Heedlessness

“But people are prone to selfish greed. If you do good and guard against evil, Allah is aware of what you do.” (Surat an-Nisa’, 128)

In this verse, Allah warns us against greed and to do good and guard against evil. Muslims know that everything around them and everything that happens is created by Allah. They know that envy is a sin and thus never fall prey to such moral weakness. They never come anywhere near such a mindset. They regard beauty as Allah’s beauty and delight in it as such. They never chase after money, goods or property, and regard property as a manifestation of Allah’s artistry, and take pleasure from it accordingly. However, people who do not live by the moral values of the Qur’an generally never find themselves in that situation. They seek to own everything. In fact, they inflict serious harm on themselves. Someone who falls prey to greed cannot be happy and cannot take pleasure from beauty.

In situations where greed raises its head they imagine that they are their surroundings are independent of Allah. They imagine that beauty, intelligence and wealth belong to the individual concerned, and compare that person with themselves and thus fall prey to envy. They imagine that superiority lies in obtaining these things. But a believer is eager never to fall into such heedlessness. They carefully refrain from attributing any independent identity to others or themselves. They never forget that superiority lies in fear of Allah, and that all things belong to Allah and are under His control. That is what makes Muslims permanently happy and contented.