Thus the Almighty, through the words of His Messenger, forbade both forms of overstepping people’s bounds: boasting and oppression. When a person oversteps with a legitimate claim, it is boasting; and when he does so without right, it is oppression. Neither is permissible.

If someone belongs to a favored group—for example, he recalls the merit of the Banū Hāshim, of Quraysh, of the Arabs in general, or of any part of them—he must not make his share of that remembrance a sense of his own superiority or dwell upon it. Such an attitude is mistaken, for the excellence of a lineage does not guarantee the excellence of every individual, as we have already explained; indeed, one Abyssinian may be dearer to Allah than most of Quraysh. Moreover, such self-regard diminishes him and removes him from true merit—let alone if he uses it to elevate himself above others or to wrong them.

Conversely, if someone is from the other group—namely the non-Arabs, or those outside Quraysh, or outside the Banū Hāshim—let him know that believing the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, in what he has conveyed; obeying him in what he commands; loving those whom Allah loves; emulating those whom Allah has favored; and adhering to the true religion with which Allah sent Muhammad—all this grants him superiority over the majority of the supposedly privileged group. That is genuine excellence.

Consider ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, may Allah be pleased with him, when he instituted the state register. They said to him, “Commander of the Faithful, begin with yourself.” He replied, “No; place ʿUmar where Allah has placed him.” He therefore began with the family of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, then those who came after them, until the turn reached Banū ʿAdī—his own clan—which ranks after most branches of Quraysh.

Through this adherence to the truth and the like, he placed himself ahead of the majority of the Banū Hāshim, let alone the rest of Quraysh.