Yusuf · Makki · ayah 55 of 111

Yusuf 12:55

قَالَ ٱجْعَلْنِى عَلَىٰ خَزَآئِنِ ٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ إِنِّى حَفِيظٌ عَلِيمٌ

“[Joseph] said, "Appoint me over the storehouses of the land. Indeed, I will be a knowing guardian."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Offered the king's favour, Yusuf asked for one specific charge, the storehouses before the famine, and named the two qualities it needed: guarding and knowing.

A reflection

Asking for the hardest job

Many readers stop at this ayah uneasy. The Prophet ﷺ told ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Samura: do not ask for leadership. If you are given it because you asked, you will be left to it alone. If you are given it without asking, you will be helped in it. The report is in Sahih al-Bukhari. So was Yusuf ambitious?

Look at what he asked for. Not a throne, not an army, not a title. The storehouses, just before seven years of famine that he alone had foreseen. One commentary says he asked because of the years to come, to manage them in the most careful and sound way for the people.

Another says he asked in order to establish justice and do what prophets are sent to do. He knew no one else could stand in his place, so he asked seeking Allah's face, not out of love of rule.

The Prophet ﷺ also told Abu Dharr, who asked for a post: you are weak, and it is a trust. On the Day of Resurrection it is disgrace and regret, except for one who takes it by right and fulfils its duty. The report is in Sahih Muslim.

Yusuf was not weak, and he took it by right. He did not ask for an honour. He asked for a burden the country could not survive without.

The real question is not whether you asked. It is what you asked for, and why.

If you are ever tempted to put yourself forward, test it this way. Would you still want the role if it came with all of the work and none of the honour? Yusuf's request passes that test. Many of ours do not.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.