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The Jealousy Factor

While talent is certainly suspect in our society, merit being a disqualifier instead of being a catalyst for success, the other issue that continues to bedevil us is jealousy. This negative attribute proliferates in South Asia and causes more anguish to society than any other factor. An inordinate amount of time is spent being consumed by jealousy and guided by it in our actions towards fellow human beings. A modus operandi is to launch a concerted character assassination campaign. This becomes a real tragedy when a perfectly talented individual goes astray due to extraneous reasons and drowns himself in his own imagined sorrows, wasting his God given gifts in a destructive mode instead of using it for constructive purposes. Such people can criticise, can never recommend. This originates from a basic flaw in character. Such persons are damned indeed, unfortunately their venom is usually targeted against those individuals who have been of tremendous moral and material support to them over the years. These people are the first objects of their unremitting wrath. In case the individuals of their wrath succeed in life, each triumph tears into them like a jagged knife, adding to their frustration. Hazrat Omar when once asked as to why a particular person was abusing him replied that he was surprised because he had not done him any favours. Muslims cherish this example because it acts as an example and encouragement to those who help their fellow beings without expecting or accepting reward, indeed expecting approbation. Unfortunately those outside the pale of Islam (or Christianity or Judaism) and committed to its destruction will never understand the moral of this story.

In many of the instances, history is repeated though it may not be a prosaic as “Kane and Abel”. The germs of jealousy are usually imbedded during the comradeship of youth. People who grow up together usually grow apart as they grow in years because of differing perceptions, career patterns and the varying vicissitudes of destiny. Youthful exuberance and mutual loyalty is eventually lost as the darker side of one’s character imposes on these qualities. Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait is very expressive, there cannot be another fitting description of those consumed by jealousy. Those afflicted by this spend their waking moments planning the downfall of the objects of their hatred, forgetting that it is God Who guides the destiny of the whole Universe, man proposes, God disposes. Life, liberty and fortune are in His hands, man cannot change the destiny of anyone least of all his own. Individuals who have no control over themselves are hardly capable of guiding the fortunes (or misfortunes) of others. But it is difficult for those people to understand who do not believe in God and are outside the pale of Islam, indeed are working assiduously and surreptitiously for its destruction.

People all over the world spend a lot of time in the acquisition of power and wealth in whichever order but mostly that which has been stated. Unfortunately everybody cannot have either, what to talk of both. Going back to the quality of merit, power and wealth acquired on that factor alone is quite rare. This is a country where people depend upon nepotism to go up the career ladder. The worst affected are those who get left by the wayside because of their selfishness and greed, believing that a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. In their lust for money they abandon those even for whom they owe some responsibility till the day dawns when they are faced with the fact that those who have dared to venture into the bush have come out with more than two birds in their hands, the frustration of not having taken the calculated risk then savagely twists their souls from inside. They then plan to either take over the other’s success or to destroy it, their alcohol besotted mind being a reflection of their trusted character. Despite their outside bonhomie and camaraderie, that gnarled inner self eats away into the character of the person till it becomes an empty shell, the only medicine that dwells the sense being a daily dose of alcohol. But we are talking of Muslims, those outside the pale of Islam, who do not believe in the finality of our Prophet (PBUH), indeed working for the destruction of Islam, have no such restrictions imposed on them.

A tormented soul is wretched indeed, jealousy consumes it in such fires that hell would be an easier place to dwell in. Where does evil begin and end? Evil begins with the breakdown of basic loyalties, the first loyalty being to family, the next to friends. Such people do not hold sacred anything, family or friend. A man who does not possess that basic morality should not talk about ideals. Jealousy breeds hatred, an all-consuming fire that further agonizes the soul. In the befuddled alcoholic mind, jealousy views success as should have been rightfully theirs, the simmering hatred reaches heights where the requirements of responsibility and decency towards even one’s own family and friends have no restraint. The evil is now firmly embedded in every action of the individual, driving him to alternate bouts of solitude and camaraderie, both induced by alcohol. A further complication arises out of the person’s own inadequacy if his father was a great figure and he is not able to reach the same level of respect in society or professionalism. This psychological mind block breeds an inferiority complex that is a further twist to an already hideous living, a sort of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This also affects the person’s basic manliness. The frustration force-multiplies the jealousy because of the need to blame someone else for his own shortcomings of character and moral fabric. The ultimate question arises, in the presence of other siblings who may have the same qualities of the father, what do you call the one who is a black sheep and does not have any of the sterling qualities of the father, is that man really the son of his father? However, we refrain from labelling this individual the obvious thing as we are Muslims and though he is outside the pale of Islam and committed to its destruction.

The ultimate comedown arises out of the fact of writing innumerable letters to the Editor under false names. Lacking the inherent courage to use his own name in the media, he is goaded into fury by the fact that the object of his wrath may be doing so without fear or favour. The knowledge that he must get by with a pseudonym while his “enemy” uses his own name freely and gets accolades drives him to further frenzy. His lack of courage cannot even allow the use of his name against the articles he writes, anonymity is a coward’s style as he can spread most venom thereby. The effect is that of a raging bull in a corral, being goaded into transgressions but being hurt every time he tries to gore the fence. Such a person is then ready to become an instrument for the forces of evil. Even while he spouts ideals he is engaged in subversion of the worst kind, using his drinking buddies in influential positions, particularly in secret agencies to spread falsehood and disinformation. He bribes those whom he should never corrupt as he owes that particular institution that they represent some basic loyalty. He even violates this principle for the sake of crass personal gain, dishonouring the concept and ideals he spouts easily. Samuel Johnson said, “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel”, unquote. Individuals who talk tall about patriotism and country usually are the first to apply for citizenship of other countries under the plea of religious persecution (from Islam)? In a travesty of fact while his other relatives may have become citizens of another country because of such “persecution” he may have unsuccessfully applied for the same but now vilifies the same country that he wanted to immigrate to in long media columns. For all we know are the wife and children of this “patriot” Pakistanis? If there is ever an adequate description for calumny, this wretched individual is the embodiment of it. To him nothing is sacred, he will attack the object of his hatred by fair means or foul, his vengeance must be the arbiter of other’s destiny. It does not matter that there may be hundreds and thousands of people who will suffer because of his vendetta, among them old men and women, also children. All of them may be consigned to hell as far as he is concerned as long as his personal anger is assuaged. But then he cannot comprehend that it may be the very prayers of these innocents that keeps the object of his wrath safe from worldly harm since these prayers are from the depth of their heart. This only a Muslim can understand, or even a Christian or a Jew, anyone who belongs to one of the Books. Since such persons consumed by hatred and jealousy, are usually outside the pale of Islam, indeed all religions, even committed to their destruction, it is beyond them to understand.

Those who believe in God and the finality of the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) fear no mortal. Destiny is in the Hands of the Maker, not his crafted beings, particularly such a pitiful person who for over 10 years has lived off the crumbs off the person whose hand he now bites. A dog is better, it will never bite the hands that feeds it. As much as jealousy may be the cause of anguish, hurt and suffering for those who become victims of it, it also exposes the character of the perpetrator. It shows the depths to what such a person can go to. In the end it will turn and consume the person who is responsible for its perpetration, engulfing him in the fires of his own creation. God has taught us one thing above all, first deserve, then desire. A man cannot live forever on the successes and glories of his father. For those who do not deserve, jealousy is a just punishment. The one creature beyond pity is a man without honour, the most despicable human being on the face of the Earth.

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