A Leader In Islam Is Accountable To God And The People
By Arman Neyazi, New
Age Islam
30 April
2021
In Islamic Parlance a Leader Must Possess the
Qualities of Accountability, Consultation, and Consideration
Main Points:
1.
Today's leaders are the by-product
of greed, dishonesty and incompetence.
2.
A leader in Islam means a
responsible guardian of the society.
3.
Islamic tenets of a leader start
with the quality of accountability.
4.
Being untrustworthy and
unaccountable to a creation of Allah is like being unworthy of His vicegerent
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World media
has become dedicated to stories of Covid-19 alone, as nothing else is happening
anywhere either in the field of economy, trade or technology. All the
scientific researchers and their leaders are engaged in a fight against the
time. Lots of good news have come forward from the field of medical science and
the researchers certainly deserve a big applause in uncertain terms. But has
politics taken a backseat during these troubled times? Not at all. Neither it
should. Rather it is the troubled and trying times that the best leaders and
the qualities of good leadership come forward.
In the words of Warren Bennis, "Leadership is the capacity to
translate vision into reality”. Most of contemporary leaders do not have
seem to have any vision. These leaders are the by-product of greed, dishonesty
and incompetence.
The world,
therefore, needs to look for such leaders who are competent, have the knack of
consulting experts around them and carry high-level wisdom of accountability
and consideration. A leader in Islam means a guardian of the family, the
community or the country and that guardian has to guard all the necessities of
his area of influence. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) says:
‘Each of you is a guardian and is responsible
for his subjects’ (Saheeh al Bukhari: 212).
If we
develop the qualities of a good guardian, ours will be a society where we all
will be accountable for our responsibilities. Being accountable creates the
trust of the society in its leaders. There can not be a people’s leader if
there is no trust in him. Islamic tenets of a leader start with the quality of
accountability. Islam emphasises accountability to God and the people for the
person chosen to lead. The human being is bestowed with the power of learning
so he should learn about the religious leaders who led their people being
within the command of Allah, the Almighty, who has sent humankind as His
vicegerent on earth. Allah, the Most Merciful says in the Holy Quran:
‘Note that occasion,
when your Lord said the angels: I am going to place a vicegerent on earth’ (Qur’an -Surat al Baqarah Ayat 30)
What more
did we expect from Allah the Almighty who called us His vicegerent. Being a
vicegerent of Allah, any kind of unholy act does not suit us. The human being
must therefore respect this kindness of Allah and create qualities of a good
leader that is accountable to God and His people of their respective societies.
Following Hadees explains the value and importance of being accountable to God
and trustworthy to His people otherwise
he will not be one among those who will be rewarded heaven for their good
deeds:
‘If a person dies having cheated the people
s/he was entrusted with, he will not enter paradise’ (Muslim, 2000).
Any person
(leader) who cheats the people under his influence will be deprived of a place
in heaven no matter what good he has been doing all through his life. Being
untrustworthy and unaccountable to a creation of Allah is like being unworthy
of His vicegerent. Following our great religious leaders through their words
and deeds will transform our thoughts and make us able to stand straight in
front of Allah’s creation. Be like Caliph Abu Bakr (RA) acting on his words he
spoke after taking over the Caliphate after our Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW):
‘I have been made your leader, and I am not better
than any of you. Support me if I do well and correct me if I do wrong’
(Al-Salabi, 2001)
Consultation
and consideration create a sense and a quality of accountability. We find the
leaders among us shying away from all these qualities because they think
consulting somebody over something makes them look ignorant and unaware of the
happenings around them.
A human
being has to be accountable to Allah, the Most Merciful on the Day of Judgement
and no one will be able to flee from it as the following Ayat describes:
And [for]
every person We have imposed his fate upon his neck,1 and We will produce for
him on the Day of Resurrection a record which he will encounter spread open.
[It will be said],
"Read your record. Sufficient is yourself against you this Day as
accountant."
