THE
HOLY PROPHET MUHAMMAD (PEACE BE UPON HIM)
Introduction
Leadership, what is it means? According
to John C Maxwell in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership,
leadership can be defining as: "leadership
is influence - nothing more, nothing less." Meanwhile, Warren Bennis'
definition of leadership is focused much more on the individual capability of
the leader: "Leadership is a
function of knowing yourself, having a vision that is well communicated,
building trust among colleagues, and taking effective action to realize your
own leadership potential” (http://www.teal.org.uk/leadership/definition.htm).
Based on the above definition of
leadership, I personally think that The Holy Prophet Muhammad Bin Abdullah
(peace be upon him) is a perfect leader that match the definition and a good
example of leader that should be followed by others. I choose him as my
inspiration because of his noble character, charismatic as a leader, and his strategic
vision. For me, to be a good leader, one must not only have good influential
skills, but also good moral values to be followed, because a good leader is the
leader who lead by example. And, Prophet Muhammad Bin Abdullah (peace be upon
him) have this both qualities.
Therefore, there is no doubt a Jewish American,
Michael H. Hart listed Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the most
influential man in the history, in his book, The
100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History. Hart explain the reason he listed
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to the top list in his book, as follows;
“My
choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may
surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man
in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular
levels. Of humble origins, Muhammad founded and promulgated one of the world's
great religions, and became an immensely effective political leader. Today,
thirteen centuries after his death, his influence is still powerful and
pervasive. The majority of the
persons in this book had the advantage of being born and raised in centers of
civilization, highly cultured or politically pivotal nations. Muhammad,
however, was born in the year 570, in the city of Mecca, in southern Arabia, at
that time a backward area of the world, far from the centers of trade, art, and
learning.”
The
Holy Prophet Muhammad Childhood
Background
The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be
upon him) was born on 12 Rabiul Awwal, equal to 20 April 570 Masihi. He
belonged to the Bani Hashim clan. The Bani Hashim clan was part of the Quraisy
tribe and one of the prominent families of Mecca. However, it seems not to have
been prosperous during Prophet Muhammad's early lifetime. During two months in
his mother womb, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) lovely father, Adullah
Bin Abdul Mutalib, left the world because of an illness. Therefore, he becomes
an orphaned since he was born.
He then was given to his foster-mother,
Tsuwaibah and then, Halimatus Sa’adiah as it is the tradition of the Arab
society to let their child lives with Bedouin family in the desert, as the
desert life was considered healthier for infants. He lives with Halimatus
Sa’adiah for two years, but some says four years. After that, he lives with his
biological mother, Aminah binti Wahab. However, Aminah binti Wahab then passed
away when Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was six years old. After being a
full orphaned, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) then lives with his
grandfather, Abdul Mutalib but for two years only because his grandfather
passed away when he was eight. He then was took care by his uncle, Abu Talib who
was doing a trading business to support his life and his family.
Independent,
Responsible, and Matured Young Man
Abu Talib is a generous person who
always helps others. Because of his generosity, Abu Talib was poor and strugglead
to keep his family fed. Even though still at the young age, Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him) always think that he never wanted to be a burden on the
shoulders of his uncle. He wanted to fend for himself. To make sure that his
uncle did not have to struggle to keep him fed, he did whatever he could to
help his uncle. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) help his uncle by being a
shepherd even though he was eight at that time. He also gained experience in
commercial trade by accompanied Abu Talib during the trading journeys to Syria.
The working experience and hardship that
he went through build him up as a young man who was more independent,
responsible, and matured. He then became
a successful business man by the age of twenty five.
The
Trusworthy or Al-Ameen
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon
him) also known as Al-Ameen or The Trustworthy one among his tribes. They gave
him this title, because they considered him to be the best man among them, the one
who was never known to have told a lie. It is said that they had so much faith
in Prophet Muhammad. They would advise one another to seek help or his services
when needed. They would say: “If you want
to entrust your wealth for safeguarding, entrust it to this trustworthy, honest
man, for he will never touch it. If you look for someone who never tells a lie
and never breaks his word, go directly to Muhammad, because whatever he says is
true.” (Reehab Ramadhan, 2011).
Prophet
Muhammad's Principles of Communication
As the Messenger, Prophet Muhammad (peace
be upon him) always try to establish a good dialogue with people. Despite used
the various means of communication that belonged to his era, he also took into
account the psychological particulars of the individual and society in order to
present the message in the best and most effective way. He always considers the
mind and emotion of the people he communicate with by respecting their
sensitivity and using the phrases that would not hurt them.
