Even the discarded ‘oud brings benefit…

The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said, "Charity
does not diminish wealth, and Allah does not increase in forgiveness
for a slave except that He also increases him in honour, and no-one
humbles himself to Allah except that Allah raises him." [Muslim
(2588)]
Abu Hatim: Humbleness/humility is of two types; one of them is
praiseworthy andthe other is blameworthy . The praiseworthy humility
is abandoning al-tatawul (making oneself superior) over the slaves of
Allah and looking down upon them, and the blameworthy humility is
humbling oneself for a person who possesses materialistic worldly
gains out of desire for this world. The intelligent one abandonsthe
blameworthy humility at all times, but he never abandons the
praiseworthy humility at any point.
'Ubayd'Allah ibn 'Adi reported that 'Umar ibn al-Khattab said, " If a
man humbles himself to Allah, then Allah will raise him and say to
him, 'Rise up, may Allah raise you!' because he sees himself to be
insignificant whilst he is great in the eyes of people. But if a slave
is arrogant and transgresses , then Allah casts him away saying, 'Be
lowly, may Allah lower you!' because he sees himself to be great
whilst he is insignificant in the eyes of people.'"
Abu Hatim: Humbleness raises the worth of a person, enhances his value
and increases his nobility . Humility for Allah falls into two
categories:
1 – The humbleness of a slave as he approaches an act of obedience,
without any self-amazement in his deed and without showing off to
anybody; a state which brings about the closeness of Allah to a slave,
except that it is Allah `azza wa jall Who has bestowed this upon him
first. And (the lack of) this humility is the reason that the
pretentious self-righteous soul is turned away from acts ofobedience.
2 – The humbleness/humility of aslave in lowering and belittling
himself when he is mentioned, withoutfalling into sin, until there is
no-one in the world except that he seeshimself less than them in
obedience or more than them in sin.
Ibn Jurayj reported from Mujahid regarding the verse, "… and they were
to Us 'khashi'een (humblysubmissive)." [al-Anbiya': 90] He said, "This
means they observed humility."
Al-Asma'i said, "I heard Yahya ibn Khalid al-Barmaki say, "When the
respectful honourable man devotes himself to religion, he becomes
humble . But when the despicable evil one does so, he becomes arrogant
.""
Abu Hatim: Let no-one prevent humility, for indeed humility earns one
peace and brings about strong bonds , it does away with hatred and
removes rejection , and the fruit of humility is love just as the
fruit of contentment is ease and relaxation . Certainly, the
humbleness of a noble person only increases his nobility whilst the
arrogance of a lowly one only increases his lowliness . And how can
aperson not be humble when he has been made from scattered drops of
sperm , and his end will be a corpse casted away and between the two
stages he carries waste !
Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah said, "If it was said 'bring out the best of this
city', therewould come out people that were unknown ."
Al-Kirizi (a poet) said:
'And do not walk upon the earth except in humbleness,
For how many people underneath it are more exalted than you!
If you are in glory, goodness and strength,
Then how many have died that were more stronger than you.'
Ja'far ibn Muhammad said, "Husayn ibn 'Ali performed Hajj ten times
walking, whilst his sturdycamel was being led beside him."
Abu Hatim: "The best of people is the one who is humble despite being
of high rank, who is ascetic despite having the capabilities and who
is just despite having power . A person only begins to abandon
humbleness when arrogance has started to take root, for a person is
never arrogant towards another except that he is someone who's become
pleased and amazed at his own self . I have neverseen anybody prove
arrogant over others except that Allah has punished him by subjecting
him to humiliation under those who are above him."
If the intelligent one seessomeone who is older than him, he humbles
himself for him and says, "He has preceded me in Islam." And if he
sees someone who is younger than him, he says, "I havepreceded him in
sin." Andif he sees someone who is his contemporary , he counts him as
his brother so how can a person be arrogant over his brother? None
should belittle another, for even the discarded 'oud (bark) can
benefit when a man picks it up and uses it to scratch his ear.
Mujahid reports that Ibn 'Abbas said, "If a mountain were to
transgress over another mountain, Allah will surely demolish to ruins
the transgressing one among the two."