The Nature of Envy and the Pinnacle of Ignorance
One of the most dangerous maladies that gnaws away at a person's spiritual life from within and drives them to rebellion against their Lord is hasad (envy). The great guide of the people of Sufism (taṣawwuf), ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Geylānī (may Allah sanctify his secret), regards a person's coveting of another's blessing and envying them as the greatest sign of ignorance and foolishness. For in the divine apportionment, everyone's provision and share have been decreed from pre-eternity; a person's allotted share will never be given to another, nor will the share in another's hand ever pass to the envier. In such a case, to envy the blessing given to another neither increases one's own provision, but only darkens the qalb (the heart) and distances one from Allah's protection. The envier, unknowingly, opposes the secret of "My word cannot be changed in My presence, nor am I ever unjust to the servants" (Qāf, 29), and objects to Allah's decree.
The Parable of the King's Dogs and Ingratitude
Al-Geylānī explains the ugliness of envy with a striking parable: The situation of a man who envies the treasure hidden in the soil of his neighbor's house, while being in a place filled with the king's treasures, army, and dominion, is like that of a person who envies the dogs fed with leftovers from the king's kitchen. That dog gets up and barks, and while it is strengthened by the food from the king's kitchen, the envier looks at its state and wastes away inwardly. For a person to lower himself to such a base level in terms of contentment, religion, and asceticism is due to deficiency in reason and iman (faith). One who ignores the countless blessings Allah has bestowed upon him and becomes fixated on the tiniest blessing in another, is a wretch who does not consider that on the Day of Resurrection he will be called to account and struggle over those very blessings he envied.
Contentment with Decree and Purifying the Heart
The true believer submits with complete surrender to Allah's division among His servants of provision, honor, and rank. On that arduous Day of the Hereafter, expressed by the saying, "If only our flesh had been cut to pieces with scissors, so that they would wish for it," the utter meaninglessness of worldly desires will become manifest. The believer's duty is to have sabr (patient endurance) in the face of afflictions, to show shukr (gratitude) for the blessings in his own hand, and to rejoice in his neighbor's success and provision as if it were his own blessing. If the servant does not extinguish the fire of envy and greed within his inner world, he is condemned to writhe in unending sorrow and humiliation throughout his worldly life; and in the eternal realm, he will be deprived of Allah's merciful gaze. The servant who purifies his qalb from envy attains the pleasure of the Most High (Hak Taʿālā) and reaches endless inner peace.