and to strike it and abandon thinking about it whenever it crosses his mind. also envy is a great helper and avenger against the envious and the envied because it perpetuates his worries and grief and distracts his mind and torments his body and weakens his plot against the envied and his efforts against him with his preoccupations and the weakening of his body if that continues. so what opinion is more deserving of being disparaged and disgraced than that which brings nothing but harm to its owner and what weapon is more deserving and worthy of being discarded than that which is a shield for the enemy and a wound for the one who carries it? also what removes envy from the soul and makes it easy and pleasant for it to give it up is for the wise person to contemplate the conditions of people their advancement in ranks and their arrival at demands and their conditions in what they have become from these two aspects and to be good at verifying it in what we are mentioning here for he will attack from it that the condition of the envied person in his own eyes is different from that of the envious person and that the envious person imagines that from its greatness and majesty and the ultimate happiness of the envied person and his enjoyment of it is not like that. i say man continues to magnify the state and anticipate it and desire and wish to attain it and reach it and he sees rather he does not doubt that those who have attained it and achieved it are in the utmost joy and enjoyment of it until when he attains it and achieves it he does not rejoice or feel happy about it except for a short period of time as long as he settles in it and is able to do so and is known by it and during this period he is happy and delighted with it in his own eyes until when this state is obtained for him the desired state whatever it may be and his being in it and his possession of it and the peoples knowledge of him are established.
ولإضراب عنه وترك الفكر فيه متى خطر بباله. وأيضا فإن الحسد نعم العون والمنتقم من الحاسد والمحسود، وذلك أنه يديم همه وغمه ويذهل عقله ويعذب جسده ويوهن بأشغال نفسه وإضعاف جسده كيده للمحسود وسعيه عليه إن دام ذلك. فأي رأي هو أولى بالتسفيه والترذيل من الذي لا يجلب على صاحبه إلا ضررا، وأي سلاح أحق وأولى بالاطراح من الذي هو جنة للعدو وجارح للحامل؟ وأيضا فإن مما يمحو الحسد عن النفس ويسهل ويطيب لها الإقلاع عنه أن يتأمل العاقل أحوال الناس ترقيهم في المراتب ووصولهم إلى المطالب وأحوالهم مما صاروا إليه من هذين البابين، ويجيد التثبت فيه على ما نحن ذاكروه هاهنا، فإنه سيهجم منه على أن حالة المحسود عند نفسه خلافها عند الحاسد، وأن يتصوره الحاسد من عظمها وجلالتها ونهاية غبطة المحسود وتمتعه بها ليس كذلك. أقول إن الإنسان لا يزال يستعظم الحالة ويستجلها ويود ويتمنى بلوغها والوصول إليها، ويرى بل لا يشك أن الذين قد نالوها وبلغوها هم في غاية الاغتباط والاستمتاع بها، حتى إذا بلغها ونالها لم يفرح ولم يسر بها إلا مديدة يسيرة بقدر ما يستقر فيها ويتمكن منها ويعرف بها، ويكون هذه المديدة عند نفسه مسعودا مغتبطا بها، حتى إذا حصلت له هذه الحالة المتمناة كانت واستحكم كونه فيها وملكه لها ومعرفة الناس له