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The Devil's Obsession with Comparison - Khutbah By Nouman Ali Khan

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Today I continue our series of khutbah,

on the story of Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ, as told in Surat Al-A’raf

and the focus of my khutbah today is going to be the 12th ayah.

But before I go to it, I wanna share some other mini stories with you

and kind of build up to what I’d like to share with you about this 12th ayah of the surah.

The reason, the fundamental reason that many people of Quraish,

especially the elite, the leaders of Quraish,

the very wealthy and the politically influential,

their primary reason for rejecting the prophets ﷺ was that he did not belong in the elite class.

He was not from their class.

They actually later on even said,

لَوْلَا نُزِّلَ هَـٰذَا ٱلْقُرْءَانُ عَلَىٰ رَجُلٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْقَرْيَتَيْنِ عَظِيمٍ (QS. Az-Zukhruf [43]: 31)

Qur’an even revealed this rationale of theirs,

How come this Qur’an didn't come down on one of the two great men from the two town?

One of the men from the two great towns.

and by the great towns, they mean Thaif and Makkah, those were the two economic capitals of the time.

So if he was a millionaire, and he was politically influential,

then people are already used to listening to him.

But I mean, he's not a tribe leader. He doesn't have massive wealth under his name.

On top of that, his ancestors, the ones that used to have influence,

say his uncle, all of them have passed away.

So, I mean... Back in the day, your family was your influence, your connections,

and the people of influence of his family have already passed away عَلَيْهِ ٱلصَّلَاةُ وَٱلسَّلَامُ.

So they're like, I mean, he doesn't really have much clout behind him.

He doesn't have much of that kind of an influence in society.

So there's no way we can accept a message coming from him and accept him as a leader.

This is actually a similar... Even along with that, you find other prophets,

they would be told... their criticism would be...

"Well, I would listen to you, coz you are..."

You know, and sometimes Allah would send prophet from the leadership.

Then they would come and say, "Well, the people around you are..."

أَرَاذِلُنَا بَادِىَ ٱلرَّأْىِ (QS. Hud [11]: 27)

"We noticed that the people that accept your message are like homeless people,"

"poor people, farmers, street workers".

"I can't be... I’m a governor. I’m a millionaire. I’m a..."

"I can't be associated having dinner with these... the janitor."

"Can you meet me in my place?

"I’ll talk to you separately, cuz I don't wanna mix with these people."

So the idea was that they're above a certain class of people, That's why they can't accept this message.

Or they can't be seen associating with people that they consider lower than themselves.

Then if you go even... In different, other places in the Qur’an,

the idea of rejecting someone, rejecting the message of truth, because of who someone is,

Even Musa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ, who was raised as royalty, as a matter of fact, he was raised as a prince.

And one of the criticisms that Fir’aun made of him was,

أَمْ أَنَا۠ خَيْرٌۭ مِّنْ هَـٰذَا ٱلَّذِى هُوَ مَهِينٌۭ وَلَا يَكَادُ يُبِينُ (QS. Az-Zukhruf [43]: 52)

You want me to.. I’m not better than this one?

This humiliated one? He can't even talk properly.

In other words, forget his race or his economic class,

the fact that Musa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ had a stutter, and he used to stumble on words sometimes,

he's picking on that and saying, how can I not be considered better than him?

People have rejected and people have diminished advice, counsel,

from those who try to tell them the truth, just based on thinking they're better than them.

I’m not gonna listen to you cuz I’m better than you.

And let's take that even a step further.

The first major crime in humanity after Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ came down,

that's also mentioned in Suratul A’raf,

the same Surat that we're studying, or we're going through the story of Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ from

the first major crime is the crime of murder.

And that happened between two brothers. They were family, Habeel and Qabeel.

That story's mentioned in the same surah.

And if you think about why that murder happened,

this one brother killing his own brother, not over money,

not over a house, not over nothing else,

but they both presented a sacrifice.

It's actually quite a strange story the way the Qur’an tells it,

they both presented a sacrifice,

فَتُقُبِّلَ مِنْ أَحَدِهِمَا وَلَمْ يُتَقَبَّلْ مِنَ ٱلْـَٔاخَرِ (QS. Al-Maidah [5]: 27)

One of their sacrifices, Allah accepted.

And you know, in the ancient times, Allah tells us, and this is also found in biblical literature,

And the Jews also confirmed this. It's mentioned (in) other places in the Qur’an.

