Does Envying Mean Criticizing Divine Determining?

A noble verse concerning envy:
Or do they envy mankind for what Allah has given them of his bounty? (An-Nisa), 54)


Let us imagine a man who tried his utmost, worked in the licit bounds and started to wait for Allahs mercy and favor after performing active and verbal supplications to obtain a certain blessing. The duty of a believer when he sees the Divine favor bestowed on that man is to be as happy as if it was bestowed on him. Belief in Divine Determining and Islamic fraternity requires that attitude.

A sentence of threat from Master Badiuzzaman, a scholar of Islam, to those who do not act in the way demonstrated above and show envy and animosity: Whoever criticizes Divine Determining is striking his head against an anvil on which it will break and whoever objects to Divine Mercy will himself be deprived of it. (The Letters)

In the noble verse mentioned above, there is a wise notification as Allah has given them of his bounty By attributing this notification, scholars of interpretation stated that it was permissible to envy wealth not gained through illegal ways and added the following: To Wish that a defrauder would lose his property is not envy but diligence and justice.

According to the last interpretation, it is not envying to wish that a man who becomes affluent by stealing would lose his property. Envy is to be unable to stand licit affluence, a rank or a virtue that Allah has given them of his bounty. As for wishing that those will be seized from a believer means criticizing Divine Determining and opposing mercy.

Hereby we shall mention the difference between emulation and envy. The desire to have a property or an opportunity that someone possesses is emulation and it is licit. As for envy, it is the wish that that property or opportunity not to be given to him but to be seized from its owner.