Abu Huraira reported God’s Messenger as saying, “He who has been ruler over ten people will be brought on the day of resurrection shackled till justice loosens his chains or tyranny brings him to destruction.”*
Darimi transmitted it.
*The reference is to the justice or tyranny he has displayed in the administration of his office.
He reported God’s Messenger as saying, “Woe to the governors, woe to the chiefs, woe to the superintendents! On the day of resurrection people will wish that their forelocks were tied to the Pleiades, that they were swinging between heaven and earth, and that they had never exercised any rule.”*
It is transmitted in Sharh as-sunna. Ahmad transmitted it, his version saying, “that their flowing hair were tied to the Pleiades, that they were dangling between heaven and earth, and that they had never been made governors over anything.”
* The idea of their swinging between heaven and earth is that they will wish they had been far removed from the world during their lifetime so that they would not have exercised rule.
I was with Abu Bakra under Ibn ‘Amir’s pulpit when he was preaching and wearing thin garments. Abu Bilal said, “Look at our governor wearing the garments of profligates,” whereupon Abu Bakra told him to be quiet, for he had heard God’s Messenger say, “He who despises God’s ruler in the earth will be despised by God.”
Tirmidhi transmitted it, saying this is a hasan gharib tradition.
