. Li (cont.)

ථ .Uh; J >; u-: "[Allah] said, 'What kept you from prostrating when I ordered you?' He said, 'I am better than him. You created me from fire and You created him from clay"' (al-Araaf 12). In addition, the people with whom Allah is displeased and those who have gone astray, the Jews and the Christians, are people of hasad. Hence, any time a Muslim has this characteristic, he is taking on one of the characteristics of the people whom Allah despises. Allah says in the Quran, 1 Al-Haitami, Fath, p. 249. 2 Cf., ibn Uthaimeen, Sharh Riyaadh, vol. 4, p. 703. Hadith #35: "Do not be envious of one another . . . " ,,. J J J s / .., ,J ,,. 15/+ c& A (' . I'.} 9) .-,..;1 m ॵT y) ;:u\ JG-i J: / ; డ ;,,,· ,.. \.;),,..Ȱ ȑ , J. ,,,. ., .... ,.. ,.. ,.. ,,. Ƈ ,., ಠ J. ,.. / .... /,,. ವ Ǫ ,J ,,,. ., ǩ J;i.J ਫ_J,bj ॳॴI ljਭ '!J -di.JI ०\ JΎT % Όb Jd/1b;;/, "And recite to them the story of the two sons of Adam (Cain and Abel) in truth. When each of them offered a sacrifice [to Allah], it was accepted from one of them but not from the other. The latter said to the former, 'I will surely kill you.' The former said, 'Verily, Allah accepts only from those who are pious. If you do stretch your hand to kill me, I shall never stretch my hand out to kill you, for I fear Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. Verily, I intend to let you draw 1 Power and leadership are great trials from Allah. They are many times the downfall of otherwise righteous people. Some people want all the Islamic activity to be under their control and leadership. If others in the same community, not directly under their guidance, are doing some good work, they are not happy about it because they want all the good work to come from only themselves. Therefore, they start talking about the others and depreciating their good work. They claim that they are going against the "unity of the community" by not doing their good work under their leadership and control. This is a great disease that has afflicted many of the Muslim communities of the West. It must be recognized and cured by realizing that it is part of the evil hasad that the Prophet (peace be upon him) has warned about. Hadith #35: "Do not be envious of one another. . . " my sin on yourself as well as yours. Then you will be one of the dwellers of the Fire, and that is the recompense of the wrongdoers.' So the soul of the other encouraged him and made fair-seeming to him the murder of his brother. So he murdered him and became one of the losers" (al-Maaidah 27-30). As ibn Katheer pointed out, it was mostly his envy for his brother, that his brother's sacrifice was accepted and his was not, that led him to that grievous deed of killing his own blood brother. 1 Allah also recounts the story of the brothers of Yusuf. They were also jealous and envious of their father's love for Yusuf. Therefore, they also plotted to do away with their own blood brother. Allah says, ਪ1 Lfॣr 01 ୟ ਨ ॢ) li,. ।r T11 Br ;_;.rj G;J ipu } ij(-i1 ట. T 11(;.. r-'ઋ . J r-'""' ඨ :J 'Yr J 'Y- ਩ ට u-- ,,. ,,. r ,,. ǫ ॠ _;. i;1N a; 2 r+-:. }\u Ju rGJ य़ L.;J ੣o੤ r_ .,. ij; ?j ,,.. '-";: ඩ ,,.. ,,. ,,.,,. u,,.. J ,... J ., ., ., .... * ( 01 0)1;ଙ1\ ॡ ¢a::1; ॥L- >: J ;_;aJij ,,..,,.. " ,,. ,,. ,,.. ; ; ; "When they [the brothers of Yusuf] said, 'Truly, Yusuf and his brother are dearer to our father than we, while we are a strong group. Really, our father is in a plain error. Kill Yusuf or cast him out to some [other] land, so that the favor of our father may be given to you alone, and .after that you will be righteous folk.' One from among them said, 'Kill not Yusuf, but if you must do something, throw him down to the bottom of a well. He will be picked up by some caravan of travelers"' (Yoosuf 8-10). Has ad is a sign that a person's soul is evil and is far away from the level of imaan that it should achieve. The true believer must love for his brother what he loves for himself. He should be happy when his brother is blessed with something. This is virtually the exact opposite of hasad. In the case of hasad, one wishes for the things that Allah has bestowed upon others, while Allah has stated, , ... @ }} ;· J1; @1\ (. .