The 365 · Tazkiyah · Day 191 · Dunya
ʿIshq al-Manṣib · Love of Position
The disease
عِشْق الْمَنْصِب
ʿIshq al-Manṣib
Why it's named first
Because the Prophet ﷺ identified it as one of the two wolves of the dīn. 'Two hungry wolves let loose on a flock do less damage than a man's craving for wealth and status (sharaf) does to his religion' (Tirmidhī 2376). Wealth (ḥirṣ, Day 178) is one wolf. Status, position, manṣib, is the other. ʿIshq al-manṣib is the disease of needing a title to feel like someone. The role becomes the identity. The seat at the head of the table becomes more important than the meal. The position in the community becomes more cherished than the community itself. And the Prophet ﷺ warned about a specific kind of position: 'Whoever loves that men should stand for him, let him take his seat in the Fire' (Abū Dāwūd 5229).
In the Qur'an
'That is the Home of the Hereafter; We assign it to those who do not seek loftiness on the earth nor corruption. And the end is for the muttaqīn' (al-Qaṣaṣ 28:83). Allah named the disease: ʿuluww fī al-arḍ. Loftiness on the earth. The seeking of elevated position. And He attached Jannah specifically to those who do not seek it.
In the Sunnah
Tirmidhī 2376 (two wolves: wealth and sharaf). Abū Dāwūd 5229 (whoever loves men standing for him). Bukhārī 7146 / Muslim 1652 (do not seek leadership). And: 'You will be greedy for leadership, and it will be a source of regret on the Day of Judgment' (Bukhārī 7148).
The cure
Service over position. The Prophet ﷺ said: 'The leader of a people is their servant' (aṣḥ āb al-Sunan). And: 'Do not seek leadership, for if you are given it after asking, you will be left alone with it; but if you are given it without asking, you will be helped' (Bukhārī 7146, Muslim 1652). Practical: 1) Never seek a position; accept it if entrusted, with bismillāh and duʿā for sincerity; 2) When you have a position, prefer the lower seat at events; let others stand for you only when protocol absolutely requires; 3) Audit your job titles, social handles, conference bios: are they descriptions of service, or signals of status? Tighten toward service; 4) Practice giving credit to those beneath you publicly and absorbing blame privately; this reverses the natural pull of manṣib.
What is at stake
ʿIshq al-manṣib turns every relationship into a hierarchy. The believer with this disease cannot truly love a peer; he can only outrank or fear being outranked. Every wedding becomes a seating chart concern. Every conference becomes a name-card audit. Every masjid election becomes a referendum on his self-worth. And on the Day, the Prophet ﷺ said: those who craved leadership will regret it, because Allah will judge them by the standard of those who served, not those who were served.
A du'a for this day
Allāhumma in-nī aʿūdhu bika min an arfaʿa nafsī fī al-arḍ, wa min an aḥubba an yuqūma li al-rijāl. (O Allah, I seek refuge in You from elevating my self on this earth, and from loving that men stand for me.)
A reflection to carry
Take the Prophet's ﷺ hadith literally. He said the man's craving for wealth and sharaf does more damage to his dīn than two hungry wolves do to a flock of sheep. Two wolves, by night, tearing sheep apart. The image is graphic. And he ﷺ applied it to the same disease that lives in our quiet ambition. Sharaf. Status. Position. The need to be seen as important. The need to have a title before our name. The need to be the one referenced, quoted, deferred to. Ya akhī, ya ukhtī, look at how subtle this disease is. It does not look like sin. It looks like ambition, like initiative, like leadership development. And much of it can be sincere. But the moment the position starts to matter more than the service, the wolf is in the room. The Prophet ﷺ told us how to test ourselves: he said the believer who LOVES that men stand for him should take his seat in the Fire. The test is in the love. Not in receiving honor; in loving to receive it. Sit with that. The next time someone introduces you with your title, where does your chest go? Up or down? The chest of the muttaqī goes down. The chest of the mutaʿajjib lifts. Train the lowering. Master humility in your own response. Walk into rooms expecting no one to know you. Leave them grateful no one made a fuss.
Read the longer reflection
Yā Rabb, You named the wolves. Wealth. Position. And You let Your Beloved ﷺ compare them to two hungry beasts loose on my flock. The flock is my dīn. The wolves do not look like wolves; they look like opportunities, accomplishments, recognitions. They look like the bio I put on my website. The title on my email signature. The way I want to be introduced at the event. The chair I want at the family Eid. The position I want on the masjid board. Each of those, ya Allāh, has been visited by the wolf of sharaf, and I have not always known. Forgive me. Forgive the times I sought a position more than I sought to serve. The times I performed leadership while neglecting prayer. The times I spent more energy on my LinkedIn than my morning adhkār. The times I rejoiced more at being mentioned than at being accepted. The times I felt a small annoyance when someone failed to acknowledge my rank in a room. The times I would rather receive credit than do the work. Ya Allah, strip the wolf from my flock. Make me a servant of the position rather than its lover. When You give me a seat, let me use it to lift others; when You take it away, let me feel no shrinkage of self. When men do not stand for me, let me prefer it. When my name is omitted from the program, let me notice with relief, not wound. And ya Rabb, place me among those of Sūrat al-Qaṣaṣ: 'tilka al-dār al-ākhirah, najʿaluhā li-l-ladhīna lā yurīdūna ʿuluwwan fī al-arḍi wa lā fasādan.' The Home of the Hereafter is for those who did not seek elevation on the earth. Let me be one of them. The seat I refuse here is the throne You place me on there. Āmīn ya ʿAlī ya ʿAẓīm.
Sources: Quran, Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Tirmidhi, Abu Dawud, Ibn al-Qayyim, Ghazali. The Qur'an and its translation are verified; the scholarship is retold faithfully in our own words and credited to its sources, never reproduced verbatim.
A verse, a healing, and a Sunnah, every morning.
Subscribe, free