Envy = Covet = to want the same as somebody else has.

This is a bad habit because it means that you are not satisfied with what Allah has given you.

In the Holy Qur'an (Surah 4, Ayat 32) Allah says:

"And do not covet those things which Allah has given as gifts more freely on some of you than on others; for men shall have of what they earn, and women will have of what they earn: But ask Allah for his bounty. For Allah has full knowledge over all things."

1. The first group of people do not pay much attention to the fact that someone is doing better than them or has more than them. They just carry on with their own lives.
2. The second group of people, who when they see other people doing well, themselves try harder to achieve success like their friends.
3. The third group of people are those who do not like to see others doing well and being happy. They wish that something bad happens to others. This way of thinking is called Jealousy and is hated by Allah.

Although jealousy and envy are often used together, there is a BIG difference between the two.

Whereas envy means to crave someone else's position or property;

Jealousy (in its worst form) means not to want something that someone else has, but at the same time not wanting him to have it either.

There once was a man who had a farm. His neighbour also had a farm. One day the man saw his neighbour milking a beautiful cow. The cow was giving plenty of milk, and the milk was sweet and tasted excellent.

The man did not like it and felt very angry that his neighbour should have such a good cow.

Then Shaytan came to the man and asked him what the problem was. The man pointed to the cow and said "Look what a wonderful cow my neighbour has." Shaytan replied, "Is that all, I will give you ten cows like that."

The man answered "I don't want even one cow like that, I just don't want my neighbour to have it!"

This shows how dangerous jealousy can be. It makes people lose their mind.

Imam Ali (A) has said: "Jealousy eats up good deeds like a fire consumes wood."

We know the way in which dry wood is burnt and consumed by a hot raging fire. That is what jealousy does to our deeds.

Jealousy hurts you most of all. It makes you unhappy, ungrateful and selfish.

The best example of how much damage jealousy can do we only have to look at what happened with the sons of Prophet Adam (A), Haabil and Qaabil:

One day, Prophet Adam (A) asked his sons Haabil and Qaabil to bring a gift for Allah, and whose ever gift was accepted by Allah would be the successor of Prophet Adam (A)

Haabil who was a shepherd brought the best animal that he had to give to Allah. Qaabil who was a farmer brought some spoilt corn as he thought to himself that Allah does not eat, so why should he take good corn.

Qaabil did not realise that although it is true that Allah does not eat, Allah has told us that when you give a gift to anyone, give the best you can give.
Allah of course accepted Haabil's gift, who had given the best he could. This made Qaabil very jealous of Haabil.

Qaabil was so jealous that his brother was going to succeed his father that he killed his own brother.

Only after he had done such a bad thing did he stop to think and was very sorry for what he had done, but it was too late.

So you see when you are jealous you do not think and it serves no purpose. eg. By Qaabil killing his brother still did not make him the successor of Prophet Adam (A)

Imam Ali (A) also said: "A jealous person can never be a leader of men."

This means that if you have a leader who is jealous, he will always be worried about himself, and will never want anyone else to have anything good. This means that his followers will be badly treated and oppressed, so they will leave him.