Douse the Fire of Jealousy

One should always be positive, never indulging in negative thinking. Jealousy is a killer of positive thought that closes the door to one’s progress.

The Prophet of Islam once said: “Avoid envy, for envy devours good deeds just as fire devours fuel or dry wood.” (Sunan Abu Dawood 4903)

Envy or jealousy is a feeling of resentment at another’s greatness. When you feel jealousy it is you yourself who suffers. It is a feeling of unhappiness that you cannot be so great or achieve or have so much as another person.

The system of this world is so arranged that people cannot achieve equal success. Here some have more and some have less. This is the law of nature. In such a situation, being jealous of others’ greatness is like fighting with nature and no one can succeed by pursuing such a course.

The secret of worldly success is to be positive in one’s thinking and never indulge in negative thinking. But jealousy is a killer of positive thought. One who suffers from jealousy has nurtured negative feelings in his heart. It is like having closed the door to his own progress.

In a society there are inevitably some who have received more than you and some who have received less. In such a situation, the right attitude for you would be to seek out someone less fortunate than you and then set about helping him. When you encounter someone in better circumstances than yourself, rather than feel jealous of him, you should feel that he is also a human being just as I am a human being and if by making proper use of his potential he achieved great success, then it is possible for me to do so as well. This is positive thinking.