Islam encourages its followers to practise and develop the qualities of a good leader. Leadership in Islam means a person or a group that will lead humanity from the brink of destruction to the way of Allah. Leadership in Islam is a trust. It represents a psychological contract between a leader and his followers that he will try his best to guide them, to protect them and to treat them fairly and with justice. Hence, the focus of leadership in Islam is on doing good.
Every movement in the world has a need for leadership and the importance of leadership is like the engine of a train. The train doesn’t move anywhere without the engine running. Only leadership can solve the problems of humanity. A successful leader is one who attains his ends in the best possible manner, with the least inconvenience to the team, by using minimum resources, in record time and with a high quality performance.
QUALITIES OF LEADERSHIP
The following are the two important qualities of leadership which were highlighted in the 20th century:
1. Taking Responsibility of Everything
While speaking about leadership qualities, many people narrate the incident of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam and his boss Professor Satish Dhawan. In the year 1979 when Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam was a project director and his mission was to put a satellite in the orbit. Just before the satellite could be launched, it started to cause some problems; there was some leakage in the control system. The control system is that which controls the rocket to the acquired altitude. He was told by his team experts that he could still go ahead and launch as there was adequate fuel in the vehicle after adequate calculations.
Bypassing the computer, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam decided to launch the satellite. The satellite was launched at 7:00 am as per its schedule. The satellite went in a spin, instead of putting the satellite in the orbit, it put it into the Bay of Bengal and the project failed. Later, Professor Satish Dhawan, Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation came to him and took him to the press conference, which was scheduled at 7:45 am. Addressing the press conference, Professor Satish Dhawan said, “Dear friends, we have failed today. I want to support my technologists, my scientists, my staff, so that next year they succeed.” By saying this, he took the whole blame on himself. They criticised him saying that he had put so many crores into the Bay of Bengal. But Professor Satish Dhawan took all the blame and assured them that next year we would succeed because his team was a very good one. Next year, the satellite was launched again on 18 July 1980, when they succeeded. Professor Satish Dhawan asked Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam to go and address the press. This shows the quality of a good leader that when there is failure, the leader takes the blame and when there is success, he gives the credit to his team.
The most interesting part of this unique quality of leadership was mentioned in the Qur’ān 1435 years ago, when Allah described the incidence from the life of Prophet Moses. Allah says in the Qur’ān, “(Moses) said, ‘My Lord, forgive me and my brother and admit us into Your mercy, for You are the most merciful of the merciful.” (Qur’ān 7:151) When Moses returned to his people and found that Aaron had been unable to prevent his people from being misled by Samiri, he was upset. He held Aaron accountable but assumed the responsibility himself, illustrating one of the most basic rules of delegation that, one can only delegate authority but not responsibility. Ultimately, Prophet Moses took all the responsibility of what went wrong and asked Allah to forgive them and to admit them in his mercy. It is clearly mentioned in the Quran.
2. Being Proactive
In the year 1989 Stephen R. Covey published a book titled, ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’. Covey presents an approach to being effective in attaining goals by aligning oneself to what he calls “true north” principles of a character ethic that he presents as universal and timeless. The book became the best seller and sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. The audio version became the first non-fiction audio-book in U.S. publishing history to sell more than one million copies.
Covey proclaims that values govern people’s behaviour, but principles ultimately determine the consequences. He wrote the book by conducting review of literature going back over 200 years. The habits describe a way of thinking, living and doing that is consistent with these principles. Various leadership trainers and institutions prescribe people to read this book and urge them to imbibe these questions in their lives, which would ultimately help them become good and effective leaders. Among all the seven habits, the first habit mentioned is called ‘Be Proactive’.
Being proactive is all about doing things and taking steps by understanding the need before anyone tells us to do it. Being Proactive is about controlling a situation by making things happen or by preparing for possible future problems. It is about taking responsibility for one’s life. People who are proactive don’t blame genetics, circumstances, conditions, weaknesses and mistakes for their behaviour. They are the ones who understand the situation, choose their behaviour and take necessary steps to change the same.
The most thought-provoking part of this unique quality of leadership was mentioned in the Qur’ān 1435 years ago, when Allah described the incidence from the life of Prophet Moses. Allah says in the Qur’ān, “And when he directed himself toward Madyan, he said, “Perhaps my Lord will guide me to the sound way.” And when he came to the water (i.e. well) of Madyan, he found there a crowd of people watering (their flocks), and he found aside from them two women driving back (their flocks). He said, “What is your circumstance?” They said, “We do not water until the shepherds dispatch (their flocks); and our father is an old man.” So he watered (their flocks) for them; then he went back to the shade and said, “My Lord, indeed I am, for whatever good You would send down to me, in need.” (Quran 28: 22-24)
After leaving Egypt and crossing the main desert, no sooner had Moses reached the Madyan than he sat under a tree to rest. He suffered from hunger and fatigue. The soles of his feet felt as if they were worn out from hard walking on sand and rocks and from the dust. He was taking a rest near a well where few shepherds were watering their sheep. He noticed two young women waiting to water their sheep as some shepherds were watering their sheep from a long time. Moses sensed that the women were in need of help. Forgetting his thirst, he drew nearer to them and asked if he could help them in any way and later he helped the young women to water their sheep. This shows the proactive nature of Prophet Moses which was recorded in the Qur’ān.
Good leaders can win battles but great leaders can win hearts. Good leaders can get work done but great leaders do work as per the need and demand. Good leaders feel happy about their achievement but great leaders take the responsibility of every failure. There might be various training programmes and books which are written only on the aspect of leadership but the best concept of leadership which is offered by the Qur’ān would be worth exploring and implementing in our lives. The above mentioned qualities were highlighted only in the 20th century but the Qur’ān spoke about them 1435 years ago. This is also a proof that the Qur’ān is a divine revelation from Allah and gives guidance on every aspect of human life.