Tamkīn in the Qurʾan: Empowerment After Trial

A Qur'anic study of tamkīn (empowerment), a term attributed first to God and then used as a measure for the affairs of states and individuals.

By Dr. Ahmed Muhammad Ali Abouseif, President of the American Imams Academy (AIA)

Yūsuf (Joseph), peace be upon him, stands before the king, having only just come out of prison, and the king says to him: ﴿إِنَّكَ الْيَوْمَ لَدَيْنَا مَكِينٌ أَمِينٌ﴾ ("Today you are, in our presence, established and trustworthy") (Yūsuf 12:54). Then Yūsuf asks to be placed over the storehouses of the land: ﴿إِنِّي حَفِيظٌ عَلِيمٌ﴾ ("I am a knowing guardian") (Yūsuf 12:55). And once that is done, the Qur'an comments in words that return the credit to its true owner: ﴿وَكَذَٰلِكَ مَكَّنَّا لِيُوسُفَ فِي الْأَرْضِ يَتَبَوَّأُ مِنْهَا حَيْثُ يَشَاءُ ۚ نُصِيبُ بِرَحْمَتِنَا مَن نَّشَاءُ وَلَا نُضِيعُ أَجْرَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ﴾ ("And thus We established Yūsuf in the land, to settle in it wherever he willed. We grant Our mercy to whom We will, and We do not let the reward of those who do good go to waste") (Yūsuf 12:56). A promise built on the same root had already been given at the beginning of the story: ﴿وَكَذَٰلِكَ مَكَّنَّا لِيُوسُفَ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلِنُعَلِّمَهُ مِن تَأْوِيلِ الْأَحَادِيثِ﴾ ("And thus We established Yūsuf in the land, so that We might teach him the interpretation of events") (Yūsuf 12:21). So in this sūrah tamkīn is a promise at the start and a fulfilment in the middle, and between the two lie the well, slavery, temptation and prison.

Counting the Term: Eighteen Occurrences, Three of Them About Yūsuf

The root m-k-n occurs eighteen times in the Qur'an, according to the Quranic Arabic Corpus^[1]. Fourteen of these are verbs: thirteen in the form makkana (makkannāhum, makkannākum, numakkin, layumakkinanna and the like: 6:6 twice, 7:10, 12:21, 12:56, 18:84, 18:95, 22:41, 24:55, 28:6, 28:57, 46:26 twice), and one in the form amkana in the verse ﴿فَأَمْكَنَ مِنْهُمْ﴾ ("and He gave [him] mastery over them") (al-Anfāl 8:71); and four occurrences carry the adjective makīn (12:54, 23:13, 77:21, 81:20). Of these eighteen occurrences, three are in Sūrat Yūsuf: makkannā li-Yūsuf twice and the adjective makīn once, that is, one sixth of the root's occurrences in all. From this it is clear that the story is the widest Qur'anic model of this meaning.

The Linguistic Root: From Place to Power

The basic sense of tamkīn in the language is putting a thing in a place. Ibn ʿĀshūr, in al-Taḥrīr wa-l-Tanwīr, at the verse ﴿وَلَقَدْ مَكَّنَّاكُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ﴾ ("And We have established you in the land") (al-Aʿrāf 7:10), observed that it "is used to mean enabling someone to act, by way of metonymy." He then explained that what is meant in this verse is the capacity God placed in the human being, of reason and thought, and that it is not strength and rule as in His saying: ﴿إِنَّا مَكَّنَّا لَهُ فِي الْأَرْضِ﴾ ("We established him in the land") (al-Kahf 18:84), nor is it the literal, real meaning, because the verse says "in the land," and had place been meant literally it would have said "We gave you the land"^[2]. So the word moves along a gradation in usage: place, then the ability to act, then authority and rule.

