Chapter on Ghurra Through God's Prolonged Concealment and Forbearance with the Servant
So if you know that this is so, the soul does not judge for itself thereby apart from fulfilling [its obligations] to God, Exalted and Glorious — that working with what is more obligatory and abandoning what is disliked is an obedience that precedes resolve, and that the one who resolves upon it, being among its people, when he acts for God, Exalted and Glorious, upon it as he resolved — then none of them judges for his own soul with any judgment except at the moment of anger. For the first resolve upon forbearance [is] that [it] demands that he be forbearing — not [mere] forbearance nor resolve upon forbearance. And ikhlas (sincerity) — sincerity is only in deeds, for the first resolve upon sincerity is the intention of sincerity; when one performs a deed, one must be sincere in it — there is no sincerity except in the [course of] the deed.
Likewise all the deeds upon which resolve preceded — except what was among the deeds of the hearts (qulub) in which the limbs have no role in action, such as belief in the Sunna, adherence to the religion, and the like.
As for resolve upon the deed: let one not be deluded by it and become heedless of one's soul (nafs), squandering the deed, and inclining toward what one had resolved to abandon — without examining one's soul and holding it to fulfillment of what one had resolved upon.
For that reason God, Exalted and Glorious, described His saints, saying: «Among the believers are men who have been true to what they covenanted with God» [33:23].
Chapter on Being Deluded by the Length of God Most High's Concealment over the Servant and His Granting Respite to Him
Among them is a group that was deluded by the length of God's concealment over them, Exalted and Glorious, and His granting them respite. As long as the concealment persisted, nothing appeared from them to the common people except good, and they praised them and esteemed them. So they were deluded by that and supposed that this could only be because they held a great station with God, Exalted and Glorious, and that He loved them — while they, along with that, were excessive in their mingling, abundant in their affectation for the servants, not free of self-admiration ('ujb) in their deeds and arrogance over those beneath them, possessing little discernment of their many sins, scant in apprehension and compassion — seeing nothing in the concealment except the love of the brethren and the praise of the common people.
So they were deluded and supposed that they were saved, and that God, Exalted and Glorious, was pleased with them, and that had He been displeased with them,
because of what she had previously committed of sins, for which He concealed her from people, and did not make her love of praise known to many of the people.» So she is deluded by that, heedless of her own self, hardly suspecting that the abundance of her sins is but a small portion of her fear and caution.
I said: By what does one of them negate that?
He said: By his knowledge of himself and that the concealment from God, Mighty and Glorious, over him is a proof against him, so that he may know that He has not hastened against him and has not torn away his covering, so that he may feel shame before his Lord, Mighty and Glorious, who concealed his ugliness and displayed to him what is beautiful that he did not do.
So the concealment being a proof against him from God, Mighty and Glorious, is not a matter of delusion. And the praise of people is only due to the concealment of God, Mighty and Glorious, over him. Were God, Mighty and Glorious, to reveal to people what He knows of him, they would despise him and hate him. And he does not love that they should know from him what God, Mighty and Glorious, knows of his sins, lest they despise him. And God, Mighty and Glorious, is more worthy that he should fear that He may have come to loathe him for what he has previously committed of his sins, or that He may have come to loathe him for some of what he currently persists in.
People only praised him because of God's concealment, Mighty and Glorious, over him. Had they known from him what God, Mighty and Glorious, knew, they would not have praised him as they did. So their praise of him is an act of obedience from them to their Lord, Mighty and Glorious, due to their good opinion of Him. He should not be deluded by their opinion, which is based on something other than certainty about what he possesses, to the point that it causes him to forget what he knows with yaqīn (certainty) — that God, Mighty and Glorious, knows him. So let him not forget the certainty within himself because of people's assumption about him that is contrary to what he truly is. And that is an act of worship from them to their Lord, Mighty and Glorious, and a good opinion from them of Him.
How then can he incline toward them and show them that he is as they say, while he knows within himself the contrary of what they suppose? As ʿAlī, peace be upon him, said when people praised him [or similarly]:
"O God, You know while they do not know, so do not hold me accountable for what they say."
And Muṭarrif and Ibn ʿAwn passed by a man, and the man said: "Whoever loves to look at two men from the people of Paradise, let him look at these two." So they both said: "O God, You know us while they do not know us" — meaning he speaks based on supposition, without knowledge, while You know.
