Meaning of Hasad

Praise be to Allah.

Meaning of hasad

Hasad (destructive envy) means wishing that a blessing that Allah has bestowed on the envied person be taken away. Allah enjoined His Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to seek refuge with Him from the evil of the envier when he envies. Allah says (interpretation of the meaning): 

“Say: ‘I seek refuge with (Allah), the Lord of the daybreak, ‘From the evil of what He has created, ‘And from the evil of the darkening (night) as it comes with its darkness; (or the moon as it sets or goes away), ‘And from the evil of those who practise witchcraft when they blow in the knots, ‘And from the evil of the envier when he envies.’” [al-Falaq 113]

What is meant by “when he envies” is when he manifests what he feels of envy in his heart and acts on it, and his envy makes him do something bad to the one whom he envies. 

Degrees of hasad

Hasad is of varying degrees: 

• When a person wants the blessing to be taken away from his Muslim brother, even if it does not come to him; rather he does not like Allah to bless anyone else and that upsets him. 
• Where he wants the blessing to be taken away from someone else because he wants it, in the hope that it will come to him. 
• Where he wishes for himself a blessing like that which someone else has, without wanting it to be taken away from the other person. This is permissible and is not called hasad rather it is called ghibtah. 

How the envier harms himself

The envier harms himself in three ways: 

• He earns sin because hasad is haram. 
• It is bad etiquette before Allah, because what hasad really means is hating Allah’s blessing His slaves, and objecting to what Allah does. 
• He suffers because of too much worry and distress.  

And Allah is the Source of strength. May Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and Companions.” (Standing Committee for Academic Research and Issuing Fatwas)

For more, please see these answers: 11359 , 20954 , and 125543 .

And Allah knows best.