The belief in envy spreads in many cultures, especially in ancient societies.

Despite the entry of humanity into the twenty-first century, and the tremendous technological development, the belief in the harmfulness of envy is still prevalent in societies that have followed special teachings, in search of ways to avoid the effects of envy. 

While he sees envy as an illusion, others believe that it is a negative energy that affects people and things, while others consider it a harmful psychological condition.

In the past, people used incantations, paper and veils, which were believed to protect him from the evils of the envious.

Professor of Psychology at the United Arab Emirates University, Dr. Ahmed Abdulaziz Al-Najjar defines envy as “a negative psychological state that pushes the envious to think in a way of hateful comparison of the reality in which he lives, as he sees that what others get do not deserve it, and that the original deserving is the same.

Therefore, whatever good happens to him is the best, and he does not accept that for others.”

He asserts, "This thinking is very harmful because of its great influence on the psyche, and its contribution to the growth of feelings of anxiety and hatred over the reality in which he lives, and sometimes pushes him to anger, selfishness and hatred."

He adds, “Psychological studies have indicated that whoever has a higher-than-average degree of envy of others is a person who falls into the circle of exposure to mental illnesses and mental disorders, by virtue of the fact that he provokes these negative feelings in his heart.

With the passage of time, the envious lose interaction in order to build their society, so they do not move towards achieving its goals, and are preoccupied with solving their internal problems,” noting that studies have shown that “envy is one of the causes of the collapse of nations.”

He adds that "envy leads to the so-called (eye) which, as our Islamic religion mentioned, leads to harming the other party."

Characteristics of the envious

: “The envious have several characteristics, the most important of which is high narcissism, which is represented by excessive self-confidence, exaggerated self-confidence, and unjustified confidence in abilities accompanied by a lack of social and technical skills. He cannot succeed because of his effort, but through his own ideas.”

He adds, “Studies have begun to show that the envious is emotionally far from others, his personality feels social and psychological alienation and sometimes has aggressive and negative tendencies, to harm others or love to harm others, where they rejoice when their competitor fails, and grieve for his success.

Sometimes they turn to deception in order to succeed, and they see no harm in that.”

The envious person can be identified, as Al-Najjar mentions, through his “behavior or reactions to the successes of others, represented by slips of the tongue, looks, signs or movements, through which we can know the loving person who wishes good for others or otherwise.”

He says, "To avoid envy, Muslims usually follow the teachings of their true religion by reciting the legal ruqyah (Al-Mu'awwidat) that protects from envy, and repeating the phrases (God willing) and (God is great)."

A remedy

for the methods of treating envy, Al-Najjar says, “There is a cure for both sides of envy. The envious person, if he realizes his illness, is treated to change his wrong paths of thinking, through psychiatry, while the envied person is treated beyond parapsychology, which is the treatment of energy.” .

Dr. Ali Mashael, the first mufti and supervisor of the Internet Fatwas website at the Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities in Dubai, says that envy “is a disease in which people fall as a result of violating the order of religion, and their love for the world and its preoccupations, so they envy people for what God has given them of His grace, even if they believe in destiny and destiny. What happened to them.”

He explains that “envy is wishing for the blessing to disappear from others, which is a forbidden and reprehensible matter, and there is an objection to God Almighty. “Or do they envy people for what God has given them of His bounty?” Almighty God who does things for a great wisdom that many people do not realize.

This verse was revealed about the Jews who envied the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, for the blessing of prophethood and the Holy Qur’an, and because he was from the Arabs and was not from the Children of Israel, and God elects whom He wills. .

And Mashael mentions severe consequences

of envy, as it “destroys good deeds, lowers grades, and weakens faith. The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Beware of envy, for envy eats good deeds as fire consumes wood.” “And if God wanted to spread a virtue that had been folded, he would allow it to have an envious tongue, and had it not been for the kindling of fire in its vicinity, he would not have known the goodness of the lute.”

He emphasized, “He does not envy the generous person, good manners and strong faith, but the one who envies the miser who is sick, spiteful, weak in soul and bad in morals.  

Permissibility of envy

, and Mashael adds that “Bliss is similar to envy, as the owner of bliss wishes to have the blessing that others have, but he does not wish for it to be removed from them, and neither joy nor envy is permissible except in two matters: understanding the Qur’an, memorizing it and its sciences, and good money and spending it, as The Messenger of God, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: “There is no envy except in two cases: A man to whom God has given the Qur’an and he teaches it to people.” And in another narration, “A man to whom God has given wisdom and he judges with it and teaches it to people, and a man to whom God has given wealth and he has authority over his destruction with truth.” He spends it like this and that.”

Obsession

Shamsa Muhammad (employee), says, "At the university level, I met a friend who believed in envy to the point of obsession, and attributed the reason for all the things that she could not do successfully to envy."

She continues, “This is what became clear to me on one of the times when she changed, as she was going through a difficult psychological state and did not want to study and felt that she did not have the ability to complete it. And the Sunnah, but we must not return all our mistakes and our difficult psychological conditions to it.”

She added, “She did not pay any attention to my words and I found her little by little moving away, evading me, and not wanting to talk to me.

I tried so hard to talk to her, to no avail.

An envious relative

, Suad Muhammad (employee), says, “The most difficult thing is to discover that one of your relatives, which you encounter on all happy and sad occasions, is envious, harming you with premeditation.” Others, even if she does not need it, and if her eyes fall on something in the hands of another and she likes it, she does not mention the name of God over it, and she does not say the phrase (God willing), which revealed to me her envy, as well as her repeated slips in looks and behavior, and the effect of her envy that It is often fatal.”

 And she continues, “If she casts her eyes on something she likes, it does not last long, so either it will be broken or harmed, especially gold, and on one occasion she did not mention the name of God when she saw one of my daughters, which damaged her face, and since that day I and my family have worked to hide them from her as much as possible. possible, and not to show them their adornment in front of her.”

Fear

, Shamma Abdullah (employee), says, "I am very afraid of envy, especially as I am a distinguished employee in my field and I strive hard and diligently to prove myself and develop my skills, and this is evident to all."

And she continues, "As soon as I hear a word of compliment from my family, friends, and co-workers, you immediately find me mumbling inside me by saying (God willing, and God is great), because of my fear of envy, even though I read witchcraft to avoid it."

Harmful eye

Haifa Abdullah, (employee), says, “The envious eye has a harmful effect on the envied person, and this is what I personally experienced during my studies at the Faculty of Medicine. A look of bewilderment appeared on her face, and she expressed her astonishment to me.

And she continues, "As soon as I left the exam, I was surprised to ask my friend about one of the questions that I did not see in the exam paper, even though my friend assured me that it was the first question, and it had fifteen marks."

burn name

 “All societies, regardless of their religions, believe in envy,” said Ahmed Abdulaziz Al-Najjar, professor of psychology at the UAE University.

It considers that the heart of the envious poses a great danger to it. Therefore, human cultures since the time of the Pharaohs have worked to search for ways to deal with envy and the envious. The ancient Egyptians grabbed the wood, and showed the palm of the hand in the face of the envious by saying “five and five.”

Christians hang a horseshoe, a blue eye or a blue bead.

As for the Babylonians, they hung the blue bead, as did the Syrians, while the Turks burned bullets on the head of the envied.

Gulf people tie the envious’s garment, burn his name, drink water from behind him, hide children from him so that he does not envy them and cause harm to them, and burn the “alum.”

As for the Pakistanis, they tie a black cloth to avoid the evil eye.