who has wronged you or attacked you?!
The Messenger ﷺ says, “Allah increases no servant who pardons except in honor.” Honor is the very opposite of humiliation, whereas the voice that tells you, “If you forgive, you have lowered yourself before the aggressor,” is nothing but a trick of the soul that incites to evil and tries to hold you back from goodness. In reality, Allah rewards you for pardoning; He adds to you nothing but honor and exaltation in this world and the Hereafter.
He ﷺ then said, “No one humbles himself for Allah except that Allah raises him.” This elevation comes precisely through humility—through lowering oneself and deeming oneself insignificant. Yet a person imagines that humility will bring him down, while the truth is the opposite: when you humble yourself for Allah’s sake, Allah Most High elevates you.
His words “humbles himself for Allah” carry two meanings:
- To humble yourself before Allah in worship—submitting to Him and yielding to His command.
- To humble yourself toward the servants of Allah for His sake.
Both are causes of elevation. Whether you humble yourself before Allah by obeying His orders and avoiding His prohibitions, bowing to Him and worshipping Him, or you humble yourself toward His servants purely for His sake—not out of fear of them, or to flatter them, or to seek wealth or any other gain, but solely for Allah—then Allah will raise you, in this life or in the Hereafter.
All these hadiths therefore demonstrate the excellence of charity, voluntary donations, doing good, and extending kindness to others, and that such conduct was the very character of the Prophet ﷺ.