Aymen’s Page

Jealousy is a disease of the heart. It is, perhaps, one of the oldest problems of human beings.

Causes of Jealousy

1-Enmity: One has animosity for a person or group and does not want to see anything good happen to that person or group.

2-Ambition: It hurts a person to see someone else ahead or above him/her.

3-Pride and Arrogance: When a person is self conceited and arrogant, he/she feels very jealous to see anyone else going ahead or doing better.

4-Astonishment: Some time a person feels astonished that another person could do better than him/her. He/she feels surprised: ‘How come that person became so rich, so successful, so popular, etc.?’

5-Fear: Fear that if another person would have such and such thing, then he/she may not have it.

6-Desire for power and prestige: Sometimes a person becomes jealous because he/she want to make one great by putting others down.

7-Evil nature and avarice of the heart: Some people just do not like to see others happy. They want to see the whole world in misery and difficulty except their own selves.

Normally jealousy occurs among people who know each other. It happens among siblings, among family members, people of the same profession and age.

“Do not be jealous of each other, do not boycott each other, do not hate each other, do not contrive against each other. Be all of you brothers to each other.

THE role of the mosque, as far as Islam is concerned, is not restricted to being a place for performing Islamic rituals as it also plays an important social and political role. Moreover, praying in congregation in the mosque teaches people unity. The mosque also serves as a meeting place where people discuss their problems and try to find solutions for them.

Al-Hadeeth

One of the easiest things to do is to find fault in others. To point out their every shortcoming and to overlook whatever good they may possess, in an effort for self-aggrandizement and seemingly moral superiority.

On the other hand, one of the hardest things to do is to find fault with you. Self-criticism is one of the most difficult things to do; yet it is a necessary variable in the equation for self-improvement. After taking a long, hard look in the mirror, I found yet another `gaping chest wound’ in the makeup of my Islamic character. I found I am constantly inconsistent.

Throughout my home, there is ample evidence to testify to this fact. A half-finished blanket in my knitting bag; a few pages completed out of about a half a dozen or so Arabic textbooks, and cutout patterns that have been sitting on my sewing table for months now. Unfortunately, this inconsistency of nature has found its way into the way I practice my Islam. I start the month, doing all my Sunnah prayers, then by the end of the month; I may be doing only one or two. I start off fasting every Monday and Thursday, and then not so every Monday and Thursday. I start off fast and furious, but I often crash and burn in mid-stream. The trick is to start off strong, but to maintain enough momentum to see you through the long haul. This is the Islamic way, the way of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wasallam, and his companions.

It was narrated by Alqama that he asked Aisha, “Did Allah’s Messenger, use to choose some special days (for fasting)?” She replied, “No, but he used to be regular (constant) (in his service of worshipping) . Who amongst you can endure what Allah’s Messenger used to endure?” (Bukhari) It was also narrated that Masruq asked Aisha, “What deed was the most beloved to the Prophet?” She said, “The regular constant one.” I said, “At what time did he use to get up at night (for the Tahajjud night prayer)?’ She said, “He used to get up on hearing (the crowing of) the cock (the last third of the night).” (Bukhari)

Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, says, “And those who are constant, seeking the pleasure of their Lord, and keep up prayer and spend (benevolently) out of what We have given them secretly and openly and repel evil with good; as for those, they shall have the (happy) issue of the abode.” [13:22] Allah also says. “Peace be on you because you were constant, how excellent, is then, the issue of the abode.” [13:24]

We can see from the above ahadeeth and verses of the Qur’an, that constancy of nature is something loved by both Allah and His Messenger. But how do we cultivate this constancy in ourselves? One of the ways I’ve found beneficial, one of the ways of the salaf, is to implement things easily and slowly into your routine. Start off with doing what is obligatory and then add the nawafil, one at a time, learn to maintain it, and then move on to something else. This is true because Abu Hurrairah narrated that Allah’s Messenger said, “The deeds of anyone of you will not save you (from the Fire).” They said, “Even you (will not be saved by your deeds), O Allah’s Messenger?” He said, “No, even me (will not be saved) unless and until Allah bestows His Mercy on me. Therefore, do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately, and worship Allah in the forenoon and in the afternoon and during a part of the night, and always adopt a middle, moderate, regular course whereby you will reach your target (Paradise).” (Bukhari)

Another tool for building consistency is to do in private, what you do in public. Once Umar ibn Abdul Azeez was advised, “0 Umar, beware of being the ally of Allah in open, while being His enemy in secret. If one’s nature in open and in secret do not equate then he is a hypocrite, and the hypocrites occupy the lowest level in the Hellfire.” We should beware of the Satan’s tricks, and not fall suspect to them, if you usually make two or four raka’t of Sunnah before Dhuhr at home, then you should do the same when you are out.

