Page 44 - The Solution To Secret Sorrows

THE SOLUTION TO SECRET SORROWS

Merely imitating a religious and moral life, while pretending
genuine sincerity towards Allah, causes those who do so to suffer
loss in this world and the Hereafter. Because of this, nothing should
be left in a person's heart which is not in keeping with the Qur'an.
One should behave with the utmost sincerity, directness and hon-
esty towards Allah and His followers.

Envy
This is a serious behavioral defect that arises from devotion to
worldly life. Allah tells us that such an emotion is lodged in the
human soul in this verse of the Qur'an: "Or do they in fact envy
other people for the bounty Allah has granted them? ..." (Surat an-
Nisa': 54). We are told that for human salvation, it is necessary to
cleanse the soul of such evil: "He who purifies it has succeeded"
(Surat ash-Shams: 9). The contrary, that such an evil in the soul
drives people to destruction, is made clear in the verse, "He who
covers it up has failed" (Surat ash-Shams: 10). The damage and tor-
ment that envy brings down on people in this world clearly demon-
strate the form which the failure referred to by the verse may take in
this world.
Among the ignorant, the view of envy is very different from
that given in the Qur'an. People assume that envy is a natural
human characteristic, present in everybody to a greater or lesser de-
gree. They regard as strange people who say, "I am not at all envi-
ous." As for themselves, they are jealous of almost everything
possessed by the people they live near: their intelligence, appear-
ance, goods, children, houses, jobs, and so on.
Instead of sharing in their pleasure, envious people feel uncom-
fortable at others' virtue, beauty and success. Their resentfulness
leaves them deeply saddened by the blessings that others enjoy. This

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