Surah Al-Hashr, Verse 9:
وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ
….. And whosoever is saved from his souls (own) covetousness, such are they who will be the successful.
Allah (swt) gave the inhabitants of madina this description, because, they gave” preference over themselves (to the emigrants), even though they were in need of that.[59:9] and they became the successful.
Covetousness of the soul refers to the the act of the soul of coveting (loving) things & actions that are inappropriate. This leads to giving preference to personal pleasure over Allahs pleasure. A lot of times, we do things that we are sure is wrong, or things that we doubt as regards to its appropriateness. The prophet (saw) said:
“seek a verdict from your heart. Virtue is that which your soul & body and heart feel satisfied with. Sin is that which troubles the soul & about which the heart is uneasy & confuses, even though people may give their legal opinion in its favour. [Muslim]
Things such as:
-Not doing work entrusted to us properly.
-looking at that man/woman in a wrong way
-doing what one’s husband dislikes
-Not following the proper (sunnah) way of doing things,
-and many more.
“There’s no doubt the soul, is indeed inclined to evil” [12:53] but that is why Allah (swt) gave us a mind to think and see clearly.
“But as for him who feared standing before his Lord, & restrained himself from impure evil desires, & lusts. Verily, paradise will be his abode.” [79:40-41]
We ask Allah (swt) to save us from our souls covetousness today & every other day as well. Ameen. May He also bring an end to all the suffering faced by muslims all over the world. Ameen.
By the light of the Qur'an 