You know, when we slaughter an animal at Eid, like recently,

we don't know if Allah accepted it or not. We don't know that.

But back in the ancient days, what Allah used to do was He used to send a fire from the sky,

and it would consume the sacrifice that was accepted.

So it would actually… and this is something that the Jews actually complained with the prophets ﷺ and said,

If he's really a prophet, how come no fire comes?

And you know, يَأْتِيَنَا بِقُرْبَانٍۢ تَأْكُلُهُ ٱلنَّارُ ۗ (QS. Ali Imran [3]: 183)

How come he doesn't bring a sacrifice that the fire will come and eat.

And this started from the time of Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ.

So when one of them sacrificed, and the fire consumed it.

And the other one sacrificed, and it didn't consume it.

Now, this was not a matter of money, this was not a matter of status or power,

It was just one's worship was accepted and the other wasn't,

and this was enough for one of them to say, "I’m gonna kill you".

Which doesn't… To you and me doesn't make any sense. Why would that happen?

But I’m sharing all of these events with you because they go back to one single event.

And that single event is the story of Adam عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ.

When iblis (إبْلِيْس) refused to do sajdah (سَجْدَة),

When he refused to do sajdah (سَجْدَة), Allah asked him, why would you do such a thing?

Why would you do it?

And you know, he... Of course, you know, the famous story of one version of...

another you might be familiar with, he responds in this 12th ayah أَنَا۠ خَيْرٌۭ مِّنْهُ (QS. Al-A'raf [7]: 12)

"I’m better than him".

His number one reason is 'I’m better than him',

but if he just says 'I’m better than him', that's not enough.

You have to qualify what makes you better?

So he gives his own rationale.

And notice his rationale, will not have anything to do with his accomplishments.

and everything he's done for Allah, and his history. None of it.

his rationale was خَلَقْتَنِى مِن نَّارٍۢ وَخَلَقْتَهُۥ مِن طِينٍۢ (QS. Al-A'raf [7]: 12)

You made me from fire. You made him from dirt.

Obviously I’m better than him. I’m made of better material than he is.

Now the thing is Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ made you, He made me.

He made iblis (إبْلِيْس). He made the jin, He made the human beings. He made the angels.

and Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ decides who's better and who's worse.

But when you and I forget that all of us are Allah's creation,

and our focus is comparing ourselves to others,

then you're always thinking about who's better and who's worse.

And that's what iblis (إبْلِيْس) wants.

Iblis wants us to forget that we are all equally creation of Allah.

And he wants us to be like him,

where his entire obsession is comparing himself to another creation.

This idea of comparison consumes him.

And he wants humanity to be consumed with that idea,

comparing yourself all the time with someone else.

And it's not just about race. It's not just about, he's made of fire and I'm made of clay.

It could be I graduated from this university. They only graduated from that university.

I have this degree. They only have that degree.

I have this job. They only have that job.

That guy, he's a taxi driver.

This one, this... you want me to... And you know, sometimes you have, for example,

a good family proposal comes for your daughter,

or comes for your son and you say, "Yeah, but their father's a... He runs a grocery store".

or "He's a taxi driver".

"Oh, this guy, his brother's a truck driver".

"You want me to marry among truck drivers?"

Like you look at their job and you say,

"We're better than them because of the job that they do".

Or you look at them, of course, the more obvious ones are, what kind of...

you know, iblis (إبْلِيْس) said he's made of clay. We then distinguish between different kinds of clay.

"Seriously, you think I'm gonna marry my child to someone from this country?"

or this region? Or this race? Or this skin color? Have you even seen them?

My kid with them?

This idea of us comparing,

you know, and I’m bringing up the example of marriage, but it's not reduced to marriage.

It's actually in all walks of life. And everything that we do.

If there's a something in our head, which is making us compare ourselves to someone else,

and establish some sort of superiority.

For some people, they're obsessed with their appearance.

And so when they see someone else with lesser appearance,

then immediately they size them up.

"Well, you know, I’m a nine, they're more like a four."

So... "No no no... they don't really add up".

And then this idea of constant comparison,

then it starts shaping your thoughts and what you do with your life. And what your priorities are.

All of that changes, because now shaithaan (شَيْطَان) has been able to successfully make you obsessed with comparison.

That thing that was so powerful, that even obeying Allah disappeared.

because he's too consumed with that comparison.

Even when Allah spoke to him directly and said,

"What prevented you? Explain yourself."

