Chapter: The prohibition against appointing to the governorship, the judiciary, or any other post of authority a person who asks for it or shows eagerness for it by hinting.

680 – Abu Musa al-Ashʿari reported: “I entered upon the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—together with two men from my cousins. One of them said, ‘Messenger of Allah, appoint us over some part of what Allah has placed under your authority.’ The other said the same. He replied, ‘By Allah, we do not entrust this office to anyone who asks for it, nor to anyone who is keen on obtaining it.’ ” Agreed upon.

[Explanation]
This chapter, which Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) includes in Riyad al-Salihin, deals with the prohibition of assigning leadership to someone who seeks it or is eager for it. Earlier, in the hadith of ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Samurah, the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said, “Do not ask for leadership, for if you are given it without asking you will be aided in it; but if you are given it because you asked for it, you will be left to manage it alone.”

Likewise, it is not fitting for the ruler, when someone requests to be put in charge of a town, or of a stretch of land inhabited by nomads, or anything similar, to grant him that post—even if he