الآية رقم (172) - لَّن يَسْتَنكِفَ الْمَسِيحُ أَن يَكُونَ عَبْداً لِّلّهِ وَلاَ الْمَلآئِكَةُ الْمُقَرَّبُونَ وَمَن يَسْتَنكِفْ عَنْ عِبَادَتِهِ وَيَسْتَكْبِرْ فَسَيَحْشُرُهُمْ إِلَيهِ جَمِيعًا

(172) - (Never would the Messiah disdain to be a servant of Allāh, nor would the angels near [to Him]. And whoever disdains His worship and is arrogant - He will gather them to Himself all together.)

The talk here is about servitude to Allah (swt), that the Christ, the angels, the Messengers and all creation are proud of being servants to Allah (swt)

Being slaves to Allah (swt), unlike slavery to humans, which is reprehensible to us. When Allah (swt) wants to honor His creation, He attributes slavery to him; because servitude to Allah (swt) is a gift, for Allah (swt) is Mighty and dispenses with the worship of His creation. Among the sayings that the Prophet (saws) relates from his Lord (saws) is that He said:

O My servants, you will not attain harming Me so as to harm Me, and will not attain benefitting Me so as to benefit Me. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to be as pious as the most pious heart of any one man of you, that would not increase My kingdom in anything. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to be as wicked as the most wicked heart of any one man of you, that would not decrease My kingdom in anything. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to rise up in one place and make a request of Me, and were I to give everyone what he requested, that would not decrease what I have, any more that a needle decreases the sea if put into it. O My servants, it is but your deeds that I reckon up for you and then recompense you for, so let him who finds good, praise Allah, and let him who finds other than that, blame no one but himself.”[1]

The servitude to Allah (swt) is honour, when Allah (swt) wanted to honor the Prophet Muhammad (saws) He perfected the description of servitude to him:

 سُبۡحَٰنَ ٱلَّذِيٓ أَسۡرَىٰ بِعَبۡدِهِۦ لَيۡلٗا مِّنَ ٱلۡمَسۡجِدِ ٱلۡحَرَامِ إِلَى ٱلۡمَسۡجِدِ ٱلۡأَقۡصَا ٱلَّذِي بَٰرَكۡنَا حَوۡلَهُۥ لِنُرِيَهُۥ مِنۡ ءَايَٰتِنَآۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلۡبَصِيرُ

(Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Ḥarām to al-Masjid al-Aqṣā, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing.) (Al-Issraa: 1)

Does not say (who took His messenger), or (His Prophet), nor does He say (who took Muhammad), rather says (who took His servant), because slavery to him (saws) is a great gift.

(  وَمَن يَسۡتَنكِفۡ عَنۡ عِبَادَتِهِۦ وَيَسۡتَكۡبِرۡ فَسَيَحۡشُرُهُمۡ إِلَيۡهِ جَمِيعٗا ) (And whoever disdains His worship and is arrogant – He will gather them to Himself all together.): No one can refuse to be gathered on that promised day:

 يَوۡمَ لَا يَنفَعُ مَالٞ وَلَا بَنُونَ (88) إِلَّا مَنۡ أَتَى ٱللَّهَ بِقَلۡبٖ سَلِيمٖ

(The Day when there will not benefit [anyone] wealth or children (88) But only one who comes to Allāh with a sound heart.”) (Ash-Sju’ara: 88-89)

When Allah (swt) speaks about one of his prophets, or one of His messengers, He describes him as a servant, so complete servitude to Allah (swt) is the highest and noblest rank of Him (swt). And the most ever blessed of people are the ones who complete perfected the attribute of slavery to Allah (swt), and as we said: the action is always attributed to the doer, so it is not possible for me to attribute any action to Allah (swt) then to measure it against the actions of human beings.

[1] Sahih Muslim: The Book of Virtue, Enjoining Good Manners, and Joining of the Ties of Kinship, Chapter of Forbidding the Oppression, Hadith No. 2577.