2 – Whoever intercedes on behalf of another: if the person for whom he intercedes is truly qualified for the post, the intercession is praiseworthy. But if that person is not fit for the position and someone else is more suitable and more beneficial, the intercession is blameworthy; it is deception toward Allah and His Messenger, deception toward the official before whom one intercedes, and deception toward the person on whose behalf one intercedes, for he has helped him to obtain something that is forbidden.

3 – “How excellent is the wet-nurse,” because it brings a flow of worldly benefits—wealth, prestige, and the authority to enforce judgments—“and how wretched is the weaning,” because of the burdens and regrets it will bring on the Day of Resurrection.

4 – Shaykh ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Saʿdī said: “If a man intercedes for someone in any matter and the candidate is competent, the mediation is commendable; otherwise, he has betrayed the candidate, the task itself, and the Muslims.” Such a person covets authority for worldly gain: “how excellent is the wet-nurse,” for it secures standing in this world, yet “how wretched is the weaning,” for it entails accountability in the Hereafter.

5 – His words “You will covet it” indicate that the soul is beguiled by its love of authority, because of the worldly shares, pleasures, and decisive word it gains thereby. Hence the prohibition on seeking it. Al-Bukhārī (6622) and Muslim (1652) record the ḥadith of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Samurah, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told me, “O ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Samurah, do not ask for leadership, for if it is given to you without your asking you will be helped in it, but if it is given to you because you asked for it, you will be left to yourself.”

6 – Sunan al-Tirmidhī (1324) relates from Anas that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Whoever seeks the judgeship and asks for it is left to himself; whoever is forced into it, Allah sends down an angel to guide him.” The Prophet linked desire for the office with asking for it to expose the depth of one’s craving, for the soul inclines toward hoarding leadership and elevating itself over people. Whoever restrains it is safe from this affliction, but whoever follows his desires and seeks the judgeship is ruined. There is no legitimate path to it except by compulsion; in that case he will be guided and granted success.