أَلَّا تَسۡجُدَ إِذۡ أَمَرۡتُكَۖ (QS. Al-A'raf [7]: 12)

"that you wouldn't do sajdah (سَجْدَة) when I commanded you?"

and he's so consumed with that, instead of apologizing,

instead of recognizing that he disobeyed Allah,

he's still so consumed with that comparison, I am better than him.

You made him from... You made me from fire. You made him from clay,

even though he recognizes Allah made,

he says what you made, but you must have made me better.

Clearly, I'm better.

By the way, some people get this disease.

And this disease, afflicts Muslims, according to a lesson in Suratul Kahf

this particular disease I’m about to mention to you, afflicts Muslims.

Some people in their head have,

if Allah has given you more, that must mean He loves you more.

If Allah gave you better looks, if Allah gave you money, if Allah gave you fame, if Allah gave you knowledge,

if Allah gave you ability that He didn't give other people,

some children, or some men and women have an ability, for example, to memorize the Qur’an,

other people don't.

Other people, no matter how hard they try, they can't do it.

But the one who has the ability to memorize and the one who doesn't starts thinking to themselves,

Allah must think I’m better. That's why He gave me that talent. That's why he gave me that skill.

Allah must think that I’m somehow more worthy of the success I have in business.

He must think I’m more worthy because He made me look this way.

My siblings don't look this way. So He must think I’m more worthy.

So now you start assuming that Allah Himself declared that you're better,

That you are somehow superior because of what you've been given in this life.

And people who have that in their head,

just remind yourselves what happened to the gardener in Suratul Kahf,

Allah takes it all away just to remind you, you're not special.

You're just being given a gift.

And as a matter of fact, these things, that we think make us better than others,

for example, I’ll give you two examples, strength and beauty, for example.

Strength and beauty are something that can be God given,

So you may not have any control over it.

And yet these two things that we consider a blessing,

you find in the stories of Yusuf عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ and Musa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ,

Those two things are the things that got them in trouble.

What you thought was a blessing actually turns into your biggest trial, right?

So just because Allah gave you something, gave you a gift,

it doesn't make you better than anybody else.

But then there's even a further step.

And that further step is you and I are actually, supposed to compare each other.

There is a level of... You know, in our deen (دِيْن),

وَفِى ذَٰلِكَ فَلْيَتَنَافَسِ ٱلْمُتَنَـٰفِسُونَ (QS. Al-Muthaffifin [83]: 26)

People are supposed to compete with each other.

It is supposed to happen.

And competition is actually a natural thing.

As a matter of fact, you wouldn't succeed in your business, if you didn't compete.

It just wouldn't happen.

If your pizza place is not better than the other guy, you're not gonna get customers.

So you have to compete with others.

If you're not the best at whatever job you're applying for,

you're not gonna get the job. You have to compete with others.

So on the one hand,

there's a kind of comparison that's condemned. That's being like the devil.

And then on the other hand, Allah naturally made comparison a part of life.

So what kind of comparison and what kind of competition is okay?

And what kind of competition is not okay?

And that's the key thing. When you and I compete based on effort.

Not to establish 'I’m more superior', 'I’m better' or I’m whatever,

but actually just for yourself, to do your very best, you're competing.

And your ultimate comparison, and your ultimate competition

is actually against your own self, not with anybody else.

We actually don't. We don't even... You don't even concern yourself with anybody else.

You know, those of you that own businesses,

if you wanna have a Qur’an mindset in your business,

other people that don't have a Qur’an mindset, they say, "What's our competitor doing?"

"What are they selling? What are they working on?"

"When's their sale happening? Let's do our sale one day before their sale".

You're always thinking about your competitor and what they're doing,

and then you make your decisions.

But you know, if you have the right product, if you know that you're doing your very best,

and you know you're the best at something,

you don't look at the competition, you just do what you do.

You're just consumed within yourself.

And this is actually what Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ describes in Suratun Nisa.

وَلَا تَتَمَنَّوْا۟ مَا فَضَّلَ ٱللَّهُ بِهِۦ بَعْضَكُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍۢ ۚ (QS. An-Nisa [4]: 32)

Don't wish for what Allah has given as a preference to some over others.

Some people have an advantage. Their business might be in a better location.

They might have a better financial advantage.

They might have some other things. That's fine.

You focus on what you need to focus on.

You know the crazy thing about this unhealthy comparison?

