Ibn Qudaamah al Makdisi, rahimahullah said:
“Know that envy is a dangerous heart disease, and heart diseases are not treated except with the knowledge and actions. Useful knowledge for the treatment of envy is that a man knows, that in reality envy harms his religion and his dunya, and to whom envy is directed at, that envy will not hurt him in any way, nor his faith or dunya, but it will rather be a positive impact on him. The benefits do not stop for the person you envy, and even if you do not believe in the resurrection, this envy of yours still needs a cure.
If you’re smart, you’ll be aware of the evils of envy out from the pain that it causes in your heart, and surely you don`t have any benefit from it. What then when you know the penalty for this action in the hereafter? Further explanation of our statement is: “Indeed, whom somebody envy’s, it does not harm him, neither in terms of his religion, or his dunya, but in reality he has benefited from this in this world and the next.- because Allah has decreed for him that his benefits will last until the end of his life which Allah has set; and also there is no harm to him in the hereafter that he has been envied, because he has not committed any sin in this, but it will be of use, because he was someone who had suffered violence from you, especially if your envy comes in the form of words and deeds . As for worldly benefits, make use of the fact that they envy you, there is no greater punishment than envy in which you find yourself in.
So, if you think about what we have mentioned, you will realize that you are an enemy to yourself, a friend of your enemy (in itself). Your example is of an man who throws a stone on his enemy in order to kill him, but it doesn’t hurt him, rather the stone reflects back on himself and hurts his right eye. As a result of this he gets even angrier and throws an even bigger stone, which also returns and hurts his other eye. His anger increases even more, and he throws an third stone, which also returns and hits him in the head and kills him. Al of this happens while his true enemy is safe, and laughs of the situation. This is a cure of envy established on knowledge. If a person ponders and thinks about this example, envy will vanish from his heart.
As for the beneficial actions in the treatment of envy, then it is a commitment to itself to destroy what his envy orders. So if it encourages to hatred and vilification of anyone jealous, then he should commit himself to praising. If it seems arrogant, then he should commit itself to be humble towards him, that is, whom he envy’s; and if you prevent the arrival of benefits to whom you envy, then you need to commit yourself to increase good deeds toward him. There was a group of righteous predecessors who, when they heard that someone gossiped about them, they would respond with a gift …”
Translated from Arabic into Bosnian, Medisa Dedović. Translated from Bosnian to English, Nermin Sulejmanagić.
