GREED IS THE CAUSE OF SLIPPING INTO DEVIATION

The origin of all of these problems is greedy desire (shuhh). The Prophet explains this in the following sahih hadith:

“Beware of shuhh (greedy desire), for verily it destroyed those who came before you. It ordered them to be miserly and they were miserly, it ordered them to commit oppression and they oppressed, and it ordered them to cut family ties and they cut family ties.”

For this reason, Allah praised the Ansar (the Muslims of Madinah who received those who migrated from Makka, and helped them) for having the opposite characteristics, saying:

[And those who had prepared the place of dwelling and (accepted) the faith before them (i.e. before those who migrated from Makka) love those who migrated to them, and find in their hearts no need of the good things which they have been given. (i.e. they feel no envy for that which their brothers the Migrators have been given.) And they prefer (others) even over their own selves, even though they are in need. And whoever is protected from the shuhh of his own self, these are the successful ones.] Qur’an 59/9

Abdur-Rahman ibn ‘Auf – a companion of the Prophet – was heard saying as he made his Tawaaf around the Ka’aba:

“O Lord, protect me from the shuhh of my own self. O Lord, protect me from the shuhh of my own self.”

When he was asked about this du’a of his, he said:

“If I am protected from the shuhh of my own self, I will be protected from miserliness, oppression, and breaking of family ties.”

Shuhh, which is the greedy desire of the self, causes miserliness by withholding objects of desire which have been acquired, and causes oppression by the taking of the property of others, and causes breaking of family ties, and it causes envy – which is to hate others possessing what one does not have, and wishing for its destruction. Envy itself entails miserliness and oppression, since envy is miserliness with that which one has been given, and oppression by wishing for others to lose the good which they have acquired.

This being the case of those desired things which are halal, what about those desired things which are haram, such as fornication, drinking intoxicants,etc.? When some people acquire or practice such things, two types of hatred of come about: 1) To hate it because of others having what one has not i.e. out of some form of envy such as occurs in things which are halal and 2) To hate it for the sake of Allah, and because of the violation it entails of the rights of Allah over His slaves.