For example, he had a conversation
with a Bedouin, whose wife had given birth to a black child but the Bedouin
denied that the child was his. He told The Prophet by saying:
"My
wife gave birth to a black child. I want to reject this child". Prophet
Muhammad asked: "Do you have camels?" The Bedouin replied:
"Yes" The Prophet asked: "What color are those camels?" The
Bedouin answered: "Red" The Prophet: "Are there any white, black
or grey camels among these?" The Bedouin: "Yes, of course. There are
grey camels among them." The Prophet then asked: "Well, where do you
think these grey camels came?" "O Prophet, that is in their blood;
they take after the ancestors." "Perhaps this boy has taken after
someone in his ancestry (he resembles them)." (Muslim)
Here, we can see that The Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him) did not merely say, relying on his authority as Prophet to
tell the Bedouin something that he knows it is true. He rather spoke in a way
that the Bedouin could understand, taking care to use an example that related
to the Bedouin's life. After all, the most important is, he was able to solve a
problem in a convincing manner by having the Bedouin come up with the solution
himself. This shows the quality of a good leader he have, which is having a
good, creative and intelligent communication skills. He understood the importance
of communicating with others, therefore he did not converse with believers only
but he also established good communication with all of the people he saw
without discrimination of religion, language, race, sex, social status and thus.
A
Tolerance and a Just Leader
To be a good leader, one must be
tolerance to his followers and also non followers. At the same time, the
tolerance values did not lead the leader to be unjust. The leader must be just
to all people even though he must tolerate with them. This is because, the truth
could not be saying as the false and the end could not justify the means. The
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has both this leadership values well.
Prophet Muhammad desired that a person
who was to perform public services, for example, the imam, should be the person
who knew and read the Quran the best. When there was more than one person with
an equal ability to recite the Quran, then there were objective criteria to be
followed. First, the person who knew and implemented the Sunnah and religious
practices best would be chosen; if there was equality in this then the person
who had first emigrated would be chosen, and if there was equality here, then
the eldest would be selected as imam (Yusuf Macit, 2011).
Other story that shows the tolerance
and the just in Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) leadership is during the Saheefah (Constitution) of Madinah. The
Constitution believed to be the first Constitution in the world and is the
perfect Constitution ever. The history of the constitution begins
when the Prophet migrated to Madinah. In Madinah, he was the political leader
of a state, which demanded that clear laws of governance be laid out to ensure the
harmony and stability in a society which the Muslims, Jews, Christians and
polytheists live together. Due to this, the Prophet laid down a ‘constitution’
which detailead the responsibilities of all parties which resided in Madinah,
their obligations towards each other, and certain restrictions which were
placed on each.
The Constitution also do not bias to
any tribes or religion or prejudice to any non-Muslims. For example, the first
article of the constitution was that all the inhabitants of Madinah, the
Muslims as well as those who had entered the pact from the Jews, Christian, and
idolaters, were “one nation to the
exclusion of all others.” All were considered members and citizens of
Madinah society regardless of religion, race, or ancestry. People of other
faiths were protected from harm as much as the Muslims, as is stated in the
constitution of Madinah: “To the Jews who
follow us belong help and equity. He
shall not be harmed nor his enemies be aided,” (M Abdulsalam, 2011).”
Conclusion
– Prophet Muhammad the Most Ideal Leader
Actually there are a lot of Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him) characteristic as a good leader that I want to
mention here. But the values that I already mention above are more enough to
prove that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is a leader who lead by example
and match all the criterias that should a good leader have.
“Indeed
in the Messenger of Allah (Muhammad SAW-peace be upon him) you have a good
example to follow for him who hopes for (the Meeting with) Allah and the Last
Day, and remembers Allah much.”
(Qur’an 33 : 21)
John Adair, the writer of the the book
The Leadership of Muhammad described
the leadership of this Prophet as “He
served to lead and knew how to do things at the right time in the right way”.
Knowing his struggle and hardship along his journey fisabilillah, learning his moderate approach and how he changed the
world forever, make me feel inspired by him. I hope I can do the best to follow
his Sunnah and his leadership style.
REFERENCES
4.
http://amaana.org/ismailim.html
5.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
6.
Hart,
Michael. 1992. The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History.
7.
Reehab
Ramadan. 2011. Commanded to Love, Prophet Muhammad: A Man of Character.
8.
Yusuf
Macit. 2011. Prophet Muhammad's Principles of Communication.
9.
M.
Abdulsalam. 2011. The Prophet's Tolerance Towards Other Religions.
10. Adair, John. 2010. The Leadership of
Muhammad. Kogan Page Limited.
Zaitunsyahila Mohamed Ismail
Sidang A
DPA 1/2012
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