Mishkat al-Masabih #3542
The Offices of Commander and Qadi
The Arabic includes the chain of narration (sanad) and the collector's commentary; the English translation shows the Prophet's words only.
وَعَنْهُ قَالَ: قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ: «وَيْلٌ لِلْأُمَرَاءِ وَيْلٌ لِلْعُرَفَاءِ وَيْلٌ لِلْأُمَنَاءِ لَيَتَمَنَّيَنَّ أَقْوَامٌ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَنَّ نَوَاصِيَهُمْ مُعَلَّقَةٌ بِالثُّرَيَّا يَتَجَلْجَلُونَ بَيْنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَأَنَّهُمْ لَمْ يَلُوا عَمَلًا» . رَوَاهُ فِي «شَرْحِ السُّنَّةِ» وَرَوَاهُ أَحْمد وَفِي رِوَايَته: «أنَّ ذوائِبَهُم كَانَتْ مُعَلَّقَةً بِالثُّرَيَّا يَتَذَبْذَبُونَ بَيْنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ ولَمْ يَكُونُوا عُمِّلوا على شَيْء»
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.
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This hadith is #3542 from Mishkat al-Masabih, in the Book of The Offices of Commander and Qadi.