On the words ﴿وَلَقَدْ مَكَّنَّاهُمْ فِيمَا إِن مَّكَّنَّاكُمْ فِيهِ﴾ ("And We had established them in that wherein We have not established you") (al-Aḥqāf 46:26), Ibn ʿĀshūr explains the meaning as follows: what God enabled them to do was greater than what He enabled those being addressed to do, that is, in their traces in the land. Thus it becomes clear that the Qur'an argues against Quraysh by what preceded them of tamkīn, reminding them that those who were established before them in greater measure were not spared by their strength when they denied.

This term has an explicit Qur'anic opposite in the verse of al-Qaṣaṣ: ﴿وَنُرِيدُ أَن نَّمُنَّ عَلَى الَّذِينَ اسْتُضْعِفُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَنَجْعَلَهُمْ أَئِمَّةً وَنَجْعَلَهُمُ الْوَارِثِينَ ۝ وَنُمَكِّنَ لَهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ﴾ ("And We wished to show favour to those who were oppressed in the land, and to make them leaders and make them the inheritors; and to establish them in the land") (al-Qaṣaṣ 28:5-6). Tamkīn is set against being oppressed (istiḍʿāf), not against inherent weakness; that is, the condition that is changed is the condition of one who was subjugated and overpowered. This sheds light on the story of Yūsuf: he was oppressed in the well, a slave in the house of the ʿAzīz (the governor), and imprisoned in the prison, before he was established.

Models of Tamkīn in the Qur'an

Anyone who reflects on the Qur'an will trace several forms of tamkīn, each with its own significance.

There is worldly tamkīn granted to earlier nations, with a warning that it does not last: ﴿أَلَمْ يَرَوْا كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِن قَبْلِهِم مِّن قَرْنٍ مَّكَّنَّاهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ مَا لَمْ نُمَكِّن لَّكُمْ﴾ ("Do they not see how many generations We destroyed before them, whom We had established in the land as We have not established you?") (al-Anʿām 6:6). Tamkīn does not prevent destruction when its conditions are lost.

There is the tamkīn of Dhū al-Qarnayn: ﴿إِنَّا مَكَّنَّا لَهُ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَآتَيْنَاهُ مِن كُلِّ شَيْءٍ سَبَبًا﴾ ("We established him in the land and gave him the means to everything") (al-Kahf 18:84). And when the people offered him a payment in exchange for building the barrier, he said: ﴿مَا مَكَّنِّي فِيهِ رَبِّي خَيْرٌ فَأَعِينُونِي بِقُوَّةٍ﴾ ("What my Lord has established me in is better, so help me with strength") (al-Kahf 18:95). He returned the credit for his power to his Lord, and asked them for help with effort, not with money.

There is a tamkīn of station for the noble angel: ﴿ذِي قُوَّةٍ عِندَ ذِي الْعَرْشِ مَكِينٍ﴾ ("possessing strength, and held in standing with the Lord of the Throne") (al-Takwīr 81:20), for the attribute makīn indicates loftiness of rank and its firmness with the Lord of the command.

And there is the tamkīn promised to the righteous believers: ﴿وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُم فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَىٰ لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُم مِّن بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْنًا ۚ يَعْبُدُونَنِي لَا يُشْرِكُونَ بِي شَيْئًا﴾ ("God has promised those among you who believe and do righteous deeds that He will surely make them successors in the land, as He made those before them successors, and that He will surely establish for them their religion which He has approved for them, and will surely replace their fear with security, for they worship Me, associating nothing with Me") (al-Nūr 24:55). This verse brings together two neighbouring terms, istikhlāf (succession, vicegerency) and tamkīn. From its context it appears that the first is a settling in the land as successors to those who came before, and the second is a making firm of a religion that God has approved, and that the fruit of this is security after fear and pure worship. This is an understanding drawn from the context of the verse, not an explicit text on the difference between the two terms.