This unhealthy comparison can make its way, not just in business,

not just in family life or marital relations and things like that.

It can even make its way into religious matters.

You can have in one city, a couple of masaajid (مَسَاجِد)

and one masjid (مَسْجِد) had a program and they're like, "Oh, we have to do a bigger program".

"They had a fundraiser? They raised how much? Oh, we gotta, we gotta raise more than them".

"We gotta beat them".

"How are they expanding before we're expanding?"

"Why are... You better go attend their fundraiser, find out who attended their fundraiser,

because we need to make those guys calls. So that next time before they attend theirs,

they attend ours, and they write their checks. So they have no more checks to write."

This is happening even when you're serving supposedly Allah’s deen (دِيْن).

When a masjid was being built, when some Islamic work is being done,

and you are doing your work, and they're doing their work, is that competition?

Back in the day, I remember when I was in college, I used to be part of the MSA.

And even MSA, Muslim Students Association.

You're supposed to do some Islamic activities, do some da’wah events, something,

and they're like, "Hey, what's that college doing?"

"Oh my God. Their event was way bigger than ours. We gotta crush them next time".

This idea of أَنَا۠ خَيْرٌۭ مِّنْهُ (QS. Al-A'raf [7]: 12)...

Competition for good causes is actually healthy.

Not to beat someone else, but to actually do…

When you see someone else do something good, it inspires you and you say, "I wanna do even better".

"I wanna do better than I did before".

"Not better than them, better than what I did".

That's the key.

When you see someone else successful, you don't say, "I’m gonna beat that guy one day".

You're gonna say, "You know, he must have put a lot of work in to get where he got,"

or "she must have put a lot of work in to get where she got".

"I’m gonna put work in and see how far I can get".

You compare yourself to yourself. You compare yourself to yourself from yesterday.

That is actually the road to progress ahead.

Instead of consuming yourself with somebody else.

And that consumption with someone else will lead to the ugliest of sins.

As a matter of fact, if you trace the majority sins in the Qur’an,

Kufr, denial of the message.

Kufr is a sin, but actually Kufr is the final product, rejection of the message.

I started by saying that the root of it was we're better than him. We can't listen to him.

Fir’aun is saying, "I’m better than him, he has a stutter."

And then that... Tied to this, finally, I share with you, is the idea of jealousy.

inshaAllah in the next session, I’ll talk to you about shaithaan (شَيْطَان)

and where the word shaithaan (شَيْطَان) comes from.

And how we have to learn some things about this enemy of ours.

What... How does he destroy us?

This is the first crime of his, and he wants us to repeat that crime.

That first crime. It's not just arrogance.

Arrogance is of course the... it's a big part of the equation.

And that's coming in the next ayah.

But right now I want you to think, where did arrogance start?

Arrogance started when you start obsessing yourself with somebody else.

When you start thinking about somebody else.

You and I should be thinking, put yourself in that position,

If somebody's been honored by Allah, if some man has been chosen,

like Rasulullah ﷺ was chosen as a messenger, you know who got really upset?

The rabbis of the Israelites got very upset.

How come an Arab was chosen?

He should have been from the chosen people. He should have been from among us.

And they were extremely upset and the Qur’an called them out on it.

It actually something Allah criticized them on.

The same way Isa عَلَيْهِ ٱلسَّلَامُ when He called them out, they had the same problem.

So even within religion and outside religion,

this idea of comparing yourself or questioning, "why did Allah give this one, these blessings?"

"Why did Allah make this person's life apparently easier than mine?"

"Why is that one happy?"

When that goes far enough, then you know what?

and this is the final thing I’m sharing with you for the khutbah today,

You know, shaithaan (شَيْطَان), one of its origins, even though the detailed discussion will be later.

One of its origins is actually to be consumed, to be consumed in rage.

You know, when someone's angry, clearly they're upset, right?

You can't be angry and happy at the same.

And when you're angry, you're miserable.

Anger is not a feeling or a state of being that you and I enjoy being in.

We'd rather not be in a state of anger.

But shaithaan (شَيْطَان) is someone who's constantly in a state of anger. Why?

Because he's constantly upset at the fact that somebody's doing okay.

Somebody's succeeding. Somebody's doing well.

And the fact that they're doing okay, bothers them.

Now, ask yourself this question.

If you've become the kind of person, don't think about anybody else,

I think about me. You think about yourself.

If you've become the kind of person

that someone else, when they succeed, when something good happens in their life,

when you see that they've accomplished something and it bothers you,

it upsets you. That's a problem.

