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In the previous chapter we learnt that we
should not fall prey to jealousy and greed that this is not the
teaching of Islam.
Islam has allowed competition only for good
deeds. For example in the month of Ramadan if somebody fed one
person you can compete with him to feed two people. Also
competition is allowed for donations for a good cause. You must
struggle to become better than others but with modesty. The
biggest draw back in jealousy is that the person loses his peace
of mind and there is no end to this kind of rat race. If one is
always looking for ways to downgrade others such as if the other
person has seven room house then you must have one with ten
rooms or if the other women has so much of jewelry then you must
have more than hers etc.
There is no limit to such a competition.
With such lofty desires and struggle for fulfilling them all the
members of household become restless and may develop inferiority
complex, thus losing their peace of mind. Conflicts start
within the family. Husband says that he has just returned from
one shift and has to go to the second so he needs some sleep and
that he is doing all this for their comforts. He wants the
children to be quiet so that he could have some sleep and if the
wife has sense she tries to quieting the children. Children who
had been waiting for dad to come home, become disgruntled. The
wife, who had all sorts of plans, has to give these up. Even
when the children go to sleep the father cannot sleep as he is
bothered by all the problems he has. If the wife happens to be
sarcastic then she starts an argument by saying that what good
is he doing? His subordinate’s wife was wearing a diamond
necklace while she doesn’t even have a gold one. So the Balkan
war starts between them and they both become angry. Husband
becomes restless and still has to go for the second shift in
this condition. When he gets to work in this agitated
condition, he would pick quarrels with his colleagues or will be
rude to his clients and he may get fired because of this.
However, if you look at unfortunate ones, then you may feel
contented and will be thankful to ALLAH for whatever you have.
You will have peace at home and outside. Allah says, “If you
are thankful to Me, I will give you more and if you are
thankless then I may take away what you have”. The crux of the
story is that contentment brings thankfulness while jealousy
brings about disobedience to Allah.
Thanklessness to Allah is a form of
disobedience. Contentedness gives you patience, thankfulness
and deserving of Allah’s benevolence. When you have graces of
ALLAH and your home is like heaven then you get heaven in
hereafter too. It is possible that when you are working for
Allah you may also get benefits in this world. However, it is
not possible the other way if you are working for worldly things
alone. May Allah save us from greed and jealousy, as it is a
sure way to hell both in this world and hereafter. So you see
the virtues and vices of contentment and jealousy in that order.
In reality there is no end to the rat
race. The world has become more and more materialistic and
people have lost their peace of mind increasingly. There were
times when every one was contented with what they had and people
went into politics to serve others and spent from their own
pockets. Particularly after the Second World War the greed
gained upper hand. After the independence of India and Pakistan
people increasingly lost their values and bribery made its way
into the society. Now the whole value system seems to be
changing.
Now a days people come into politics to
make money for themselves and to get into bigger mansions.
Dishonesty is prevailing in the society and people have lost
their peace of mind. It is becoming hard to find justice and
dishonesty is prevailing. First a big house, than maintenance
of a big house, bills of amenities then on to more jewelry then
every day change of design of jewelry and then fancy clothes and
this vicious cycle never ends. The big house needs fancy
furniture and then a bigger car becomes the need and it does not
end here as car models change and the newest model becomes a
priority. This race seems to be never ending. In this rat race
people have less time to see each other or to be with them in
the times of mourning or rejoicing. The essence of all this
extravagance is that there is no end to this. However if you
keep your needs in control you will not need to run around like
a machine.
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