Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization (Sep 2015)
Islamic Perspective of Leadership
Abstract
The concept of leadership can be approached thorough various points of views including administrative, army, community and spiritual or from business perspectives. The author discusses the concept of Leadership as observed through literature survey about the Leadership qualities of our beloved Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) and his Sahaba (R.A). This paper aims to provide an analysis of a religious aspect of Leadership and its importance in the lives of every Leader especially Chief Executive Officers (C.E.Os). This paper discusses key attributes needed in an effective Leader from Islamic perspective and how these attributes can be made part of the practical lives of today’s leaders like CEOs. The key word “lead” means “to show the pathway”. The leader can drive persons forward with a vision to accomplish the common objectives. A true leader must have some universal inevitable characteristics such as self-confidence, trustworthiness, communication skills, compassion, hopefulness, promising, far sightedness, Passion / Truthfulness, Humility, emotional quotient, Problem solver, Delegating the authority, appraising, training, Succession Management and so on. This paper also addresses at length about the examples taken from Quranic verses and the life of our beloved Holy Prophet (SAW) and the practical examples taken from some of the renowned business empires of the world. Combining all the three sources, at the end of the paper, the author proposes a conceptual framework for an effective leader which can be set as a role model for today’s Chief Executive Officers etc. Objectives of this study are firstly, to define the key attributes of leadership derived from the Holy Prophet (SAW), the sahaba and the Quran. Secondly, to propose a conceptual framework for an effective leader and can be set as a role model for C.E.O’s.