(Surah 17 Al-Isra, Ayat 13-14) — Saheeh International
The word
‘Imam’ which means leader or guide is used by Allah, the Almighty in the Holy
Quran. And this title was bestowed upon Hazrat Ibrahim (AS) after he was tried
and tested by God through His commands. See the following Ayat:
And [mention, O
Muhammad], when Abraham was tried by his Lord with words [i.e., commands] and
he fulfilled them. [Allah] said, "Indeed, I will make you a leader for the
people." [Abraham] said, "And of my descendants?" [Allah] said,
"My covenant does not include the wrongdoers." (Surah Al-Baqarah - 2:124) — Saheeh
International
On the Day
of Judgement, every human being will be made accountable to himself and there
will be no denying the facts as, Allah, the Most Merciful says in the Holy
Quran:
(Think of) the Day
when We will call every people with their books of deeds. Then the ones who
will be given their book in their right hands will read their book (happily)
and will not be wronged even to the measure of a fine thread. (Surah Al-Isra - 71) — Mufti Taqi
Usmani
With all
the true qualities of a leader mentioned in the Holy Quran, our Holy Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) lived his pious life as a man of people around him. These were
his leadership qualities that brought people under the umbrella of Islam. His
leadership qualities interwoven with the commands of Allah the Most Merciful
were noticed by his friends and foes alike and this appealed to people to
accept him as their leader.
Influencing
and bringing the Arabian people of the time of Jahiliyya was a difficult job
but his sublime conduct, his simplicity, his honesty and his softness of speech
melt the ice and brought people to listen to him with patience. He met people
at their houses and at their business places to tell them about his mission.
Prophet
Muhammad (SAW)’s leadership qualities brought the people of the dark ages of
Arabia who because of their ignorance were busy fighting with each other on
petty land disputes and issues of
ethnicity, His leadership qualities united them with the message of love and
brotherhood, as is reported on the authority of Abu Hamzah Anas bin Malik (AS)
— Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said:
None of you [truly] believes until he loves for
his brother that which he loves for himself. [Al-Bukhari] [Muslim]
Michael
Hart in his book The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History
said:
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was “the only man [we
can say leader] in history who was supremely successful on both the secular and
religious level”
The
qualities of a good leader are:
He Should Be Merciful
Allah, the
Most Merciful says in the Holy Quran:
“And We
have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds” (21:107).
He Should be Caring for the Poor
Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) never had anything worth mentioning all through his life. He
distributed everything he ever had among the poor and destitute of the society
and he died instructing his companions (Sahaba) to distribute all that he had
among the poor:
"Not even a single Dinar of my property
should be distributed (after my death to my inheritors, but whatever I leave
excluding the provision for my wives and my servants, should be spent in
charity." [Bukhari, “Laws of Inheritance” 33].
He Should Be Just
On being
just Allah Almighty says in the Holy Quran:
Have you seen the one
who denies the Recompense? For that is the one who drives away the orphan. And
does not encourage the feeding of the poor. So woe to those who pray. [But] who
are heedless of their prayer - Those who make show [of their deeds]. And
withhold [simple] assistance (Quran Surah Al-Ma’un:1-7)
According
to the above mentioned Ayat, a leader should try his best to make the lives of
the people easier by offering all kinds of assistance needed to them. A leader
should never discriminate against his people based on religion, caste or gender
etc.
Being a
true leader is an honour for it provides opportunities to bring peace and
amity, happiness and satisfaction among the people. Service to the people is a
service to Allah. Leaders should not indulge in their selfish acts to bring
laurel to them. They will get lots more than the worldly laurel, the heaven as
promised by Allah, by being just, merciful and caring for the poor.
The
horrible time created by the pandemic Covid-19 asks for all the leaders to
unite and help each other as in the word of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), ‘Each of
you is a guardian and is responsible for his subjects’ (Saheeh al Bukhari:
212). This is a time to act as a guardian and a responsible person of society. Forget
your religion, your caste and your region. Let the whole world be a village and
all residing in it tied in kinship.
And Allah knows the best.
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Arman
Neyazi is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-society/muslim-leader-accountable-god-people/d/124763
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