Conditional Tamkīn: Laws That Show No Favouritism

The Qur'an shows that tamkīn is not a permanent guarantee but is subject to divine laws (sunan). In Sūrat al-Aʿrāf God reminded people of the blessing of tamkīn, then rebuked them: ﴿وَلَقَدْ مَكَّنَّاكُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَجَعَلْنَا لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَعَايِشَ ۗ قَلِيلًا مَّا تَشْكُرُونَ﴾ ("And We have established you in the land and made for you therein means of livelihood; little do you give thanks") (al-Aʿrāf 7:10). Ibn ʿĀshūr noted that the coming of this verse right after His words ﴿وَكَم مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَاهَا﴾ ("How many a town We have destroyed") (al-Aʿrāf 7:4) is "an allusion that neglecting to give thanks for a blessing exposes its owner to its loss"^[2]. Tamkīn is a test of gratitude just as affliction is a test of patience.

In Sūrat al-Aḥqāf: ﴿وَلَقَدْ مَكَّنَّاهُمْ فِيمَا إِن مَّكَّنَّاكُمْ فِيهِ وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُمْ سَمْعًا وَأَبْصَارًا وَأَفْئِدَةً فَمَا أَغْنَىٰ عَنْهُمْ سَمْعُهُمْ وَلَا أَبْصَارُهُمْ وَلَا أَفْئِدَتُهُمْ مِّن شَيْءٍ إِذْ كَانُوا يَجْحَدُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ﴾ ("And We had established them in that wherein We have not established you, and made for them hearing, sight and hearts; but their hearing, their sight and their hearts availed them nothing, since they used to deny the signs of God") (al-Aḥqāf 46:26). Possessing the tools does not make up for a sound purpose.

Among the images that warn against being drawn on by tamkīn is His saying: ﴿فَلَمَّا نَسُوا مَا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ أَبْوَابَ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا فَرِحُوا بِمَا أُوتُوا أَخَذْنَاهُم بَغْتَةً﴾ ("So when they forgot what they had been reminded of, We opened for them the gates of everything, until, when they rejoiced in what they were given, We seized them suddenly") (al-Anʿām 6:44). The verse is about peoples who forgot what they were reminded of, not about everyone who has been blessed, but it indicates that the widening of the gates may be a trial and not a reward when it is joined with forgetting the reminder.

On the other hand, tamkīn in security and provision may be an argument against those who excuse themselves from following the guidance by fear: ﴿أَوَلَمْ نُمَكِّن لَّهُمْ حَرَمًا آمِنًا يُجْبَىٰ إِلَيْهِ ثَمَرَاتُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ رِّزْقًا مِّن لَّدُنَّا﴾ ("Have We not established for them a secure sanctuary to which are brought the fruits of all things, as provision from Us?") (al-Qaṣaṣ 28:57); that is, the security they enjoy is a gift from God, not from their idols.

From the Well to the Storehouses: The Stages of Yūsuf's Tamkīn

What distinguishes Yūsuf's tamkīn in the Qur'an is that it came late and by stages, and at every stage of it he faced a test. In Egypt he was given standing in the house of the ʿAzīz, and was tested by temptation. In prison he was given standing in the hearts of its inmates, until they said: ﴿إِنَّا نَرَاكَ مِنَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ﴾ ("Indeed we see you to be of those who do good") (Yūsuf 12:36), and he was tested by length of confinement and by being forgotten. Then he was given standing in the whole land, and was tested by authority and by deciding the matter of his brothers.

This pattern offers a lesson in understanding tamkīn: it is not a sudden gift but the fruit of a fitness that is tested again and again. In the story that fitness appears in two qualities, mentioned first by the king and then by Yūsuf: "trustworthy" (amīn) and "a knowing guardian" (ḥafīẓ ʿalīm). This agrees with what is reported in the story of Mūsā (Moses): ﴿إِنَّ خَيْرَ مَنِ اسْتَأْجَرْتَ الْقَوِيُّ الْأَمِينُ﴾ ("Indeed the best one you can hire is the strong, the trustworthy") (al-Qaṣaṣ 28:26). Strength and trustworthiness, or guardianship and knowledge, are the two pillars of competence in the Qur'anic conception of authority.

