Alhamdulillah, Who sent the Messenger ﷺ as a mercy to the worlds, a teacher of the first and the last, a warner and bringer of glad tidings. He who has called us to the path of Allah by His permission, illuminating lamp, and upon his family and companions, peace and blessings until the Day of Judgment.
Servants of Allah, Allah, Almighty, has prescribed for His servants various kinds of obedience and deeds to attain His nearness, and He has diversified the laws so that in their diversity there is no monotony. Therefore, the best thing in which a servant can excel in his relationship with his Creator and other servants is good character. Good character is the act of worship that will weigh most in the balance on the day of judgment: "Those whose deeds weigh in the balance... Those will be the fortunate ones. And those whose works do not weigh in the balance... Those are the ones who will have lost themselves.
Thus, good character is the characteristic of the righteous, and the conduct of the prophets and the prophets is the characteristic of the righteous, and the conduct of the prophets and the prophets is the characteristic of the righteous. muqarrabin (those nearby)
Said the Prophet ﷺ: "The believer attains through good character the state of a fasting person who prays at night". He also said: "Do not despise any good deed, even to meet your brother with a cheerful face". He also said: "The best of you are those who have the best character". We can glimpse from these hadith that the din Right manners entail good character before Allah and towards His slaves. The Prophet ﷺ explained to us the purpose of his mission and his message, saying, "I was indeed sent to perfect good manners," and he said in another hadithI and the prophets before me are like a building in which a part has been left incomplete. People passed before it and were amazed at the construction, but even more so because one of its corners was missing a brick... I am that brick (that completed the construction), I am the seal of the prophets".
Among the best qualities and behaviour that characterised the prophets and messengers is humility, and he who is humble before Allah, He will elevate him. Humility is the garment of the pious, the robe of the believers, and one of the attributes of the arifin.
Our Prophet ﷺ was the most humble person and the best in character. He ﷺ was not arrogant towards anyone nor did he discriminate against people. All people to him were equal, he tried to make no difference between them. And his Lord commanded him to be kind to his companions and his people saying in the Qur'an: "If you had been rough, hard-hearted, they would have stayed away from you.". The Prophet ﷺ used to take care of the needs of his companions and never refused to help anyone.
On one occasion, he asked about a woman who was cleaning the mosque, because he did not see her, and they said, "O Messenger of Allah, she died". And He said to them, "Why did you not inform me?" and asked them to show him her grave. He went to her grave and prayed for her, honouring her work which was to cleanse the house of Allah, and because he ﷺ was humble.
Humility is part of the kamāl(perfection), beautifies the person and makes him/her loved by people. Lack of humility leads to arrogance, haughtiness and a feeling of superiority over people.
As an example of the humility of the people of the early generations (the salaf) we have this quote: One day Ibn Abbas mounted his horse and Zaid Ibn Zabit came and placed his feet in the stirrups, and Ibn Abbas said, "No, no, what are you doing?" as if he did not want that, and Zaid said, "We were commanded to venerate the family of the Messenger of Allah," and Ibn Abbas came down and kissed Zaid's head and said, "We too were commanded to venerate the scholars."
Likewise, we have the example of Sayyidina Umar who used to say to himself: "What will you say to your Lord, Ibn Al-Khattab, if only Al-Khattab's mother had not given birth to Umar. Would that she had disappeared into oblivion". And Abu Bakr, said: "If only one of my feet had been in Paradise and the other outside, I would not be safe from the cunning of Allah". He was one of the ten who were promised to enter the Garden, but he was humble before Allah and despised the value of his deeds for fear of ostentation. Umar Ibn al-Khattab was stabbed and when he regained consciousness, he said: "I wish I had not occupied myself with the affairs of the Muslims, even for a single day. I wish I had left the world, and had nothing either for me or against me". And the first thing he said to the people when he became conscious again was, "Have you completed the Subh prayer?" because he had been stabbed during that prayer.
Finally, out of humility, when he felt his time was near, he sent his son Abdullah to the Mother of the believers, Aisha, asking her permission to be buried with the Messenger of Allah and Abu Bakr, and she agreed.
Aisha, radi allahu anha, saw in a dream while the Messenger ﷺ was still alive that three moons were falling in his room. She asked Abu Bakr, and he did not answer her out of respect for the Messenger ﷺ but when the Messenger ﷺ died, Abu Bakr said to her, "O Aisha, this is the first of the three moons that fell".
At the time of our Imam, Malik, Imam of Dar al-Hiyra, Caliph Harun al-Rashid wrote to him and said: "I have been informed that you teach in the mosque. Come to our palace so that we can learn from you". Then Imam Malik wrote him a reply: "Knowledge is sought after, not sought after you. If you come late, we will not let you disturb the others to get to the front row". And one day the Caliph was late for one of these classes in the mosque and sat in the last row on a chair that one of the guards had placed for him. Upon seeing this, Imam Malik changed the subject of his dersHarun al-Rashid immediately understood the Imam's intention, left the chair and sat down on the floor.
Once, Imam Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, on his way to the mosque met a drunken man, whose mouth was still dripping with alcohol, repeating "....la ilaha ila Lah"And the Imam wiped his mouth with his garment, and someone said to him: "O Imam, this is a drunkard, does he deserve what you are doing? Then he said to them, "How can I stop wiping the mouth of one who utters the words of the tawhidthe key to ParadiseLa ilaha ila Lah"?!".
Brothers and sisters in the Imamate! this is the humility of the salafthose who humiliate their nufus.
And know that the first disobedience that ever existed was when the shaitan He refused to prostrate before Adam, and was arrogant and was cursed and expelled from the mercy of Allah. The Prophet ﷺ: "Whoever has the weight of an atom of arrogance in his heart, he will not enter the Garden".
Allahumah, grant us humility and save us from the arrogant, and have mercy on our oppressed brothers and sisters. Allahumah, grant them Victory and defeat the oppressors Amin.
