Allah will bring to account the ruler (i.e., the head of state) and all his governors, including whoever is responsible for managing any of the affairs of the Muslims, for the authority they have been entrusted with to look after the affairs of the Muslims. With that said, they should never take advantage of their position and authority for their own benefit and achieve personal gains that would not have been possible without it. They should understand that they will stand before Allah and the whole world on the Day of Judgment and be held accountable for the people they were entrusted to look after. In this hadeeth, Aboo Humayd al-Saa’idee (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Prophet ﷺ appointed a man from the tribe Al-Asd to collect the zakat from the tribe of Sulaym. The name of this man was ‘Abdullah, a.k.a. Ibn Al-Lutbiyyah, and he was from Banee Lutb, which belonged to the tribe of Al-Azd. It was said that Al-Lutbiyyah was the name of his mother. After completing his mission, he reported to the Prophet ﷺ the amount of zakat that he collected from them. However, the Prophet ﷺ noticed that he put some items aside arguing that they were given to him as gifts. In response, the Prophet ﷺ took the matter seriously and admonished him and prohibited it. According to the hadeeth in Saheeh al-Bukhaaree and Saheeh Muslim, the Prophet ﷺ said to him: “Why do not you remain in the house of your father and your mother to see whether gifts would be presented to you!” i.e., the only reason people gave you gifts was because of your job that you have been appointed to do. In the same hadeeth, it mentions that he ﷺ then got up and delivered a sermon in which he ﷺ warned the people from taking from the spoils of war anything before they are distributed, and that is applicable to public money that belongs to the nation of Muslims, if one takes from it anything unlawfully. One of the benefits of this hadeeth is that public servants should be called to account and to hold them liable for their actions..