Good Character

Cure for jealousy

Q: What are some reasons behind someone feeling jealous so easily? And how can one change their mind to gratitude and self-satisfaction?

If someone continously feels jealousy unintentionally when they are trying to remove it repeatedly, and they still feel heart hardening, is this still jealousy? I feel it severely maybe because of arrogance or wanting praise and recognition.

Is there any difference between envy and jealousy in Islam?

Feelings of hatred for one's brother

Q: My father ordered me to respect my older brother but if my older brother insults me or yells at me, can I insult him with the same insult and use the same tone of voice. I don't respond to his abuse due to my dad's order which may make my older brother think I fear him furthering the abuse and my hatred toward him.

I feel like if I don't respond to him and the steam keeps building up in my heart and we fight one day (may Allah protect us both), one of us may end up in jail. If I could just throw some of his abuse back in his face maybe all of this corrosive hatred that I have toward him may go away. But right now I can't sit next to him due to all the hatred I have for him.

As weird as it sounds, me being able to respond to him may actually help ties of kinship because with my sister with which I fight verbally when there's a heated disagreement I feel like I couldn't feel this hatred for her in a sustained manner but with my brother I feel hate toward him just by thinking about him.

Taubah from making gheebat (backbiting)

Q: Sometime ago I backbit and engaged in alot of idle talk about alot of people as I was not much of a practicing Muslim. Those people are not aware of my backbiting. Now I have turned back to Allah; I have repented alot and repented sincerely and realized my mistake.

It turns out that the people I used to backbite are alot since I dont remember them all can I make dua generally for all people that I backbit without taking their names or mentioning them? like "Ya Allah, forgive all the people that I backbit and raise them in ranks".

Also, will Allah Ta'ala forgive me? I am afraid if I tell those people that I backbit them it will cause some hatred in their hearts for me. So i decided not to approach them and repented sincerely. 

Adopting humility

Q:

1. How can one be humble? How does humility feel like in the heart? Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanwi (Rahimahullah) said that true humility is not felt by a person just like a sleeping person doesn't know he is sleeping. What are the steps one can take to ensure they have no pride in their heart?

2. If someone makes tawbah sincerely, their sins are forgiven. How can one balance this with humility? Humility means seeing ourselves sinful and useless. If one does their best to make tawbah, how can they still feel sinful?

3. Is it against humility to like good traits one has as part of gratefulness to Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'aalaa)? How can one differentiate between 'ujb and happiness?