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THE IDEAL
LEADERSHIP (PART 1)
By Marhum Ahmed H Sheriff
NEED OF LEADERSHIP
Man is
a social animal. He is divinely endowed with gregarious nature to meet
socially, to plan and do tasks in groups, to delight in company, to
share and enjoy fruits and even to arise against a common enemy. He
even wants to survive, defend, gain and progress. Any group or society,
with its diverse needs and talents invariably needs a leader to provide
unity of purpose and guidance when needed. Thus leadership is vital in
Religious, Social and Political affairs.
Certain
creatures too living in a group have a leader to follow. For example the
honey-bee. They instinctively follow their Queen – their leader and
establish new colonies. Hence the usual practice of honey producers to
pick up the Queen-bee from among the bee-hives in the wild and place it
in a selected place in order to manufacture a bee-hive and automatically
the bees follow.
Stressing the need of leadership, the Imam Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha (as)
said,
“We
do not find any sect from sects nor any creed from creeds (of the world)
survive and last long except with a guardian and a chief (to supervise
them) in their religious and worldly affairs”
In
Islam much stress has been laid on acquisition of Knowledge and acting
with with justice and fairplay. The presence of numerous verses and
traditions on these two subjects denote their paramount importance in
the progress of mankind. As such it can be rightly said that an ideal
leadership mainly rests upon possession of adequate knowledge and
quality of acting justly with people. Unless a leader has these two
things, he can not be expected to benefit and render service to his
people with his leadership.
For the
selectors or electors and for the one aspiring to become a leader of any
group of people, it is expedient and desirable to know the qualities
which befit the position of leadership. The following saying of Imam Ali
bin Abi Talib (as) throws light on the duty of a leader:
“Whoever places himself as a leader of the people should commence with
educating his own self before educating others. And his teaching should
be by his own conduct before teaching by the tongue. The person who
teaches and instructs his own self is more entitled to esteem than he
who teaches and instructs others”
In
other words, one should first be willing to search into his own
innerself and endeavour to discard his own defects. To be accepted as a
leader, one should be of impeccable character and true to his words.
Then and only then his leadership would be effective. He must be a
leader by example than by mere words. How important it is for one’s
actions to match with his spoken words can be seen from the following
Quranic verse:
“O
you who believe! Why do you say that which you do not do”
(61:2)
QUALITIES OF GOOD LEADERSHIP
Imam Ali
(as) is reported to have said that four qualities are requisite in a
leader: Chastity, Good Character,
Generosity and intelligence.
Obviously a leader whose private life lacks chastity and decency, whose
character and conduct is demoralizing and who is devoid of generosity,
wisdom and insight would not command the respect and following of his
people. In another saying related by Imam al-Baqir (as) that the Holy
Prophet (saw) had said,
“Leadership would not impart benefit except of a person possessing three
qualities.
-Such Piety that prevents him from committing
sins.
-And Forbearance with which he can control his
anger.
-And Authority with which he rules (over
people in such a way) till he becomes like a kindly father”
Obviously such a leader with no sufficient piety and fear of Allah which
enables one to control his actions is likely to commit such sins and
errors that would harm the interests of his people. His impious way of
life would debar him from enjoying their respect and confidence.
Besides
if a leader lacks forbearance and suffers from fits of outrage and
anger, he would commit such actions as to harm others and injure their
feelings. This would fail him to attract their support and co-operation.
An oppressive ruler who exercises his authority with show of power
causes fear to be aroused and prevents his people from enjoying mental
peace and security. A true leader needs to appear like a kindly father
and not a harsh authoritarian.
Describing some of the traits of the pious and beloved of God, The Holy
Qur’an says,
“…..and those who control their anger and are forgiving to men and Allah
loves the doers of good”
(3:134)
A LEADER BY EXAMPLE
Once
there was scarcity of wheat in Madina. The price in the bazaar was
mounting upwards every day. People out of panic were busy purchasing
more and more in order to hoard the grain. Imam as-Sadiq (as) asked his
store-keeper the amount of stock held in the house and he was informed
that it was more than sufficient. The stock of wheat held in the house
would last for some months to come.
When
the Imam learnt of this, he at once gave the instruction to sell the
whole stock to the people and then to buy domestic needs on day to day
basis from the bazaar. He also gave instructions that wheat and barley
be used in equal proportion when baking the daily bread so as to
economise the consumption of wheat.
Thus
the Imam set an invaluable example of anti-hoarding and displayed the
true spirit of leadership by illustration.
Readers are requested to recite
suratul-Fatiha for Marhum Ahmed H Sheriff
Released by:
Mulla Mujaheedali Sheriff
mulla@almahdi.org.uk |