Thus, whoever humbles himself before Allah, submitting and yielding to Allah Most High rather than to His creation, has a heart close to Allah, and Allah thereby raises him. Outwardly he is descending and lowly, but inwardly—and in reality—he is ascending and exalted. As related in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad, from ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb, from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him—though the established version is a statement of ʿUmar himself—he said:

“Everyone has in