Allah, the Exalted, said:
رياض الصالحينAbū Zakariyyā Muḥyī al-Dīn Yaḥyā ibn Sharaf al-Nawawī٢٧٩ - باب النهي عن الافتخار والبغي
٢٧٩ - باب النهي عن الافتخار والبغي
Those who avoid the major sins and immoralities, only [committing] slight ones. Indeed, your Lord is vast in forgiveness. He was most knowing of you when He produced you from the earth and when you were fetuses in the wombs of your mothers. So do not claim yourselves to be pure; He is most knowing of who fears Him.
And the Exalted also said:
إِنَّمَا ٱلسَّبِيلُ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ يَظْلِمُونَ ٱلنَّاسَ وَيَبْغُونَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ بِغَيْرِ ٱلْحَقِّ ۚ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ
The cause is only against the ones who wrong the people and tyrannize upon the earth without right. Those will have a painful punishment.
وعن عياضِ بن حمارٍ - ﵁ - قَالَ: قَالَ رسولُ اللهِ - ﷺ: «إنَّ اللهَ تَعَالَى أوْحَى إلَيَّ أَنْ تَوَاضَعُوا حَتَّى لا يَبْغِيَ أَحَدٌ عَلَى أحَدٍ، وَلاَ يَفْخَرَ أَحَدٌ عَلَى أحَدٍ». رواه مسلم. قَالَ أهلُ اللغةِ: البغيُ: التَّعَدِّي والاستطالَةُ .
And on the authority of ʿIyāḍ ibn Ḥimār (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "Allah, the Exalted, has revealed to me that you are to be humble towards one another, so that no one transgresses against another, nor does anyone boast over another." Muslim narrated it. The scholars of the language said: al-baghy means overstepping the bounds and overbearing arrogance over others.
وعن أَبي هريرة - ﵁: أنَّ رسول الله - ﷺ - قَالَ: «إِذَا قَالَ الرجُلُ: هَلَكَ النَّاسُ، فَهُوَ أَهْلَكُهُمْ». رواه مسلم. والرواية المشهورة: «أهْلَكُهُمْ» بِرَفعِ الكاف وروي بنصبها: وذلكَ النْهيُ لِمنْ قَالَ ذَلِكَ عُجْبًا بِنَفْسِهِ، وتَصَاغُرًا للنَّاسِ، وارْتِفاعًا عَلَيْهِمْ، فَهَذَا هُوَ الحَرامُ، وَأمَّا مَنْ قَالَهُ لِما يَرَى في النَّاسِ مِنْ نَقْصٍ في أمرِ دِينِهم، وقَالَهُ تَحَزُّنًا عَلَيْهِمْ، وعَلَى الدِّينِ، فَلاَ بَأسَ بِهِ. هكَذَا فَسَّرَهُ العُلَماءُ وفَصَّلُوهُ، وَمِمَّنْ قَالَهُ مِنَ الأئِمَّةِ الأعْلامِ: مالِكُ بن أنس ، وَالخَطَّابِيُّ ، والحُميدِي وآخرونَ ، وَقَدْ أوْضَحْتُهُ في كتاب: «الأذْكار» .
And on the authority of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "When a man says, 'The people are ruined,' then he is the most ruined of them." Muslim narrated it. The well-known reading is «ahlakuhum» with the kāf in the nominative, and it is also narrated with it in the accusative («ahlakahum»). That prohibition applies to whoever says it out of conceit with himself, belittling the people, and exalting himself over them — this is what is forbidden. But as for one who says it on account of a deficiency he sees in the people regarding their religion, saying it out of grief for them and for the religion, there is no harm in it. Thus the scholars explained and elaborated it. Among the eminent imams who said this are Mālik ibn Anas, al-Khaṭṭābī, al-Ḥumaydī, and others; I have set it out clearly in the book al-Adhkār.