Showing Off and Envy

He purifies his heart from showing off. Big problem. This is what is called riyāʾ, which is doing something to be seen by others. And it is only related to religious matters, spiritual matters. In other words, if somebody is showing off their athletic ability, that in Islam is discouraged, but it is not prohibited. It is just seen as kind of a — but it is not prohibited. What is prohibited is doing it when it relates to worship. That is absolutely prohibited. And according to the Islamic tradition, God will have nothing to do with that action if it is done for the sake of others.

And then envy, ḥasad. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: envy eats good actions like fire eats firewood. Envy. There is a really interesting book called Envy: Towards a Social Theory^******, by a German philosopher, who is saying that envy is the single most destructive element in human societies. And one of the interesting things he points out is that primitive cultures are envy-based cultures, which he feels is one of the reasons why they have been left in a primitive condition: because they have been unable to sublimate envy. Civilisation, according to this man, is based on individuals sublimating envy. Otherwise one cannot create anything.

And one of the interesting things, looking at Steve Covey — his books are widely read: Seven Habits and Principle-Centred Leadership — is that what he is doing, very clearly, is taking religious principles, secularising them, and introducing them into the workspace, because the Japanese work together. Big egos in American corporations have a very hard time working together. So what he is trying to create is what he calls the win-win situation. In other words, you can maintain your big egos, but you have to sublimate a little bit for the greater good, which is the quarterly profits. And this is the type of idea of really recognising that one cannot always be competing. There are times when one kind of has to just say: we have to work together.

So envy is a very serious problem in human societies. And teachers are affected by this: AP teachers, for instance, as somebody was recently remarking; also teachers who get awards for being good teachers, because there are other teachers who suddenly say: what is he doing that the rest of us are not doing? Teachers whom students want, for electives — that is a really good teacher — there are real problems with that. Many have felt the brunt of that. People get really envious of something that, from the Muslim point of view, is just a gift. One is sharing a gift. It is not a matter of: oh, look at me, how wonderful. No — if somebody has a talent, it is a gift from God, and what one does is share it with others. And if one can see it that way — this is something God has given that person; this is a gift — once one sees that God is the giver of gifts, then one recognises: well — one is happy for that person. And one has one's own gifts, because each person has their own areas of possibility. And envy really destroys: one can never overcome that. Because what happens with the envier is that they are unable to achieve what the person who is the victim of their envy has achieved. They are unable to; it literally will prevent them from doing it. So, learning first that we all have envy and we suffer from it; and then how to rid ourselves of it, to purify.