A Shariah-Aligned Framework for Social Well-Being: Reducing Ego, Jealousy, Greed, and Hate-Driven Humiliation

Rationale

What creates conflict between people? Sometimes it begins with money, power, position, or status. Yet Islam also asks a deeper question. What happens inside the human heart before conflict becomes visible? A person may follow rules in public but still harm others through arrogance, resentment, selfish desire, or degrading speech. For this reason, social well-being cannot be understood only as peace, cooperation, or emotional comfort. It must also be understood as moral discipline. 

This blog argues that social well-being becomes stronger when human conduct is aligned with Shariah principles. The logic follows the purpose of research blogging, where a rationale should establish relevance, context, and disciplinary importance before presenting the central issue (Hasan et al., 2026). Social well-being has been explained through social integration, acceptance, contribution, coherence, and actualization (Keyes, 1998; Hasnat et al., 2025a). Psychological well-being also includes positive relations, self-mastery, purpose, and personal growth (Ryff, 1989). These ideas are useful, but an Islamic framework adds another layer. It asks whether the self is disciplined by taqwa, justice, humility, and accountability before Allah (Babur et al., 2026).

The maqasid al-Shariah also supports this framing. Shariah aims to protect human welfare and prevent harm. It connects individual conduct with public good, justice, and responsible social relations (Dusuki & Abdullah, 2007). Therefore, the problem is not only that people disagree. Disagreement is natural. The deeper problem begins when disagreement is shaped by ego, jealousy, greed, and hate-driven humiliation. These four factors disturb the heart first, then damage family life, workplace culture, professional ethics, and community trust.

Research Gap

The research gap lies in the limited connection between Islamic moral purification and contemporary social well-being debates. Many discussions of social well-being focus on institutions, relationships, belonging, or mental health. These are important. However, less attention is given to the inner moral traits that turn normal social differences into conflict. This gap supports the need to articulate a clear contribution in blog format by identifying what is missing and why it matters (Hasnat et al., 2026).

 The first factor is ego. Here, ego does not mean self-confidence or self-respect. It means arrogant self-superiority. In Islamic terms, this relates to kibr or takabbur. The Qur’an warns against turning one’s face away from people and walking proudly on earth (The Qur’an, 2004, 31:18). The Prophet Muhammad also described pride as rejecting truth and looking down on people (Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, n.d., 91a). This makes ego socially dangerous. It produces domination, disrespect, and refusal to accept correction.

The second factor is jealousy. Jealousy is not the same as ego. Ego says, “I am above others.” Jealousy says, “I cannot accept what others have.” The Qur’an criticizes envy toward the blessings Allah has given others (The Qur’an, 2004, 4:54). Organizational research also shows that envy can lead to social undermining and counterproductive conduct (Cohen-Charash & Mueller, 2007; Duffy et al., 2012; Hasnat et al., 2025b). In Shariah logic, jealousy becomes harmful when it rejects divine distribution and turns another person’s success into a personal injury.

 The third factor is greed. Greed is different from jealousy because it does not always depend on comparison. It is the excessive desire to possess more. The Qur’an warns that competition for increase distracts human beings (The Qur’an, 2004, 102:1), while also praising those protected from the selfishness of the soul (The Qur’an, 2004, 59:9). The Prophet also warned that if a person had one valley of gold, he would desire another (al-Bukhari, n.d., 6439). Contemporary management research similarly treats greed as an excessive pursuit of material gain that can damage wider stakeholder interests (Haynes et al., 2017; Hasna & Salleh, 2018; Khandakar et al. 2025).

The fourth factor is hate-driven humiliation. Hate and humiliation should not be treated as two separate roots. Hate is the inner hostility. Humiliation is the outward action that degrades another person. The Qur’an prohibits ridicule, insult, offensive nicknames, suspicion, and backbiting (The Qur’an, 2004, 49:11-12). It also commands justice even toward those one dislikes (The Qur’an, 2004, 5:8). This is important because Shariah does not allow personal dislike to become injustice. Literature on dignity also treats humiliation as a serious violation of human worth (Shultziner & Rabinovici, 2012; Mia et al. 2016).

Future Implications

Future improvement should begin with the heart before it reaches the system. Policies, laws, and institutional rules are necessary. They help organize social life. Yet rules alone cannot protect dignity if people continue to act through arrogance, envy, greed, and humiliation. A society may look orderly from the outside, but it can still become fragile when people use power to dominate, wealth to control, success to provoke resentment, or words to injure others (Hasnat et al., 2024).

This framework suggests that social well-being should be treated as both a moral and relational responsibility. This aligns with the methodological purpose of projecting future implications by connecting evidence to policy, practice, and innovation (Khandakar et al., 2026). In family life, reducing ego can create more patience and listening. Reducing jealousy can protect love, trust, and goodwill. Reducing greed can reduce selfish decisions around wealth, inheritance, and responsibility. Reducing hate-driven humiliation can protect people from ridicule, insult, and emotional harm. These are not small matters. They shape the everyday quality of human relationships.

In professional life, the same framework can support healthier workplaces and institutions. Ego can turn leadership into control. Jealousy can turn colleagues into rivals. Greed can turn responsibility into exploitation. Hate-driven humiliation can turn correction into public shame. When these traits enter professional life, conflict of interest becomes more likely. Decisions become less fair. Trust becomes weaker. People may follow instructions, but they may no longer feel respected.

The Qur’an and Hadith remind us that social harm often begins with the condition of the self. The Qur’an prohibits ridicule, insult, suspicion, and backbiting (The Qur’an, 2004, 49:11-12). It also commands justice even toward those one dislikes (The Qur’an, 2004, 5:8). The Prophet Muhammad instructed Muslims not to envy, hate, turn away from one another, or undercut one another, but to live as brothers (Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, n.d., 2563a). These teachings show that Shariah compliance is not limited to formal religious practice. It also appears in speech, attitude, fairness, and the way people treat one another when they disagree.

The real problem begins when the self becomes larger than truth, when another person’s blessing becomes painful to see, when enough never feels enough, and when dislike becomes permission to humiliate. At that point, social life loses mercy. Relationships become competitive, defensive, and unsafe. A Shariah-aligned framework for social well-being therefore calls for more than external reform. It calls for inward discipline. A better society begins when people learn to lower ego, accept others’ blessings, control desire, and protect human dignity even in moments of disagreement.

 Funding

This research received no external funding.

Acknowledgements

This Research Blog post was written by the founding members of HHH Research Consultancy & Development

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.