Did Yūsuf Ask for Office? What the Exegetes Said

The exegetes pause at Yūsuf's words ﴿اجْعَلْنِي عَلَىٰ خَزَائِنِ الْأَرْضِ﴾ ("Appoint me over the storehouses of the land") (Yūsuf 12:55), because on its face it is a request for office, and the prohibition against seeking office is authentic. Al-Zamakhsharī says in al-Kashshāf that Yūsuf "described himself by trustworthiness and capability, which are what kings seek in those they appoint, and he said this only in order to reach the carrying out of God's rulings, the establishing of the truth and the spreading of justice," and that he did it "knowing that no one other than he would stand in his place in that, so he asked for the appointment seeking the face of God, not out of love for kingship and this world"^[3]. As for al-Ṭabarī, he gives preference, on the meaning of "a knowing guardian," to its being "a guardian of what you entrust to me, knowing of what you have placed in my charge," because that came right after he had asked the king to charge him with the storehouses of the land, so informing him of his expertise was more fitting^[4].

Al-Bayḍāwī draws from the verse "the permissibility of asking for an appointment and showing that one is prepared for it," and the permissibility of taking office from the hand of a disbeliever "if it is known that there is no way to establish the truth and govern the people except by seeking his support"^[5]. Broader than all of that is the statement of Ibn ʿĀshūr, who holds that "this verse is a basis for the obligation of a person to put himself forward for a post in the affairs of the community if he knows that no one else is fit for it, because that is part of sincere counsel to the community, especially if he is not among those who are suspected of preferring his own benefit over the community's good." He then answers the objection from the ḥadīth of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Samura: «يَا عَبْدَ الرَّحْمَنِ لَا تَسْأَلِ الْإِمَارَةَ…» ("O ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, do not ask for command…"), by saying that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān "was not singled out for excellence among his peers nor superior to all of them"^[6]. He reports from al-Māzarī that whoever is qualified for judgeship must strive to seek it "if he knows that unless he takes it up, rights will be lost." And Ibn ʿĀshūr adds an analogy he transmitted from Ibn ʿAṭiyyah: that this position of Yūsuf is like the position of Abū Bakr, may God be pleased with him, in entering the caliphate.

This is consistent with the ḥadīth of Abū Dharr, who asked for command, whereupon the Prophet ﷺ struck his shoulder and said: «يَا أَبَا ذَرٍّ، إِنَّكَ ضَعِيفٌ، وَإِنَّهَا أَمَانَةٌ، وَإِنَّهَا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ خِزْيٌ وَنَدَامَةٌ، إِلَّا مَنْ أَخَذَهَا بِحَقِّهَا، وَأَدَّى الَّذِي عَلَيْهِ فِيهَا» ("Abū Dharr, you are weak, and it is a trust, and on the Day of Resurrection it will be a cause of disgrace and regret, except for one who takes it by its right and fulfils what is required of him in it")^[7]. The ḥadīth shows the proper face of tamkīn: not an honour to boast of, but a heavy trust, and the difference between the one who is forbidden and the one who is permitted is the difference of fitness and of the need being specific to him.

Tamkīn After Trial: What Khabbāb Reported

In the Sunna there is a model that parallels, in its structure, what happened to Yūsuf. Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt, may God be pleased with him, complained to the Prophet ﷺ of the harm they were suffering from the polytheists, while the Prophet was resting on a cloak of his in the shade of the Kaʿbah. The Prophet ﷺ mentioned to them what was done to the believers before them, and then said: «وَاللَّهِ لَيُتِمَّنَّ اللَّهُ هَذَا الْأَمْرَ حَتَّىٰ يَسِيرَ الرَّاكِبُ مِنْ صَنْعَاءَ إِلَىٰ حَضْرَمَوْتَ لَا يَخَافُ إِلَّا اللَّهَ أَوِ الذِّئْبَ عَلَىٰ غَنَمِهِ، وَلَكِنَّكُمْ تَسْتَعْجِلُونَ» ("By God, God will surely bring this matter to completion, until a rider travels from Ṣanʿāʾ to Ḥaḍramawt fearing none but God, or the wolf for his sheep; but you are impatient")^[8]. The promise of tamkīn came in the hour of oppression, and was joined with a prohibition against haste, and this is the very thing the Qur'an taught in the story of Yūsuf: tamkīn comes in its time after trial, not before it.

