with excellence until the Day of Resurrection, as well as anyone who emulates them.
Allah, exalted is He, singled out the Arabs with certain rulings that distinguish them. He then preferred Quraysh above the rest of the Arabs by entrusting to them the succession to Prophethood and other special marks of honour. After that He distinguished Banū Hāshim by forbidding them to receive charity and by granting them a fixed share of the fayʾ (state revenue derived from non-combat booty), in addition to other privileges. Thus the Almighty allotted each group a degree of merit appropriate to it—and Allah knows best.
He, Most High, says: “Indeed, it is a reminder for you and for your people” (Q 43:44); and He says: “There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among yourselves” (Q 9:128).
The Prophet ﷺ said, “Allah chose from the children of Adam the Arabs; from among the Arabs He chose Muḍar; from Muḍar He chose Quraysh; from Quraysh He chose Banū Hāshim; and from Banū Hāshim He chose me. I am therefore the choicest of the chosen. So whoever loves the Arabs does so out of love for me, and whoever hates the Arabs does so out of hatred for me.”
He ﷺ also said, “Love the Arabs for three reasons: because I am an Arab, the Quran is in Arabic, and the language of the people of Paradise is Arabic.” This narration is judged ḥasan in the general sense of the term—that is, its text is sound—though its chain of transmission is weak by the standards of the ḥadith experts.
Salman al-Fārisī said, “We honour you, O assembly of Arabs, only because the Messenger of Allah ﷺ honoured you; we do not marry your women, nor do we lead you in prayer.”
When ʿUmar drew up the register of stipends, he entered people according to their pedigrees, beginning with those who were nearest in lineage to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. After he had enumerated the Arabs, he then listed the non-Arabs.
Such was the arrangement of the dīwān in the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and the caliphs who followed them—until matters later changed. End of the quotation from Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah, may Allah have mercy on him.
An authentic ḥadith also states that the Prophet ﷺ said, “The best of you in the pre-Islamic period are the best of you in Islam, provided they attain understanding.”
Difference in quality and deficiency among Allah’s creatures undeniably exists; this is His constant way in the whole of creation— mineral, plant, animal, and human—according to what He has placed within each of them