So the next time you feel the need to point out the beam in your brother’s eye, make sure that you first acknowledge the log in your own eye. It was Umar ibnul-Khattaab who said, “Call yourselves to account before you are brought to account. Weigh them up before they are weighed, and prepare for the greatest parade. The Day that you shall be presented (for judgement), not a secret of yours will be hidden.” Being constantly critical of self and remaining constant in obedience to Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, leads to bliss. For Allah says, “And whatever is in the heavens and the earth is His, and to Him should obedience be (rendered) constantly; will you then guard against other than (the punishment of) Allah?”

1.  It is of the sunna to be afraid for one’s past, one’s state at death, for calamities, and for treachery and disgrace. It is of the sunna to be patient and steadfast in worship, in blessings, in tribulations, and in divine punishments in one’s body, reputation, family, or money. It is of the sunna to have firm patience in avoiding sins, and to make up for one’s past misdeeds.

2.  It is of the sunna to intend worship and obedience to Allah by one’s intention, deeds, words, and  one’s every movement and rest; and to be indifferent to this world and desirous of the next, and to reflect carefully upon how one is now, and shall be then, and upon one’s being mustered on the Last Day, being raised from the dead, and questioned. It is sunna to hope that one’s obedience will be accepted, as well as one’s repentance from disobedience, and to be satisfied with what one has, and be contented with what is generally considered enough for a person, without extravagance and without penury.

3.  It is obligatory to be contented with what Allah Most High has destined when it is of His acts, such as illness, disease, poverty, malady, loss of intellect, and so forth; though some say it is but the sunna to be contented with such things, and that what is obligatory is that one have patience with them. As for acts of human beings that Allah has forbidden, such as unbelief and misguidance, contentment with them is unlawful by consensus (ijma’) of all scholars, for contentment with unbelief and acts of disobedience is itself unbelief and disobedience. 

4.  It is permissible to weep for the dead provided one does not commit unlawful things such as calling out to the deceased in lamentation as if he were alive and enumerating his great qualities, or wailing, or bitterness a what Allah has destined and necessarily appointed, or despair which contravenes one’s servitude and submission to Him. It is praiseworthy to weep for the deceased out of mercy for him, as the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said of weeping when he wept for the dead, “This is a mercy Allah has placed in the hearts of His servants”—for it does not negate being content with Allah’s destiny—as opposed to weeping over him because of one’s own loss at no longer having him, which is unpraiseworthy. Al-Fudayl, when his son died, laughed. He said, “I saw that Allah had destined it, and I wished to be pleased with what Allah had destined.” And this is a good state in relation to those who despair. As for mercy towards the deceased, satisfaction with destiny, and praising Allah, which was the state of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), it is more perfect.

5.  Patience with one’s personal trials is obligatory by consensus of all the intelligent. As for acceptance of them, it is spiritually higher and closer to Allah to have contentment with them, though not obligatory. Even higher than contentment is to give thanks to Allah for them because of the divine blessing in them, in view of the reward and spiritual ascent in them if one has patience with them. It is unlawful for someone in disobedience to accept his remoteness from Allah. And it is not obligatory for someone being punished by Allah to have contentment with it. 

“Thou seest the mountains and thinkest them firmly fixed: but they shall pass away as the clouds pass away: (such is) the artistry of Allah, who disposes of all things in perfect order: for he is well acquainted with all that ye do.” (Quran 27:88)

In ancient Arabia, mountains are considered fixed. Fifteen hundred years passed, geology evolves, we realize that Quran is absolutely correct on the fact that the mountains are passing phenomena. Himalayas will pass, Mount Everest will pass because the mountains rise from the motion of the plates of the earth against each other and then they erode away.

The mountains are moving because they are made of small particles we can not see this movement, it is the movement of the particles inside the mountains. God can make the mountain disappear on the Day of Judgment.

The passage in the Book of Knowledge Encyclopedia on Mountains states, “A belt of rocks across the flat central part of Canada and United States from northern Quebec to south western Montana (a very large sector of land), a flat area of rocks marks the site of a mountain system that existed approximately 2 billion 7 hundred million years ago. The oldest mountain system yet recognized on North American continent”.

See this proof. The more science we learn, we become more able to understand the Quran. 

Excerpts from the sunday lecture addressed by Dr. Gasser Hathout at the Islamic Center of Southern California, Los Angeles on July 17, 2005.