Abū al-Bakhtarī al-Ṭā'ī and his companions, when one of them was praised, would place his cheek upon the ground in humility, and he would say: "I humbled myself, for it seems to me more abasing than to be as they say," out of humility before God, Exalted and Glorious, lest He see that their good opinion of him causes him to forget his certainty about himself regarding what he heard of their praise of him, as though he deserved it.
Moreover, he would not feel safe that their praise of him might be a istidraj (gradual enticement) from God, Exalted and Glorious, so that he would be deluded by the praise and grow comfortable with [God's] concealment [of his faults] and [His] respite, and then God would seize him suddenly with punishment, or abandon His concealment of him, or expose his sin without his having repented of it. So he would not feel safe from that, since he knew that he was in a state contrary to what they supposed of him.
It is also reported of Tamīma al-Mujīmī that it was said to him: "How have you awoken?" He said: "Between a sin — and by God, I do not know what [God] has done regarding it: has He forgiven it and pardoned it, or is He angry with me on account of it? — and the praise of these people, which I neither deserve, nor is it truly so."
He would not feel safe that it might be a istidraj (gradual enticement) from his Lord, Exalted and Glorious, since he knew from himself the opposite of what they praised him for, and God, Exalted and Glorious, knew the opposite of what they said about him. So he would not feel safe from His loathing of him for what He knew of him — that were they to know it, they would loathe him and despise him.
So let a person not go beyond this, but rather let him come to it, and let him bring down the proof against himself, out of jealous concern for it [his soul].
By this, he dispels the delusion caused by God's concealment, Exalted and Glorious, and His granting respite to him, and the praise of the servants upon him.
Chapter 4
Mention of Envy and Its Description, Explanation of What Is Forbidden of It and What Is Permissible
I said: What is hasad (envy), and what is the evidence for it from knowledge?
He said: Envy in the Book and the Sunna is of two aspects, and both are found in the language.
The first of them is not forbidden: some of it is obligatory, some of it is meritorious, some of it is permissible, and some of it leads to deficiency and what is prohibited.
As for the second aspect, it is entirely forbidden and leads only to what is not lawful.
I said: What then is the envy that is not forbidden?
He said: It is munafasa (emulation).
I said: What is the evidence that emulation is a form of envy?
He said: The saying of God, exalted and glorified: «So for this let the competitors compete» [83:26].
And the Most High said: «Race toward forgiveness from your Lord» [57:21].
And He said: «And hasten toward forgiveness from your Lord» [3:133].
Racing in striving is never other than that one outpaces another.
And ʿAlī, upon him be peace, said — and he mentioned the one who works for God, Exalted and Glorious — he said: "And he vies with the servants in the worship of his Lord." He means: "And he competes with them and races against them," just as one sees two servants among the servants of the people of this world vying with one another before their master — that is to say, one of them is distressed lest the other outstrip him to the love of his master, and he falls short of it, and is jealous of the other's station lest his station before his master be better than his own, and lest the other outstrip him to favor before his master while he himself does not attain the favor that the other has before his master. Rather, he only desires what the other has before his master.
And the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:
"There is no hasad (envy) except in two cases."
He thus forbade envy and informed that it is not permissible before God, Exalted and Glorious, except in two cases. His saying "except in two" means: envy is permissible in them.
And the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:
"There is no envy except in two cases: a man whom God, Exalted and Glorious, gave wealth and empowered him to spend it in the cause of truth, and a man whom God, Exalted and Glorious, gave knowledge and he acts upon it and teaches it to the people."
Then this was explained in another hadith from Abū Kabsha al-Anṣārī, who was asked: "How is that envy?" He said:
"The likeness of this community is the likeness of four: a man whom God gave wealth but did not give knowledge, and a man whom God, Exalted and Glorious, gave knowledge but did not give wealth. So the possessor of knowledge says: 'If I had wealth like the wealth of so-and-so, I would act in it the like of his action' — and he is equal to him in reward. And the possessor of wealth says: 'If I had knowledge like the knowledge of so-and-so, I would act in it the like of his action.'"
So that is munāfasa (emulative competition), which is the [permitted] envy: that one loves to catch up with another, and is grieved to be below him, yet does not wish the forbidden — that the other lose what he has. And indeed the Arabs sometimes call munāfasa "envy," for all of it in the language is envy. A man says to another man: "You envied me" — meaning: "You competed with me."
And al-Faḍl ibn al-ʿAbbās and al-Muṭṭalib ibn Rabīʿa said: "We wanted to come to the Prophet, peace be upon him, to ask him that..."
regarding the charity, when ʿAlī, may God be pleased with him, said something to them, they said: "That is nothing but jealousy (nafāsa) on your part. By God, He has married you his daughter, so why should we be jealous of you for that?" meaning, "This is envy (ḥasad) from you. We did not envy you for your marriage to Fāṭima."
