Dear Hadi,
Dear Reader,
From an Islamic perspective, what you felt is understandable, but it is something to work on spiritually.
There is an important difference in Islam between a passing feeling and what you choose to nurture in your heart.
Feeling disappointed because you were benched is natural. Feeling a sting when someone else succeeds in the exact area where you wanted success is also part of being human. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) recognized that people struggle with emotions like envy, pride, disappointment, and insecurity: "Allah has forgiven my ummah for what crosses their minds, so long as they do not speak of it or act upon it.”
What becomes spiritually dangerous is when one acts upon these feelings, or when the sadness turns into hasad — resenting another person’s blessing, wanting it taken away from them, or refusing to be happy for them because of jealousy.
In your situation, it sounds less like “I hate that he succeeded” and more like: “I was hoping for my own chance, and his success meant I lost it.”
That is a very human reaction.
The healthy Islamic response is not to pretend you feel nothing. It is to notice the feeling, then guide it correctly:
- Do not resent your friend.
- Do not belittle his achievement.
- Do not hope he fails next time just so you can play.
- Instead, acknowledge your disappointment while still being glad for him.
A believer trains the heart to say: “Allah blessed him today. My turn may come another day.”
There is also a deeper lesson here. Your friend, whom you considered one of the weakest players, scored two goals. That is a reminder that Allah can raise anyone unexpectedly. Sometimes we quietly place people into categories in our minds: “better,” “worse,” “starter,” “bench.” Life constantly breaks those categories.
You can even use this moment positively:
- support your teammate sincerely,
- improve your own skills without bitterness,
- and ask Allah to purify your heart from envy.
One of the signs of a good heart is being able to struggle internally while still choosing good outwardly.
The passing feeling itself is natural, but feeding jealousy, wishing for your friend’s downfall, or becoming bitter would be spiritually unhealthy and potentially sinful. The goal in Islam is not to become emotionless — it is to become someone who governs emotions with sincerity, humility, and good character.
The real goal and worthwhile prize is to achieve the status expressed by the Prophet (pbuh) in his hadith: "None of you will truly believe until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself." (Sahih al-Bukhari). Very few can live up to this hadith all the time, but the challenge is to take it as a motivation to make us try harder and do better, and not as an indictment that makes us feel down on ourselves so that we no longer strive to rise above our first instincts.
We hope that helps, along with the fact that you are not alone in this struggle -- in fact, you are in the company of the good, who want to live up to the Prophet's words.
In peace,