Riʾasāsah · The Love of Leadership for Its Own Sake

There is a hadith that should reshape every Muslim's relationship with leadership, and it should be required reading in every mosque, every Muslim student association, every community board, every nonprofit, every position of religious authority. The Prophet ﷺ, with characteristic precision, said to one of his Companions, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Samurah: 'O ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, do not ask for leadership; for if you are given it because of asking, you will be entrusted to it (entirely abandoned to it); and if you are given it without asking, you will be helped in it (granted divine assistance)' (Bukhārī 7146, Muslim 1652). The Arabic verb wukilta means 'you have been entrusted', but the connotation in this context is 'you have been abandoned to it', meaning Allah will not extend His specific divine help to the leader who sought the position. The implications are devastating. A leader who sought his position is operating without divine help. He may have intelligence, skill, network, resources, all the human assets of leadership; but the specific Allah-given help that makes leadership succeed in carrying its trust is withheld. He is, structurally, alone. The leader who did not seek his position, who was offered it because the community recognized his suitability and he accepted reluctantly, operates with divine help. The same intelligence and skill and network, multiplied by the help only Allah can give. The discriminator is upstream of the leadership: it is in whether you sought it. Now consider the Companion who modeled this most clearly. Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī, the rugged, severe, deeply righteous Companion, once came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked to be made an amīr, a governor over a region. The Prophet ﷺ looked at him and said: 'O Abū Dharr, you are weak; it (leadership) is a trust, and on the Day of Resurrection it will be regret and humiliation, except for the one who took it by right and fulfilled what was due in it' (Muslim 1825). Read what the Prophet ﷺ said to Abū Dharr. He did not say Abū Dharr was unrighteous; Abū Dharr was among the most righteous of the Companions, the first or one of the first to embrace Islam outside the Prophet's ﷺ household. He said Abū Dharr was weak (ḍaʿīf), meaning structurally unsuited for the cost of leadership. The leadership is amanah, a trust. The trust will become khizy and nadāma (humiliation and regret) on the Day, except for the one who fulfilled it. Abū Dharr, with all his righteousness, would have struggled to fulfill the trust; the Prophet ﷺ refused him out of protection, not out of dismissal. And then the inverse case: Yūsuf, who said to the king of Egypt: 'Place me over the treasures of the land; indeed I am a knowing trustee' (Yūsuf 12:55). Some readers find a contradiction here. Yūsuf asked for leadership; why did Allah praise him? Look carefully at the context. Egypt faced an imminent seven-year famine. Yūsuf had been given by Allah the knowledge of how to manage the famine: store the surplus of the seven prior years, distribute through the seven famine years. Without Yūsuf in the treasury, the people would starve. Yūsuf's request was not status-justified; it was service-justified. He had the unique knowledge needed; he had the obligation, given his knowledge, to make himself available for the service. The classical scholars (al-Qurṭubī, al-Rāzī) explained that Yūsuf's request is permitted precisely because it was driven by the necessity of service, not by the desire for prestige. The disease is not all leadership; the disease is the asking for leadership when service is not the driver. Now apply this to modern Muslim contexts. The student campaigning to become Muslim Students Association president because the position would look good on a resume: he is in the disease. The man maneuvering to be elected to the masjid board because being on the board carries community status: he is in the disease. The young scholar positioning himself to be the imam of a particular high-status mosque because of the platform it would give: he is in the disease. The professional seeking a senior position not because the work needs his particular skill but because the title would impress his family or community: he is in the disease. In each case, the asking is for prestige, not for service, and the Prophet ﷺ's warning attaches: if given because of asking, abandoned to it. Now consider the inverse. The young scholar who has been asked to lead the masjid and is reluctant to take it because the burden is heavy: he is on the Prophetic path. The professional who has been recruited for a senior role he did not seek and is considering it because his skill is needed: on the Prophetic path. The community member who has been offered a board seat and is examining whether his presence would serve: on the Prophetic path. The cure has three motions. First, do not seek positions. When you find yourself drafting a campaign for a role, ask: is this driven by the position being needed or by my wanting the position? If the latter, withdraw. Second, when offered a position, do not accept reflexively. Examine the motives, examine your suitability, examine whether you can fulfill the trust. If yes, accept with the weight of what you are accepting; if no, decline with honesty. Third, when carrying a position, treat it as Yūsuf treated the treasury of Egypt: as service to feed the people, not as platform to be seen. Pray often: Allāhumma 'aʿinnī ʿală ḥamali amānatī, wa-lā tūkilnī ilă nafsī ṭarfata ʿayn. O Allah, help me carry my trusts, and do not abandon me to myself for the blink of an eye. The position that felt like elevation in the dunya can become the disclosure on the Day; the position carried as service can become the highest station.