He said, “Appoint me to ( supervise) the treasures of the land. I am indeed a knowledgeable keeper.”
Surah Yusuf 55
TAFSEER
This means the grain and the crops. In other words, in our times it means, ‘Make me the minister of finance. Make me the person who is in charge of finance.”
I will protect and guard them.’ ‘Aleem means ‘I know what to do. I am a man of knowledge.’
Notice the two characteristics that he uses.
One of them applies to character, and the other applies to skill. One applies to reputation, and the other applies to experience.
All too often, especially in this world, we only concentrate on experience and credentials, and we don’t care about the character. Isn’t that true? By and large, we simply base on degrees and experience.
In Islam, we look at both things. This is a mistake also if you like for ultra-religious brothers that think that all they need to do is look at how big a man’s beard is and how pious a person is and then that’s it and he will get whatever he wants.
No.
Here is Yusuf mentioning two characteristics:
When the daughter of the man in Madyan, goes back to her father and says, “Oh my father, hire him,” [she is talking about Musa], what are the two characteristics that she uses?
Qawiyy and
Once again, one characteristic has to do with character and another has to do with job capability.
SubhanAllah, all too often the two extremes exist. In the secular world, we just care about job quality and job characteristics and adaptability. By and large, and let’s be honest here, in many Islamic circles all we care about is masha’Allah he is a good brother.
Is more than being a good brother and praying five times a day.
There is more to life than just praying
If you are placed in position and placed in authority, there has to be a healthy combination of both of these things.
This is exactly what Yusuf is saying and what the daughter of the man of Madyan said. Notice here as well that Yusuf has no problems telling the minister,
Put me in charge of the grain.”
From this, it is quite clear that it is a part of our religion to help out society in whatever way possible and to benefit the community at large even if it means that we will be in an infrastructure that is not an infrastructure that is of belief and iman.
here is Yusuf, a believer in Allah and a prophet of Allah, and here is the administration and the infrastructure of Egypt which was an infrastructure that did not believe in Allah. It is not an Islamic state.
Yusuf has no problem suggesting himself and saying, “Look, I can help out.” Some of our brothers become so narrow-minded in this regard and say that they should not get involved in public welfare and public office.
Ya‘ni this is not wise. You need to get involved because you need to help society just like Yusuf (‘
He wants to help society and help the people. He knows that he can do a good job, and he is confident in that, and so he said, “Put me in charge of the grains and the produce, and I will be in charge of that.”
LESSON
- this shows that you are allowed to nominate yourself to a post/portfolio if you know you are qualified
- –however not for pride reasons
- –if you are not qualified ..you are deceiving them
- –you can also take on a job if you confident in yourself
- –sometimes a man can take on a job even though he has no experience because he has confidence in himself
- –your
taqwah makes you suitable for certain jobs - –best merit on your CV is your
taqwah - –low
self esteem sets you back: you must haveself confidence .. - Always have good intention