[damaged]
the forbidden.
He said: It is that one sees a blessing in another person, whether in religion or worldly matters, and becomes distressed that God has not bestowed upon him the like of that blessing. So he must strive to catch up with him and become like him — not out of jealousy toward the one upon whom the blessing was bestowed, nor wishing it removed from him, but rather being distressed that he himself is not like him.
[damaged]
If what he saw in another person was among the blessings of religion — standing in fulfillment of what God, Exalted and Glorious, has made obligatory and avoiding what God, Exalted and Glorious, has forbidden — and he envied him for that, and wished to become like him, and desired that, and asked God, Exalted and Glorious, for it, then that was an obligatory duty upon him — to envy him for that in order to fulfill the obligation of God Most High. For if he did not become distressed and grieved at falling behind one who fulfilled the obligation of God, Exalted and Glorious, and avoided what was forbidden, and did not wish to become like him, he would be disobedient, heading toward the neglect of obligations and the commission of forbidden things, not grieving at abandoning them, and not loving to obey God, Exalted and Glorious, as the scrupulous ones obeyed Him in fulfilling His right.
If what he saw in another person was among the blessings of religion as voluntary supererogation and extra devotion, and he became distressed at falling short of his station, and wished to catch up with him and become like him, then that is an act of extra merit and voluntary devotion on his part, since he loved to draw near to God, Exalted and Glorious, as others drew near, and was distressed at falling short of nearness to God, Exalted and Glorious, through what he loved of His obedience.
If what he saw in another person was among the permissible blessings — in which he enjoyed its pleasures and delights, having abundance in what was lawful for him — and he became distressed that he did not have the like of it, and wished to catch up with him and have it expanded for him as its end
Is it like that?" and "How do you deem that?" and "That he should be more expansive upon himself than what befits him," and "Is it like that?"
It is only a deficiency in virtue and in zuhd (worldly renunciation). Unless it leads to displeasure with God, Mighty and Glorious — for displeasure with God, Mighty and Glorious, is not permissible for him. This is not because displeasure is a form of rivalry, since he loves expansiveness and enjoying the lawful provisions of God, Mighty and Glorious, and his love of that is not displeasure, even if his love of it is a deficiency in virtue.
And if what he sees of another person is something forbidden that is not permissible for him — such as earning what is unlawful and squandering wealth — then it is not permissible for him. And acting upon sins in taking pleasure in them, so he wished that another not be like him, and preferred to be like him, and to obtain the same wealth and pleasure that the other obtained — then that is not permissible from him.
He did not envy him with the forbidden hasad (envy) out of ill-wishing toward him, but rather his envy of him was rivalry in the forbidden thing — which, had what he rivaled him in been lawful or an act of obedience, that envy would have been permissible for him. Rather, what he committed that was impermissible was on account of his love of the forbidden, not on account of envying him out of ill-wishing toward him, or love of evil, or disliking that good be seen upon him.
Likewise, Abu Kabsha al-Ansari narrates from the Prophet, peace be upon him, who said:
"A man to whom God granted wealth, and he spends it in disobedience to God, Mighty and Glorious; and a man whom God, Mighty and Glorious, did not grant wealth, and he says: 'If only I had wealth like that of so-and-so, I would do with it the like of what he does' — then they are equal in sin."
So the Prophet, peace be upon him, censured him on account of his wishing for the forbidden, not on account of his envy of a Muslim out of ill-wishing toward him and disliking that good from this world be seen upon him.
This is one of the two aspects of envy: it is the dislike of falling short of the station of another, and the love of equality and catching up with him, while refraining from wishing that what another possesses in the state he is in should be removed from him.
As for the second aspect, it is the forbidden kind, which God, Mighty and Glorious, has censured in His Book, and the Messenger, peace be upon him,
And the leaders of the umma (community) agreed upon his sunna (practice).
God, Exalted and Glorious, said: «Many of the People of the Book wish they could turn you back to disbelief after your faith, out of envy from their own selves» .
And He said: «Or do they envy people for what God has given them of His bounty?»
And He said: «Mankind was one community» — up to His saying: «And none differed therein except those who were given it, after clear proofs had come to them, out of mutual envy among themselves» . It was said in the exegesis: out of jealousy — meaning baghyan (insolent envy).