That's a trade of shaithaan (شَيْطَان).

You and I are not concerned with what trials Allah will give me in my life, or you in your life.

You cannot be worried about me.

"Hey, this one's life is too easy. Why isn't it harder?"

"How come he seems happy? It upsets me that he's happy".

If these are the kinds of thoughts that you have about someone,

then shaithaan (شَيْطَان) has gotten to you.

Because now, forget... Now, the only thing is

the only thing that you think will make you happy is seeing them go down,

seeing them destroyed.

What's shaithaan's (شَيْطَان) only purpose in life?

Not to do anything for himself.

All of creation, naturally, all of creation Allah made, they seek rizq (رِزْق) for themselves.

They seek sustenance for themselves. They seek home for themselves.

They do something for themselves.

Shaithan does nothing for himself.

Shaithan only does something to harm someone else.

He's even destroying himself. He doesn't care.

He's even destroying himself, knowing full well he's headed into a fire.

He could stop, but nope. When this takes over you,

then it doesn't matter if you're headed to your self destruction,

you are now consumed by rage.

This is something that we really have to ask Allah’s refuge from,

which is why you find in Suratul Falaq,

وَمِن شَرِّ حَاسِدٍ إِذَا حَسَدَ (QS. Al-Falaq [113]: 5)

You know, Ibn Qayyim rahimahullah said about that ayah,

We ask Allah's protection from those who become jealous.

Jealous there doesn't mean, "Oh, why do you have a nice car...". Actually,

Hasad (حَسَد) actually means, someone sees you have something good and they wish you didn't have it.

"Whether I get it or not, doesn't matter. I hope he gets into an accident".

"I hope his car breaks down." "Whether I get it or not is not even the issue".

when someone has that disease, Ibn Qayyim rahimahullah correctly pointed out,

that is a disease of the heart from which there is no cure mentioned in the Qur’an.

The only thing you can ask for is to protect you from the person who has it.

From a person who has hasad (حَسَد).

Because at that point, shaithaan’s (شَيْطَان) taken over.

That is the fundamental quality of the shaithaan (شَيْطَان).

I ask Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ to protect us from that quality,

because that is a quality that he will bring into our life, over, and over, and over, and over again.

Wanting us to become like him.

I’ll just give you a personal example, and I close. I’ve been saying I’m closing, but I mean it this time.

You know, one time I... Obviously, I teach Arabic. And I love teaching Arabic.

And there are thousands of institutes that teach the Arabic language. Thousands of them.

And one time, some time ago we were starting an Arabic program.

And one of my employees came to me and says, "Ustadh, have you seen this other Institute?"

"They're starting an Arabic program. And in our city."

"And they're starting like a week before our program. I was really concerned".

And I just looked at him and said, "Alhamdulillah, that's a good thing".

"More people to learn Arabic. Why are you worried about that?"

Are we here to make sure that we beat someone else? Or their institute's fail or succeed?

If they're doing good work, it will stand on its own feet.

"And they will get students, and may Allah give them more students".

And may Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ give them success,

because any effort that's doing something good, we should make du’a (دُعَاء) for it.

And whatever rizq (رِزْق) is written in your name,

no matter what you think, if you get them shut down, doesn't mean you're gonna get more customers.

There are people that have competing halal restaurants and do all kinds of haram things.

They open up a restaurant. This guy's opened up their restaurant,

and they go online and they give the other one bad reviews.

There were rats in the food, and there was a snake in my noodles or what. You know, like...

Why? Because I wanna get them shut down.

Even if you shut them down Allah will not give you more rizq (رِزْق)

because you shut them down.

What Allah has written for you is written for you.

So stop consuming yourself with the failure of someone else.

Or with the success of someone else.

That is a quality of shaithaan (شَيْطَان).

And that's where it gets so bad, that even if Allah directly tells you,

why didn't you do sajdah (سَجْدَة), you still won't submit yourself.

That's how bad it can get.

May Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ protect ourselves from jealousy,

and protect those that have that towards ourselves.

بَارَكَ اللهُ لِيْ وَلَكُمْ فِي الْقُرْآنِ الْحكِيْمِ

وَنَفَعَنِيْ وَإِيَّاكُمْ باِلآيَاتِ وَالذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيْمِ

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YouTube Transcript:
The Devil's Obsession with Comparison - Khutbah By Nouman Ali Khan