Lesson 5 of 6 · What keeps it going
The instruction that was actually given
Read carefully what this does and does not say. It does not tell you to stop looking upward, and it does not treat the upward look as a sin. It tells you to add the other direction to a measure that has become one way.
One of the two wordings names wealth and physical structure. The other names property and appearance. Those are the two things this course has been about from the first lesson, and in both of them the upward look is assumed rather than forbidden.
There is a second report worth having beside it, and it moves the measure rather than the direction. Richness is not an abundance of goods. Richness is the richness of the soul. That is not an instruction to want nothing, and it is not a rebuke for having noticed a kitchen. It is a statement about where the measure sits.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Read carefully what this does and does not say. It does not tell you to stop looking upward and it does not treat the upward look as a sin. It tells you to add the other direction to a measure that has become one way. This is the wording that names wealth and physical structure.
Abu Huraira reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said:When one of you looks at one who stands at a higher level than you in regard to wealth and physical structure he should also see one who stands at a lower level than you in regard to these things (in which he stands) at a higher level (as compared to him)
Sahih Muslim 2963graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading
And the other wording, which names property and appearance. Those are the two things at issue from the first lesson onward, and in both wordings the upward look is assumed rather than forbidden.
Narrated Abu Huraira:Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "If anyone of you looked at a person who was made superior to him in property and (in good) appearance, then he should also look at the one who is inferior to him
Sahih al-Bukhari 6490graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading
The second report, and it moves the measure rather than the direction of the look. It is not an instruction to want nothing, and it is not a rebuke for having noticed a kitchen. It is a statement about where the measure sits.
Abu Huraira reported that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) had said:Richness does not lie in the abundance of (worldly) goods but richness is the richness of the soul (heart, self)
Sahih Muslim 1051graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading