Tradition

"الحاسِدُ مُضِرُّ بِنَفْسِهِ قَبْلَ أَنْ يُضُرّ بِالْمَحْسُودِ"

Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) is narrated to have said: “The jealous one ends up harming himself before harming the object of his jealousy.”1

Brief Commentary

Jealousy is a state where one cannot bear to see others enjoying certain blessings. As a result, such an invidual will go as far as to try to take away that blessing and if they end up failing, then they will try to hurt that person in other ways. In reality, a jealous person is always trying to take things away from others instead of trying to improve themselves towards reaching a higher level. There is no doubt that jealousy is a serious moral disease with very serious social and spiritual consequences. From the perspective of psychological and spiritual well-being, a jealous person ends up harming themselves to a greater extent than the individual whom they are jealous of. It is better that such a person should try their best to grow and progress beyond what they see in others rather than simply trying to pull them down to their own level.

• 1. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 73, p. 225, Mustadraku Wasa'il, vol. 12, p. 19, Kashf Arriba, p. 53, Misbah Ash-Shari'a, p. 104.