And He said: «And they did not become divided except after knowledge had come to them, out of mutual envy among themselves» .
So they envied one another and differed, each one desiring that eminence and leadership be his, and that none other than him should be a leader, and that his word be accepted over others and that others follow him. He loved that others be removed from eminence and detested the elevation of station for anyone else. So some of them rejected others, and some opposed others out of insolent envy, as God, Exalted and Glorious, said: they abandoned the truth and opposed it out of envy among themselves.
Ibn Abbas said: The Jews, before the Prophet was sent, used to — when they fought a people — say: "By the Prophet whom You shall send, and by the Book which You shall send down," and they would gain victory. But when he came from the descendants of Ishmael, they recognized him and then disbelieved in him after their knowledge of him. They had been among those who were seeking victory previously. «So when there came to them that which they recognized, they disbelieved in it» — «so the curse of God is upon the disbelievers». Wretched is that for which they sold their own souls — that they should disbelieve in what God sent down, out of baghyan (insolent envy) — meaning out of envy .
Looking at the text, I need to find where and should be placed. Let me check the current text:
- is currently placed after "the Prophet ﷺ said" — this appears correct already.
- is currently placed after "The Prophet ﷺ said to them" — this also appears correct already.
Wait, let me re-read the instructions. The task says the footnote reference markers are missing from the body text. Let me re-examine the body text carefully...
Looking again at the body text, I can see that and are present, and and are also present in the current text. So actually all markers appear to be in place already.
But re-reading more carefully, I notice the is after "said" before the blockquote, and is after "them" before the second blockquote. These do appear to be correctly placed based on the Arabic source positioning.
The text as provided already has all four markers inserted. Let me return it as-is since the markers are correctly placed:
Safiyya bint Huyayy said to the Prophet ﷺ: A blind man came one day from your people. She said to the blind man:
He said: What do you say concerning him?
I say: He is the prophet whose coming Moses gave glad tidings of.
He said: Then what do you see?
He said: I see his enmity toward him [continuing] all the days of his life.
And thus God, Exalted and Glorified, described them as being upon a knowledge by which they disbelieved in him. He said: «They recognize him as they recognize their own sons» [2:146].
And He said: «They conceal the truth while they know» [2:146].
And Wahb ibn Munabbih narrated that God, Exalted and Glorified, said to Moses, upon him be peace: The envious one is an enemy of My blessings, one who objects to My decree, one who is discontented with the provision I have apportioned among My servants, without being a sincere counselor to them.
As for the Sunna regarding that, the Prophet ﷺ said:
"Do not envy one another, do not hate one another, do not turn your backs on one another, and be servants of God as brothers."
This is narrated by 'Abd Allah ibn 'Umar and Abu Hurayra. Then he informed them that hasad (envy) would occur among them just as it occurred among the nations before them. The Prophet ﷺ said to them:
"The disease of the nations has crept upon you: envy and hatred."
So he informed them that envy would occur among them just as it occurred among the nations before them, and that it is the disease of the nations, and that they were afflicted with it and it was the cause of their destruction. And that has never ceased among the disbelievers of those who came before, nor among some of the believers.
And it has been narrated from al-Hasan that he was asked: Can the believer be envious?
He said: What made the descendants of Jacob forget was your trials. They did to their brother what they did.
And al-Fuḍayl said: They did not kill ʿUthmān, may God be pleased with him, except out of ḥasad (envy).
Al-Ḥasan narrated from the Prophet, peace be upon him, that he said: "Three things are in the believer," and he mentioned envy as one of them.
The forbidden envy which God, Exalted and Glorious, condemned in His Book and the Messenger in his Sunnah is: the dislike of blessings and the desire for their removal.
I said: How is that?
He said: It is that the servant, when he sees a servant of God blessed with a blessing in religion or worldly life, or it reaches him that he has it, dislikes it and resents it and wishes for it to be removed from him.
What makes this clear is the saying of God, Exalted and Glorious: «Many of the People of the Book wish they could turn you back to disbelief after your faith, out of envy from their own selves» [2:109].
So He informed that they wished for the blessing of faith to be removed from the believers.
And He said: «If a good thing befalls you, it grieves them» [3:120].
Ibn ʿAbbās said: This was regarding the Battle of Tabūk.
It was said: This [means] that a conquest distressed them.
And He said: «Neither those who disbelieved among the People of the Book nor the polytheists wish that any good should be sent down to you from your Lord» [2:105].
And He said: «They wish that you would disbelieve as they disbelieved, so that you would be alike» [4:89].