How Did Yūsuf Read His Own Tamkīn?

Office did not change Yūsuf's view of himself. In his first conduct after being established, the qualities of the leader appeared: competence in management (the plan of the seven years, 12:47), generosity in hospitality (he said to his brothers: ﴿أَلَا تَرَوْنَ أَنِّي أُوفِي الْكَيْلَ وَأَنَا خَيْرُ الْمُنزِلِينَ﴾ "Do you not see that I give full measure, and that I am the best of hosts?" 12:59), and pardon when in power (﴿لَا تَثْرِيبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْيَوْمَ﴾ "No blame will there be upon you today," 12:92). Tamkīn showed in his conduct as a character trait and not merely as an office.

He did not use his authority to take revenge on his brothers, though he could have. He did arrange what he arranged regarding his brother (12:76) by God's permission, but he did not take that as a path to vengeance; he steered the matter toward reuniting the family. And when he said at the end of the story: ﴿رَبِّ قَدْ آتَيْتَنِي مِنَ الْمُلْكِ﴾ ("My Lord, You have given me of sovereignty") (Yūsuf 12:101), he did not stop at sovereignty but followed it with a supplication: ﴿تَوَفَّنِي مُسْلِمًا وَأَلْحِقْنِي بِالصَّالِحِينَ﴾ ("Take me in death as a Muslim and join me with the righteous"). His tamkīn in this world thus became a prelude to asking for a good end.

The Qualities of the One Who Is Established, as the Verses Draw Them

If the preceding threads are gathered, we see who deserves tamkīn on the Qur'anic scale, and these are qualities a person can look for in himself. He is trustworthy over what he has been entrusted with, a guardian who does not let things go to waste, knowing in the ways of management, one who does good in his small matters before his large ones, grateful and never forgetting the source of his ability. With it he establishes prayer and enjoins what is right and forbids what is wrong (22:41), returns the credit to his Lord as Dhū al-Qarnayn did, and pardons when in power as Yūsuf did. Whoever loses these qualities while in a position of power has come close to what the verse of al-Aḥqāf warned against.

The Contemporary Practical Dimension

Many people today live waiting for "tamkīn": in a job, a project, a standing. Some fall into one of two errors: hurrying tamkīn by illegitimate means, or giving up because it has not yet come. The Yūsufian model, as supported by the ḥadīth of Khabbāb, says: do good where you are, even if it is a well or a prison; for standing is built by mastering the small before the great is given. In the house of the ʿAzīz Yūsuf was trustworthy, and in prison he was one who did good, and that qualified him for what came after.

On the side of leadership: whoever has received tamkīn should ask himself the questions the Qur'an taught: Why am I here? Have I safeguarded what I was entrusted with? Have I established with it what I was commanded to establish? Have I given thanks, or have I forgotten what I was reminded of?

Not every tamkīn is an office or authority. A servant may be established in the hearts of his family through dutifulness, or in his knowledge through diligent study, or in his craft through mastery, or in his religion through steadfastness. We saw in Sūrat Yūsuf that his standing in the hearts of the people of the prison preceded his standing in the land. So whoever has not found an office should not think himself deprived of tamkīn; many an established person in his home, his neighbourhood or among his students has an influence greater than those who held high posts. And the measure in the Qur'an is doing good (iḥsān): ﴿وَلَا نُضِيعُ أَجْرَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ﴾ ("and We do not let the reward of those who do good go to waste").

Conclusion

Tamkīn in Sūrat Yūsuf is the end of a journey, not the beginning of a leap. In the Qur'an it is a favour from God that He gives to whom He wills, but a favour with conditions and consequences: trustworthiness, guardianship, knowledge, gratitude and the establishing of the truth. Whoever understands this does not rush what its time has not yet come, nor grows proud of what he has been given, and knows that the One who raised Yūsuf from the well to the storehouses is able to raise whom He wills after trial. God is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs.