your faith into disbelief, out of envy arising from within themselves after the truth had become clear to them.
The second category of envy is the ghibṭah-type envy—that is, the benign wish to possess a blessing like the one Allah has granted someone else, whether wealth, knowledge, children, status, or the like. People naturally admire one another for the favors Allah bestows, saying, “Masha’Allah, Allah has given so-and-so such-and-such.” Yet genuine ghibṭah is warranted only in two matters—the only two for which a person is truly to be envied.
The first of the two is knowledge—beneficial knowledge, precisely what the Prophet meant when he said, “a man to whom Allah has given wisdom, so he judges by it and teaches it.” When Allah blesses someone with knowledge and he uses it to arbitrate among the people—whether or not he holds the office of judge—applies it to himself, and teaches it to others, that is the praiseworthy object of ghibṭah. For knowledge is the most beneficial thing a person can possess: it surpasses wealth and is even more advantageous than individual acts of devotion. After a scholar dies, the benefit people derive from his knowledge continues to accrue reward for him until the Day of Resurrection; every person who gains from it adds to his ledger. The more one spends of knowledge and imparts it, the more it increases. Indeed, one of the strongest means of consolidating and retaining knowledge is to teach it to others, for “Allah is in the aid of His servant so long as the servant is in the aid of his brother.” If you educate others, Allah will educate you, and what you teach will become firmly rooted in your own heart.
However, do not step forward to teach unless you are qualified. Only then will Allah make you beneficial, and you will be spared embarrassment before people. Whoever volunteers to teach without being fit for it faces one of two outcomes: either he unknowingly utters falsehood, or he falters—being asked a question and finding himself unable to answer. In sum, the more you spend of knowledge, the more it grows, and unlike material wealth, knowledge does not require