Eighth: Any attempt to retaliate, to exact full redress, or to champion oneself is, in the end, undertaken on behalf of one’s own self. Yet the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—never avenged himself at all1. If the best of all creation and the most honored in Allah’s sight would not take revenge for himself23—even though harming him is, in truth, an affront to Allah and infringes upon the rights of the religion; even though his self is the noblest, purest, most righteous of souls, the furthest removed from every blameworthy trait and the most deserving of every praiseworthy quality—still he did not avenge it. How, then, can any one of us4, who knows full well the flaws and evils5 hidden within his own soul, seek vengeance on its behalf? Indeed, for the man of insight, his self is too insignificant to justify avenging it, and too trivial in worth for him to deem its vindication obligatory.