Lesson 6 of 6 · When this is something else
If one thing stays with you
Let it be this.
The pain comes from a standard that rose, not from a self that fell. Comparison is a measuring habit and not a defect in your character, which means it is something you do rather than something you are. And the criterion that actually counts is not visible in a photograph, which is stated in the text about as plainly as anything is stated anywhere. Allah does not look at your faces and your wealth. He looks at your heart and at your deeds. And before any of the measuring started, the children of Adam were honoured as a category, with no clause attached about performance.
You are not required to stop noticing. You are allowed to stop adding the second layer.
Qur’an and Sunnah
Before any of the measuring started, the children of Adam were honoured as a category, with no clause attached about performance.
۞وَلَقَدۡ كَرَّمۡنَا بَنِيٓ ءَادَمَ وَحَمَلۡنَٰهُمۡ فِي ٱلۡبَرِّ وَٱلۡبَحۡرِ وَرَزَقۡنَٰهُم مِّنَ ٱلطَّيِّبَٰتِ وَفَضَّلۡنَٰهُمۡ عَلَىٰ كَثِيرࣲ مِّمَّنۡ خَلَقۡنَا تَفۡضِيلࣰ ا
We have honoured the children of Adam and carried them by land and sea; We have provided good sustenance for them and favoured them specially above many of those We have created
Qur’an 17:70
And the criterion that actually counts, which is not visible in a photograph and is stated about as plainly as anything is stated anywhere.
Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:Verily Allah does not look to your faces and your wealth but He looks to your heart and to your deeds
Sahih Muslim 2564graded sound, sahihaynthe Arabic and its grading
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.