Islamic Leadership

PROPHET MOHAMMED ﷺ

A man with a mission

(ﷺ) read: “sal-lal-la-hu a-lay-hi wa-sal-lam” is Arabic for “peace be upon him” and is according to Islamic traditions to be mentioned after the name of the Prophet Mohammed (ﷺ).

Introduction

The leadership of the Prophet Mohammed (ﷺ) is very unique. He was a man believed by his followers to have been sent by an almighty God as His messenger. Not only did he receive divine revelation in the form of the Quran, but every word that he uttered was believed to be from the almighty God, ALLAH. This already is enough to indicate his authenticity amongst those who believe him. Notice Mohammed (ﷺ) lived over 1400 years ago, but the word “believe” in the previous sentence has consciously been written in present form, this is because he was not only a leader to those who lived at his time, rather he is still the role model for all Muslims living today. Even though this paper will mention the role of Mohammed (ﷺ) as a leader and source of inspiration today, the main focus of this paper will be on the leadership of Mohammed (ﷺ) during his life. When analyzing the life of Mohammed (ﷺ) many leadership theories comes to mind, however most use will be made of the ideas surrounding authentic leadership. Finally this paper intends to expand the theory and add another dimension to the ideas of authentic leadership/introduce the idea of a new type of leadership, Islamic leadership.

Mohammed (ﷺ) and Islam

Over 1400 years ago a man named Mohammed (ﷺ) lived in Mecca, Saudi Arabia when he at the age of 40 for the first time got a divine revelation. He was selected by God to be His messenger with a mission to spread the teachings of Islam, to act as a mercy for mankind and to remind people the purpose of life. He lived at a time when idolatry was common practice, humans were divided into slaves and free men and even so called “free” women had few or no rights. Even the right to live was not guaranteed as newly born female babies were often buried alive. The message of Islam was clear, it came to remind the people that God was one, merciful and loving, and that the carved idols they worshipped was actually nothing else than pieces of wood that could do them no good nor harm. Further the message of Islam came to liberate the poor and the slaves, making no difference between a slave and a free man and working for the abolishment of slavery. The message of Islam recognized the equal rights and values of men and women before God. In other words Mohammed (ﷺ) was a man with revolutionary ideas and a threat to the establishment at that time.

Mohammed (ﷺ) and authentic