the avarice of my own soul.”
He was told: “How often you seek refuge from that!” He replied: “If I am protected from the avarice of my own soul, I am protected from injustice, miserliness, and severing ties of kinship”—or words to that effect.
Thus, the Quran and Sunnah explain that avarice and envy belong to the same category, as in His words:
“And they feel no resentment in their hearts over what others have been given, and give them preference over themselves, even though they are in need. And whoever is protected from the avarice of his own soul—it is they who are successful.”
He describes them as giving of the good things they possess despite their own need, and as not resenting the blessings bestowed upon their brothers. The opposite of the first quality is miserliness, and the opposite of the second is envy.
Miserliness and envy therefore belong to the same category: the envious person resents what others are given, while the miser dislikes giving. Then He says:
“And whoever is protected from the avarice of his own soul—it is they who are successful.”
Avarice is the root of both miserliness and envy. It is a narrowness of soul, an unwillingness to wish good for others and an aversion to their receiving it. This gives rise to withholding benefit, which is miserliness, and harming the person who has been blessed, which is injustice. When directed toward relatives, it constitutes severing ties of kinship.
Thus, in the hadith of Abū Hurayrah narrated by . . . (1) al-Nasā’ī through Muhammad ibn ‘Ajlān, from Suhayl ibn Abī Sālih, from his father, from Abū Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “There will not be together in the Fire