Home Hadith Hadith 6877
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "O `Abdur-Rahman! Do not seek to be a ruler, for if you are given authority on your
demand then you will be held responsible for it, but if you are given it without asking (for it), then you
will be helped (by Allah) in it. If you ever take an oath to do something and later on you find that
something else is better, then you should expiate your oath and do what is better."
Sahih al-Bukhari Book 93, Hadith 10
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The Prophet (ﷺ) sent an army unit (for some campaign) and appointed a man from the Ansar as its
commander and ordered them (the soldiers) to obey him. (During the campaign) he became angry
with them and said, "Didn't the Prophet (ﷺ) order you to obey me?" They said, "Yes." He said, "I order
you to collect wood and make a fire and then throw yourselves into it." So they collected wood and
made a fire, but when they were about to throw themselves into, it they started looking at each other,
and some of them said, "We followed the Prophet (ﷺ) to escape from the fire. How should we enter it
now?" So while they were in that state, the fire extinguished and their commander's anger abated. The
event was mentioned to the Prophet (ﷺ) and he said, "If they had entered it (the fire) they would never
have come out of it, for obedience is required only in what is good." (See Hadith No. 629. Vol. 5)
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Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "O `Abdur-Rahman bin Samura! Do not seek to be a ruler, for if you are given
authority on your demand, you will be held responsible for it, but if you are given it without asking for
it, then you will be helped (by Allah) in it. If you ever take an oath to do something and later on you
find that something else is better, then do what is better and make expiation for your oath."