As-salamu `alaykum wa rahmatullah

[Rawdhat al-‘Uqala’ post 10]

The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said, “Charity does not diminish wealth, and Allah does not increase in forgiveness for a slave except that He also increases him in honour, and no-one humbles himself to Allah except that Allah raises him.” [Muslim (2588)]

Abu Hatim: Humbleness/humility is of two types; one of them is praiseworthy and the other is blameworthy. The praiseworthy humility is abandoning al-tatawul (making oneself superior) over the slaves of Allah and looking down upon them, and the blameworthy humility is humbling oneself for a person who possesses materialistic worldly gains out of desire for this world. The intelligent one abandons the blameworthy humility at all times, but he never abandons the praiseworthy humility at any point.

‘Ubayd’Allah ibn ‘Adi reported that ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab said, “If a man humbles himself to Allah, then Allah will raise him and say to him, ‘Rise up, may Allah raise you!’ because he sees himself to be insignificant whilst he is great in the eyes of people. But if a slave is arrogant and transgresses, then Allah casts him away saying, ‘Be lowly, may Allah lower you!’ because he sees himself to be great whilst he is insignificant in the eyes of people.'”

Abu Hatim: Humbleness raises the worth of a person, enhances his value and increases his nobility. Humility for Allah falls into two categories:

1 – The humbleness of a slave as he approaches an act of obedience, without any self-amazement in his deed and without showing off to anybody; a state which brings about the closeness of Allah to a slave, except that it is Allah `azza wa jall Who has bestowed this upon him first. And (the lack of) this humility is the reason that the pretentious self-righteous soul is turned away from acts of obedience.

2 – The humbleness/humility of a slave in lowering and belittling himself when he is mentioned, without falling into sin, until there is no-one in the world except that he sees himself less than them in obedience or more than them in sin.

Ibn Jurayj reported from Mujahid regarding the verse, “… and they were to Us ‘khashi’een (humbly submissive).” [al-Anbiya’: 90] He said, “This means they observed humility.”

Al-Asma’i said, “I heard Yahya ibn Khalid al-Barmaki say, “When the respectful honourable man devotes himself to religion, he becomes humble. But when the despicable evil one does so, he becomes arrogant.””

Abu Hatim: Let no-one prevent humility, for indeed humility earns one peace and brings about strong bonds, it does away with hatred and removes rejection, and the fruit of humility is love just as the fruit of contentment is ease and relaxation. Certainly, the humbleness of a noble person only increases his nobility whilst the arrogance of a lowly one only increases his lowliness. And how can a person not be humble when he has been made from scattered drops of sperm, and his end will be a corpse casted away and between the two stages he carries waste!

Sufyan ibn ‘Uyaynah said, “If it was said ‘bring out the best of this city’, there would come out people that were unknown.”

Al-Kirizi (a poet) said:

‘And do not walk upon the earth except in humbleness,
For how many people underneath it are more exalted than you!
If you are in glory, goodness and strength,
Then how many have died that were more stronger than you.’

Ja’far ibn Muhammad said, “Husayn ibn ‘Ali performed Hajj ten times walking, whilst his sturdy camel was being led beside him.”

Abu Hatim: “The best of people is the one who is humble despite being of high rank, who is ascetic despite having the capabilities and who is just despite having power. A person only begins to abandon humbleness when arrogance has started to take root, for a person is never arrogant towards another except that he is someone who’s become pleased and amazed at his own self. I have never seen anybody prove arrogant over others except that Allah has punished him by subjecting him to humiliation under those who are above him.”

If the intelligent one sees someone who is older than him, he humbles himself for him and says, “He has preceded me in Islam.” And if he sees someone who is younger than him, he says, “I have preceded him in sin.” And if he sees someone who is his contemporary, he counts him as his brother so how can a person be arrogant over his brother? None should belittle another, for even the discarded ‘oud (bark) can benefit when a man picks it up and uses it to scratch his ear.

Mujahid reports that Ibn ‘Abbas said, “If a mountain were to transgress over another mountain, Allah will surely demolish to ruins the transgressing one among the two.”