Showing and Telling

In a hadith narrated from ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr bin ‘As the Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said:

“When the treasures of Persia and Rome are conquered, what kind of people will you be?” ‘Abdur-Rahman bin ‘Awf رضي الله عنه‎ said: “We will say what Allāh has commanded us to say.” One of the meanings of this is that ‘We shall be grateful to Allāh’.

The Messenger of Allāh ﷺ said: “Or something other than that. You will compete with one another, then you will envy one another, then you will turn your backs on one another, then you will hate one another’.

Envy and hatred go hand in hand. Envy leads to hatred. Hatred leads to envy. We can protect ourselves from envy and hatred by remaining private, subdued and quiet about our own achievements and belongings. Do not make a show and display of everything. Do not share everything with everyone. Do not even say ‘Alhamdulillah, Allāh has given me this’. It does not matter that you preface it with the praise of Allāh. Envy sees straight through the praise of Allāh too. It is best to be private and discreet rather than making a show and display of everything.

[This excerpt is based on a talk entitled ‘Envy: The Inferno Within Part 1’ delivered by Shaykh Riyadh ul Haq on February 21st February 2020]

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