Envy harms faith and relationships
“Hasad is when you have negative feelings towards someone's blessings.”
Hasad, or envy, is an ancient spiritual disease that harms faith and relationships, but it can be cured through knowledge, humility, goodwill, private prayer, and gratitude for Allah’s blessings.
The khutbah in 6 steps
- Defines hasad as envy rather than jealousy and explains its harmful nature.
- Describes three levels of envy, from disliking blessings to actively trying to remove them.
- Explains envy’s spiritual and social dangers through Quranic stories and prophetic warnings.
- Distinguishes harmful envy from permissible admiration, or ghibta, which motivates good deeds.
- Identifies peers, competition, conceit, arrogance, and hatred as causes of envy.
- Prescribes humility, praising and praying for those envied, and focusing on one’s own blessings.
In the khateeb's words
“So hasad is when you have negative feelings towards someone's blessings.”
“Ultimately, it's a problem between you and Allah. Because it is Allah who gave that person that blessing.”
“When the person you have hasad of is being praised in a gathering, praise them as well.”
“Comparison is the thief of joy. Sometimes you have something really great, but then you compare yourself to someone who has more and it ruins the whole thing.”
For the dinner table
Envy is feeling unhappy when someone else receives a blessing, and it can grow into wishing harm or working to take that blessing away. The khutbah teaches that Allah is the One who gives provision, so envy is ultimately a problem between our hearts and Allah, while it only makes us miserable. We can replace envy with healthy admiration: be glad for someone else’s good and seek similar goodness through worship and service. When envy appears, humble yourself, praise the person, make a private dua for their blessing, and remember your own gifts. Comparing ourselves, especially through social media, steals joy, so we should focus on gratitude and competing in good deeds.
- What blessing in someone else could we sincerely celebrate and pray Allah increases?
- What is one of your own blessings you might overlook when comparing yourself with others?
- How can our family compete in good deeds without resenting anyone?
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