Condemning envy and condemnation of envious people
First sermon
All praise is due to Allah as is befitting to Him. I bear witness there is no deity worthy of worship save Allah Alone, having no partners. I also certify that Muhammad is the servant of Allah and His Messenger. Allah has preferred him over many others and selected him to be His Messenger.
May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Guide Muhammad, his family, his companions, and all those who will follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.
As to what follows, I call upon myself first and all of you to be ever conscious and do construct our lives in accordance to what He has ordered us as He says, the meaning of which is, “O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed Allah is ever, over you, an Observer.” (Annissaa:1). He also says, “The Day when there will not benefit [anyone] wealth or children. But only one who comes to Allah with a sound heart.” (Ashuaraa:88-89).
The sound heart should be free from such soul diseases as envy. This is perceived as the negative feeling which engulfs a person and drives him to wish the others lacked their blessings. It was also one of the origins of sins that led Satan to disobey Allah not to prostrate to Adam pbuh. It likewise drove Qabil to kill Habil, after Allah had accepted his brother’s work but not his. And the outcome of his act was a complete perdition.
Because of the serious destructive nature of envy, Allah has ordered us to immune ourselves from the envious by seeking refuge with Allah, the Most Exalted, as he says, which means, “Say, "I seek refuge in the Lord of daybreak. From the evil of that which He created. And from the evil of darkness when it settles. And from the evil of the blowers in knots. And from the evil of an envier when he envies." (Al Falaq1-5).
Verily, envy is a deadly feeling that wreaks havoc on the community and is contrary to faith. About this, our Prophet Muhammad pbuh said, “Belief and envy will never exist together in a worshipper's heart.” Thus if a community is free from such a pitiless sentiment it should be healthy and its members should have sincere faith, as well. In the same regard, our Master Muhammad pbuh said, “None of you will attain faith till he wishes for his (Muslim) brother what he likes for himself.”
O Believers,
Jealousy comes in many forms that are mostly despicable. The exception to this is when a person desires to be like others or to have what they do, but without wishing the removal of the blessings they enjoy. Instead, he prays Allah, may Glory be to Him, to sustain His favours on them. This was made clear in the following Hadeeth by our Prophet Muhammad pbuh: “No (legal) envy except in two things: in a man who has given wealth by Allah and he protects it from destroy in right path; and a man who has given wisdom and he acts upon it and teaches it.”
There are many causes leading to envy, mainly the unfair competition amongst people to obtain worldly gains using illegitimate means. On this account, the Prophet Muhammad pbuh said, “By Allah, it is not poverty that I fear for you, but I fear that this world will be opened up with its wealth for you as it was opened to those before you; and you vie with one another over it as they did and eventually it will ruin you as it ruined them."
Nevertheless, any fair competition for good ends is legitimate and welcome as Allah, the Most High, says, meaning, “So for this let the competitors compete.” (Al Mutafiffin:26).
Among other reasons that may cause an individual to turn envious is arrogance. An arrogant person may develop a sense of superiority towards others and wishes to have blessings for himself only while others deprived. This is in fact what Ibliss (the Satan) said as reported in this verse, “[Satan] said, "I am better than him. You created me from fire and created him from clay." (Al Aaraf:12).
O Muslims,
A true Muslim is the one who strives hard to purify his soul from such ill-feelings and seeks to treat himself from jealousy and similar sentiments. One can do this by being friendly to others as our Prophet Muhammad pbuh advised us to do. He said, “do not envy, and do not outbid each other, and do not hate, and do not turn away, and be servants of Allah as brothers.”
Another way to do this is by being satisfied with what Allah has provided us. Self-content is indeed an effective strategy to cope with envy and brings comfort and tranquility to the self, as Our Prophet Muhammad pbuh said, “be satisfied with what Allah has given you and you will be the richest of the people.” He also said, “He who becomes a Muslim has succeeded, is given sufficient provisions, and is content with Allah for what he is given.”
With this in mind, we turn to Allah to ask His favour to have us amongst His virtuous servants and help us to obey Him and those He has ordained upon us to obey, in compliance with His injunctions: "O ye who believe! Obey Allah, and obey the Messenger, and those charged with authority among you." (Annisaa:59).
