely, envy is hatred and aversion toward the favorable condition one sees the envied person enjoying. It is of two kinds:

The first is an unqualified aversion to that person’s enjoyment of a blessing. This is blameworthy envy. When someone hates this, the existence of what he hates causes him pain and distress, becoming a disease in his heart. He takes pleasure in the other person’s loss of the blessing, even if he gains no benefit from its loss; rather, the benefit he derives is