A Reminder on the Essence of Genuine Leadership
By Habib
Siddiqui
Elections are held in many parts of our globe for a plethora
of reasons – from electing the head of an organization (including but not
limited to social, cultural, financial, business) to the head of a state. Not
all elections are fare though and not all elected leaders are good for their
constituencies either. Election wins usually translate into wielding power for
the winner or the winning group or platform, which when abused or misused can
be a matter of serious concern for many. It is, thus, important that good
leaders are elected when election provides such an opportunity to choose
leaders.
The religion of Islam has put special emphasis on selecting
leaders. In this regard, consider the well-known Prophetic hadith that says,
“When three people set out on a journey they should appoint one of them as a
leader.” [Abu Dawud: narrated by Abu
Sa’eed al-Khudri (RA)]
This hadith alone is sufficient to point out the importance that
Islam has attached to leadership.
So, what are the criteria for good leadership in Islam? In his
two-volume work – The Qur’anic
Foundation and Structure of Muslim Society, Dr. Fazlur Rahman Ansari (one
of the greatest scholars of Islam to come from South Asia in the last century) deals
with the issue of Tazkiyah and Islamic Leadership at length. He
writes, “The foundations of Islamic society are basically ethico-religious.
Hence, anyone who honestly comes forward to lead the Muslims to the goal
prescribed for them in the Holy Qur’an should possess a personality refulgent
in its spiritual, moral and intellectual
dimensions. That is the verdict of the Qur’an, and this is the verdict of
the Islamic history.”
To elucidate this theory further, Dr. Ansari says, “Let it be
noted that these three dimensions are so essential for leadership that they
bear references not only to God-affirming societies but also to Godless
societies, such as Communist, where an effort is made to forge an idealism –
even though with materialistic bias.”
A good Muslim leader should, therefore, transform his or her
personality into the alchemy of pure gold through the rigorous discipline of tazkiyah-e-nafs (meaning: purification
of the self). In such chemistry, ego has no place but only servitude that
matters.
Anyone craving for leadership in a Muslim community (where
Muslims comprise the overwhelming majority) should look at the Prophet Muhammad
(S), whose birthday we celebrated last week on the 12th of Rabi
al-Awal, as his/her role model, teacher and guide, and surely not peoples like
Abu Jahl and Abu Lahab of the yesteryears and Sisi, Assad and Trump of our
time. [Readers may like to read the author’s book – Muhammad: The Messenger of Allah - an
exposition of his life for curious western readers, available from Amazon.com
to have a deeper understanding of the Prophet’s (S) life.]
Sadly, most Muslim leaders of our time are either oblivious of
the essence of leadership or imagine that they don’t have any accountability
for their misrule and bad deeds, both to the very people that they lead or rule
over and Allah that they will have to face on the dreadful Day of Resurrection.
They are dead to at least one those three dimensions of leadership. They surely
can’t comprehend what had made Amirul Mumineen Umar ibn al-Khattab (RA), one of
the best rulers in the Muslim history, to say, “Should a lost goat die in the Shat al-‘Arab I tend to think that Allah,
the Most Exalted, will question me about it on the Day of Judgment.” [Hilyat’ul Awliya wa Tabaqatul Asfiya:
Abu Na’im al-Asfahani] They are also unmindful of Muhammad’s (S) warning: “If you wish, I could tell you about
leadership and what it is. Firstly, it is blame; secondly, it is regret; and
thirdly, it is punishment on the Day of Resurrection – except for one who is
just.” [Tabaraani in al-Kabeer;
Saheeh al-Jaami’]
Despite such stern warnings, there is no shortage of
individuals who would rather lead than be led, even though most of them don’t
qualify as leaders. People are misled and often end up choosing bad leaders
when such opportunities for voting do come on their way. And this is not
surprising since immorality and unethical mindsets and behaviors are slowly but
steadily either eating away the very foundation of the good old values or
displacing the old order, creating new norms and confusing too many, esp. those
who have not learnt the discipline of tazkiyah to bridle their nafs.
The Prophet (S) of Islam famously said, “As you will be, so
will you have rulers put over you.” [Baihaqi:
Abu Ishaq (RA)]
The reason that the Muslim world has too many tyrants today is
because of that very problem: the individuals that make up their society are
dead in at least one of the three dimensions: spiritually, morally and
intellectually, thus, they end up choosing one of their own as their leaders.
The same verdict goes for the USA and many of the countries that have elected
bad rulers in a liberal democracy. It is difficult to surmise that if American
voters were a moral majority that they would have elected an immoral and
unethical president like Donald Trump!
Muhammad (S), the Messenger of Allah, said, “Your best leaders
and rulers are those whom you love and who love you (in return), and for whom
you pray and who pray for you. And your worst leaders and rulers will be
those whom you hate and who hate you, and whom you curse and who curses you.
[Muslim: ‘Auf bin Malik (RA)]
In closing let me cite a story. One day Molla Nasreddin Hodja
was going down the street on his donkey’s back. The beast all on a sudden
started rushing forward. When asked, “Hey Molla, where are you going?” the
Molla, pointing to the donkey, replied, “Sorry, I don’t know where I am going;
ask the beast.” [See this author’s book - Anecdotes
of Molla Nasreddin Hodja for children of all ages – for many such
stories.]
Most Muslims of this century are exactly in the same situation
as the Molla was. They simply don’t know where their state beasts, the
political leaders in the government, are taking them.
Man’s need of guidance is the basis of the teachings of the
Prophets (AS) and the philosophy of their mission. Just like gasoline, which
needs to be discovered, extracted, refined and then used, the human asset
within men also require being discovered, guided, managed and turned to action.
Good leaders promote action but more importantly they improve the society by
changing the character of the people. Leaders give those under their charge the
chance to own the challenge, along with the glory of overcoming it. That is
exactly what leadership is all about.
First thing first. Leadership starts with tazkiyah-e-nafs. How long will our people wait to have leaders that
care about those led or ruled, and that know of their accountability for every
act he/she was responsible on this earth?
[Interested readers may like to read this author’s article - A Leadership Primer: Why We Are Failing
Miserably? - pub. The Media
Monitors Network and The
American Muslim, September 2008, for an in-depth study of the topic.]
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