Asking for a Position

And now Yūsuf (peace be upon him) is there, and he asks for a position. From verse 58 — verse 55, rather — he says: appoint me over the khazāʾin al-arḍ, the stores.

Let him be set in charge of the distribution of the food: for he says that he is exceedingly protective of it, that he has knowledge of this, and that he can do it well. The scholars have drawn something from this, since the Prophet (peace be upon him) generally said: do not ask for a position of leadership. Lā tasʾal al-imārah: do not ask for a position of leadership, because if you ask and are then given it, you will be left to your own devices; whereas if you are pressed into it and compelled to it by others, you will be helped by Allah (swt). So generally there is a discouragement. Yet here Yūsuf (peace be upon him) asks for the position. What is understood from it is this: that where a man looks about him and finds, genuinely, that there is no one else to look after the matter well, and that he will do the work best, in all sincerity — then, between himself and Allah, it is entirely permitted for him to ask, and we have the precedent of Yūsuf (peace be upon him) for it. One must only be careful, for we love our nafs too well. Sometimes we want a position and suppose everyone else to be of no use.