Ask our children:

1. What does it mean to be jealous?

2. Are Muslims allowed to be jealous of other people?

3. If we are jealous of someone, what should we do?

Now tell them the story:

There was once a little girl named Juwairiyah who was very, very blessed by Allah Ta‘ala. Allah Ta‘ala had blessed her by making her pretty, intelligent, and giving her the best toys and clothes. But, even though Juwairiyah had the best of everything, she was always jealous of other people.

When Juwairiyah would go to madrasah and would read her sabaq, her Aapa would tell her, “Masha-Allah! You read your work with no mistakes!” When Juwairiyah would hear this, she would become very happy. But then, when Faatimah would also read her sabaq with no mistakes, and Aapa would tell her masha-Allah, then Juwairiyah would become very jealous. She only wanted Aapa to tell her masha-Allah – not anyone else! Because Juwairiyah was jealous of Faatimah, she went to her madrasah bag, took her kitaab and hid it behind the cupboard! Then, when Faatimah couldn’t find her kitaab, Aapa scolded her, and this made jealous Juwairiyah very happy.

When Juwairiyah would draw a pretty picture, with all the different colours, then her teacher would tell her, “Wow Juwairiyah! Masha-Allah! Good work! Those colours are stunning!” But then, when the teacher would also praise Aaminah for her pretty drawing, Juwairiyah would get jealous. Juwairiyah did not want the teacher to praise anybody else, so she quietly went to Aaminah’s drawing, when nobody was looking, and spoiled it by scribbling all over it!

When Juwairiyah would show her friends her toys, they would say, “You are so lucky Juwairiyah! You have the best toys!” But then, if anybody else had a nice toy, she would become jealous. Then, she would break it and quickly lie saying, “Oh no! I was just playing with it and it broke on its own! It was an accident!”

One Friday, Juwairiyah and her mother were sitting on their musallas, listening to the bayaan in the masjid, when Moulana started speaking about jealousy. Moulana explained, “When a person is jealous, they don’t want other people to have nice things, be praised, or enjoy anything at all! All they want is for other people to be unhappy! This is a very big sin, and a person who is jealous is not a true Muslim. A true Muslim wishes that he can be happy, and that everybody else can also be happy! If he wants something nice, he will want that everybody else can also have nice things!”

When Juwairiyah heard what Moulana said, she felt very guilty and very bad. She realized that she was a very jealous person, and this was making her become a bad Muslim! Then, as she thought about this, Moulana said, “When a person is jealous, then to get rid of the jealousy, they must make du‘aa for the people they are jealous of. Also, if they can, they should give them some present and praise them. In this way, insha-Allah, they will learn to wish well for people instead of being jealous.”

That night, Juwairiyah struggled to sleep. She kept thinking, “I’ve been a bad Muslim! Allah Ta‘ala must be angry with me!” Juwairiyah was so worried that she couldn’t even fall asleep! So, she got out of bed, made wudhu, wore her burqa and performed two rakaats of salaah, then she made du‘aa to Allah Ta‘ala and begged Allah Ta‘ala to forgive her! After she had made du‘aa, she already felt better, so she climbed back into bed and soon fell asleep.

The next day, when Faatimah read her sabaq with no mistakes, then even before Aapa could praise her, Juwairiyah told her, “Masha-Allah! You read your work so nicely Faatimah! I hope that I can read like you!” In the same way, when Aaminah drew a pretty picture, Juwairiyah praised her and told her how stunning it looked.

Also, the next time Juwairiyah’s parents bought toys for her, she asked them to buy some for her friends as well! Then, she went to all her friends whose toys she had broken, told them what she had done and begged them to forgive her. After saying that she was sorry, she took all the new toys and gave them to her friends to make up for the toys that she had broken.

After Juwairiyah did all this, she felt much, much better. Now, her little heart was no longer dirty with jealousy – it was clean! She felt happier than she had ever felt before, because she was happy when others were happy, and she knew that Allah Ta‘ala was happy with her.

Lessons:

1. Being jealous means that we do not want other people to be happy, or have something nice, or be praised. We want them to be unhappy.

2. Being jealous is haraam. We must always wish for other people to have nice things and for them to be happy.

3. If we are jealous of someone, we must make du‘aa for them, speak good things about them and try and give them a present. Then insha-Allah we will not be jealous anymore.

4. If we do something wrong to someone, like break their toy or damage their things, then we must tell them that we are sorry and ask them to forgive us.

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