The pinnacle of marital bliss was realised when Adam and Hawwa (Eve) witnessed the births of their first children, a set of twins. Adam was a devoted father and Hawwa a contented mother. The twins were Qabil (Cain) and his twin sister. Later Hawwa gave birth to second set of twins, Habil (Abel) and his twin sister.

The family enjoyed the food and fruit of the Earth provided by their Lord. The children grew up to be strong and healthy young adults. Qabil tilled the land and Habil raised cattle.

The time arrived when the two young men desired life partners. This was part of Allah’s plan for mankind and from nations with different cultures and colours. Allah revealed to Adam that he should marry each male child to the twin sister of the other. Adam instructed his children according to Allah’s plan. But Qabil was displeased with the partner chosen for him, for Habil’s twin sister was not as beautiful as Qabil’s.

Since the beginning of time physical beauty appears to have been a factor for the attraction between men and women. This attraction caused Qabil to ENVY his brother, Habil. Qabil rebelled against Allah’s command and refused to accept his father’s advice.

ENVY (Hasad)

Envy according to the dictionary: From the Latin Invidia. Mixture of pain and anger; feeling of displeasure about the prosperity and happiness of someone else; desire to have what others have.

• For journalist Zuenir Ventura:

The verbs associated to it (envy) are corrosion and destruction. At the same time, it is necessary to see envy as a human reaction. All the theories about envy reckon that the best way to fight against it is to assume that everyone feels it, in different degrees.

• Envy and ethics:

For the scientist and researcher Dr William M. Shelton, envy is a reaction provoked by losers, who seek to evade reality by hiding behind a crusade seeking to reinstate “moral values,” “noble ideas,” and “social justice.” The situation becomes dangerous when the school system begins to develop in the student the conditioning for despising all those who manage to be successful, always attributing any success to corruption, manipulation and moral degradation. As the pursuit of success is something inherent to the human condition, the students end up in a schizophrenic process of hating exactly that which would lead them to happiness, thereby increasing the anxiety crises, and reducing the capacity to innovate and improve society.

God Most High says, “Say, ‘I seek refuge in the Lord of the dawn from the evil of that which He has created,” and then He says, “And from the evil of the envier when he envies” (113:1 and 5). So He concludes the ‘chapter He made as a plea for protection with the mention of envy.

It is reported on the authority of Ibn Mas’ud that the Prophet (Pbuh) commented, “There are three things at the root of all sin. Guard yourselves against them and beware of them. Beware of pride, for pride caused Iblis to refuse to prostrate before Adam. Beware of greed, for greed caused Adam to eat of the tree. And beware of envy, for it was from envy that one of the two sons of Adam killed his brother.”

Lord has forbidden only abominations, those that are apparent and those that are within” (7.33). it is said that “Those that are within are envy.” It is written somewhere that “The envier is an enemy of My blessing.” And it is said, “The Marks of envy appear in you before they appear in your enemy.”

It is said, “Among the signs of the envier are that he flatters others when he is with them, slanders them when he is apart from them, and savors their misfortune when it befalls them

It is said: “The envier confounded when he sees in another a blessings and rejoices when he sees a fault.”

Children's Corner