'And lower to them the wing of humility.' When the bird lowers its wing in humility, it borrowed this for its kindness towards them. This is in consideration of their rights. His saying, 'the wing of humility,' means the wing of that humility. He clarified the intended meaning by His saying, 'out of mercy.' This means not just for the sake of obeying the command and fearing disgrace, but for the sake of mercy towards them. You should constantly remind yourself of the commands and prohibitions, and what they have previously done in kindness to you. They have become in need of you, and you were the most in need of Allah's creation of them. This should become a necessary character trait for you. For the soul is indeed commanding towards evil, unless it is guided to good by various forms of encouragement and intimidation, and by deeply contemplating the realities of matters and the wonders of destiny. Therefore, He followed it with His saying, commanding that one should not be content with His mercy, which does not last. For that does not fulfill their right. Rather, one should seek for them the lasting mercy: 'And say, My Lord.' This means, 'O You who have done good to me by their kindness towards me, until they raised me, and they would put me before themselves.' 'Have mercy on them' with Your generosity, with Your lasting mercy, and Your bounty, just as I have had mercy on them with my limited mercy, along with my stinginess and what is in me of the nature of blame. 'Just as they raised me' with their mercy towards me when I was small. This is specifically for the Muslims, by the verse: 'It is not for the Prophet.' [At-Tawbah: 113] It is not abrogated. And He has certainly emphasized the importance of them, where He began by linking kindness to them with His oneness, and He organized it in His context. He concluded it with supplication for their salvation as a reward for their actions and in gratitude to them. He made the matter strict in observing them, to the extent that He did not allow the slightest thing of their humiliation, despite the causes of annoyance, and in situations where patience hardly enters within the limits of ability, except with great training.