May Allah bless you and me with the ability to implement the Holy Quran and the Sunna of His Messenger Muhammad pbuh. I say this and pray to Allah, the Almighty, to grant us forgiveness. Supplicate to Allah for forgiveness for He is the Most Forgiving and the Most Merciful.
Second sermon
Praise be to Allah. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah, having no associates. I also bear witness that our Master Muhammad is His servant and messenger, who was true to his promise. May the peace and the blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, his companions and all those who will follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.
Dear Muslims, please obey Allah and know that Muslims are required to keep their heart sound following our Prophet’s advice: “Truly in the body there is a morsel of flesh which, if it be whole, all the body is whole and which, if it be diseased, all of it is diseased. Truly it is the heart."
Muslims should therefore protect themselves from such diseases as jealousy, rancour, and hatred. It was narrated that Abdullah Ibn Amru (may Allah be satisfied with him) said that the Prophet Muhammad pbuh was said, “which people are the best?” He answered, “those whose tongues are truthful and their hearts are Makhmum.” They asked him: “we know the meaning of a truthful tongue, but what is a heart that is Makhmum? He said, “it is a heart that is pious and pure with no sin. This heart has no unfairness, no envy and does not hold malice.”
Having said this, we ask Allah’s favour to purify our hearts and fill them with love and satisfaction.
Dear Muslims,
Allah has commanded you an order to which He and His angels are both committed, when He says, the meaning of which is, "Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect." (Al Ahzab:56).
The Prophet pbuh said, "for everyone who invokes a blessing on me will receive ten blessings from Allah." May the peace and theblessings of Allah be upon our Master Muhammad pbuh, his family and all his companions.
May Allah be pleased with the Rightly Guided Caliphs and all those who will follow them in righteousness till the Day of Judgment.
O Allah, we seek Your favour to let our hearts be full of Your gratitude and keep our tongue moist with Your remembrance. May Allah bless us with good provision, accepted work, beneficial knowledge, well-being in mind and body and blessed living life and progeny.
O Allah, increase Your blessings upon us and do not withhold Your provision from us, honour us and do not disgrace us, give us and do not deprive us, advocate us and do not disfavour us. O Allah, bestow upon us Your satisfaction and grant us self-content. O Allah, make piety our pursuit, solidify our faith and increase our wisdom.
O Allah, we seek Your mercy and forgiveness. We turn to You in repentance, put our hope and trust in You to guide us to do the righteous actions and accept our supplications to You. We also beseech You to confer on us safety from every sin, and booty of all righteousness, and to win Paradise and deliverance from the Hellfire.
O Allah, we implore You at this instant not to let a sin unforgiven, a distress unrelieved, an illness unhealed or a handicapped without relief, a dead without mercy or a debt unsettled. Our Lord! Grant us good in this world and good in the life to come and keep us safe from the torment of the Fire.
May Allah grant our leader HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and his Deputy, HH Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, success and provide strength and support to his brothers, Their Highness The Rulers of the Emirates, and his trustworthy Crown Prince HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
O Allah, forgive all of the Muslims, men and women, living and dead, and make blessings follow us and them. May Allah have mercy on Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Maktoum and all their brothers, the Late UAE Sheikhs. O Lord, forgive and show mercy, You are the Ever Merciful and there is no strength nor power save with Allah, the High, the Great.
O Allah, grant the favour of Your forgiveness to whoever have donated a Waqf to benefit Your servants and bless the wealth of whoever have given Zakat. We beseech You to bestow Your forgiveness and great reward upon who built this mosque, his parents and anyone who have contributed to it with good deeds. O Allah, forgive anyone who built a mosque in which Your Name is remembered.
We pray to Allah, the Most Gracious, to continue blessing the UAE and all Muslim countries with safety and security.
O Servants of Allah, Remember Allah and He will Remember you. Be grateful for His benevolence He will increase His blessings to you. Allah, the Most High, says, meaning: "And establish regular Prayer: for Prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and remembrance of Allah is the greatest (thing in life) without doubt. And Allah knows the (deeds) that ye do." (Al Ankaboot:45).
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