When envy takes hold...

Free Photo. Com Photographer Ian Britton

Asalamu Alaykum

There is a rampant phenomenon in our days that destroys lives.
It damages relationships and causes damage to the person  who has the problem to start with.
What is this nemesis? Over competitiveness and envy .This need to be the best and have the best. 
It can start as a little weed growing and before you know it it overtakes the garden of our hearts killing all the beauty and destroying the fragrant  flowers of love, compatibility, tolerance, support, appreciation, to name but a few.
It even rears its ugly head within the folds of marriages, sibling relationships, friendships.
It usually stems from our own depths of insecurities firmly rooted in out hearts since times unknown. It feels a little like sibling rivalry, competing for this extra love ( from  parents) and needing to prove that we deserve the love constantly. It is a self destructing feeling as well as a relationship "killer" We can not stand to see anybody better than us..
The person is under constant stress, striving for approval , acceptance and never feeling at peace and comfortable in their own situation.I often see this in work related situations when people often compete for the the management's approval and stopping at nothing to gain this approval and the "rewards" it brings.
I usually step back form this kind of situation, keep calm and let it wash over me.It has taken me years of living and of course Islam to get to this stage. Alhamdulillah.
As Muslims we know what  is important and what is not worth to loose sleep over.
The only time we should worry is:
Narrated Ibn Masud: I heard the Prophet saying, "There is no envy except in two: a person whom Allah has given wealth and he spends it in the right way, and a person whom Allah has given wisdom (i.e. religious knowledge) and he gives his decisions accordingly and teaches it to the others."  (Book #24, Hadith #490).


If we have ever experienced this negative feelings we must work on ourselves to distance them from our hearts, and ask Allah's help to make it easy for us.


Jazakallah for reading