Chapter 24. Sins Are Desired By Human Nature

It is known that these sins and acts of disobedience, though understood to be detestable and blameworthy by intellectual reasoning and by the criteria of Islam, are desired by human nature. It is a normal condition of the human self that it does not like others to have what it has not, or to have more of something than it, rather, it wishes for the good which has come to others to come to it. This is known in Arabic as Ghabta which is the lesser of the two forms of envy. Thus, the human self wishes to be superior or over others, and to be preferred to them, or it is envious of them, and wishes for the destruction of the good things which have come to others, even if it will not itself obtain it (this is the extreme form of envy). So, the human self contains these elements of desiring superiority, corruption, pride, and envy which makes it wish to possess its desires over and above others. How will such a self feel when it sees others having possessed what it desires while it has not obtained it? The more reasonable of them desires that all may have their desires on an equal basis, and cannot tolerate some having more than them, as for the others (i.e. who wish for the destruction of the good things possessed by others because they have not been able to obtain it), they are envious oppressors.

 

These two types of envy occur in relation to things which Islam allows as well as in relation to things which are forbidden by the rights of Allah over His slaves. As for that which is of the first type such as food and drink, spouses, clothes, riding animals, and wealth, the exclusive possession of these things by some and not others can be a cause of oppression, miserliness, and envy.

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