Competence, Age and Leadership:
An Islamic PerspectiveDr. Mohammad Omar Farooq
9/13/2000
-----Original Message-----
From: farooqm59@yahoo.com
Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2000 12:06 PM
To: 'alochona@egroups.com'
Subject: Age, competence and leadership
Dear Alochona Friends,
Salam and greetings.
In the context of recent discussions about the upcoming election in
Bangladesh, the issue of age of leadership has come up. In his comments Mr.
Kawser Jamal has commendably emphasized the role of the youth. However, he has
virtually dismissed the role of age beyond 25 years. He also referred to the
case of Hadrat Umar (r). Since his reference is relevant to Islam and Islamic
history, and has important implications, I am taking this opportunity to
clarify a few aspects.
Leadership in Islam
Successful enterprises, whether in ancient period or modern times, are based
on competence of leadership. It is even more so for business enterprises.
Especially in modern times, younger people are demonstrating extraordinary
accomplishments based on their competence.
Islam, a way of life, that invites people five times a day toward
"success" (Falah, as in Hayyia alal Falah), takes an approach to
life that is business-oriented. Is it my own perspective? Not at all. It is
explicitly rooted in the Qur'an. Toward the end of this write-up I will share
further information about this. Because of this success-orientation,
like in any other business, competence comes first.
Prophet Muhammad (s) took a clear-cut position on this. In one of the
expeditions, shortly before his death, he chose Usama bin Zaid (r), a very
young person as the commander of the expedition. It was a problematic
decision, because there were many older, well-known personalities in that
contingency, including Islamic luminaries such as Abu Bakar and Umar (r).
Although they were ready to respect the choice of the Prophet (s), there were
others whose traditional culture based on age and other factors made them
somewhat less respectful toward the decision. Here is the Hadith about that
incident.
Salim reported on the authority of his father that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said on the pulpit: You object to the command of Usima b. Zaid as you had objected before to the command of his father (Zaid). By Allah, he was most competent for it and, by Allah, he was dearest to me amongst people and, by Allah, the same is the case with Usama b. Zaid. He is most dear to me after him and I advise you to treat him well for he is pious amongst you. [Sahih Muslim, #5959]
Interestingly, the expedition got delayed due to sickness of
the Prophet and actually he passed away before dispatching it. During the next
few days a new leadership, Abu Bakar (r) was elected as the Khalifa. One of
the first administrative actions of Abu Bakar (r) was to dispatch the
contingency just as the Prophet wanted under the command of Usama. As the
Khalifa he himself couldn't join the contingency. Walking alongside Usama,
while Usama was riding on horse, Abu Bakar asked Usama if he would permit one
of the people under his command to be released so that he could assist Abu
Bakar (r) in his administrative role. Who was the person under the
command of Usama about whom Abu Bakar sought permission from Usama? Well, it
was Umar (r) who was still scheduled to march under the command of Usama in
this expedition.
Incidentally, the reference in the above Hadith to the father of Usama, Zaid
has an important context. Zaid was a slave before accepting Islam. Within his
lifetime he rose to prominence in Islamic society. This was not easy to accept
by the non-Muslim aristocracy of the time as well as by those Muslims who have
accepted Islam but still were carrying the baggage of prejudice of the past.
This emphasis on competence is one of the aspects of the early, evolving
Islamic society that did not last even the first Hijrah century as it got
subverted by other factors.
The point here is that Islam, as a success-oriented way of life, as practiced
and exemplified by the Prophet, emphasizes competence. Mr. Jamal's emphasis on
the role of youth deserves attention. Because the appointment of Usama (r) was
not merely an affirmation of competence, but also of youth and vitality.
However, one must not get carried away in regard to the role of youth.
What about age?
Another important aspect of Islam is emphasis on balance. And, yes, within
that framework of balance, there is place of age in Islam. Therefore,
discounting it so heavily and categorically is not consistent with Islam.
Let's take a look at the following Hadith and the role of age should be very
clear.
Abu Mas'ud al-Ansari reported: The Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said to us: The one who is well grounded in Allah's Book and is distinguished among them in recitation should act as; Imam for the people. and if they are equally versed in reciting it, then the one who has most knowledge regarding Sunnah; if they are equal regarding the Sunnah, then the earliest one to emigrate; If they emigrated at the same time, then the oldest one in age. No man must lead another in prayer in latter's house or where (the latter) has authority, or sit in his place of honour in his house, except that he gives you permission or with his permission. [Sahih Muslim, #1422]
In Islam prayer (namaz) is so pivotal not because it is a
ritual, but because it is an embodiment of so much lessons and thought for
practical life. Indeed, congregational prayer symbolizes a highly organized
society, where the Imam is supposed to be chosen by people and the followers
are to
be constantly vigilant to help the Imam to fulfill his responsibility and to
avoid any error. This is a role of vigilance to be played by both men and
women. If not from common sense and human experience, Muslims can learn about
the value and priority of competence beginning with prayer,
the only daily ritual in a Muslim life. It is so unfortunate that the
praying Muslims (as there are praying and non-praying Muslims) have turned
this dynamic Islamic practice into a stale ritual.
Age is not to supersede competence, but it is not to be discounted so
summarily. At least Muslims should pay attention to the very prophethood of
Muhammad (s) himself. He became a prophet, the last prophet, not at 15, 25 or
35, but at 40. One must not infer too much from just this piece of
information, as Islam does not recognize 40 as a magic number for such
leadership related matters. However, suggesting that beyond 25 it's a level
plain field is overstretching one's conjecture.
In the overall scheme of leadership, age has important role to play because
age is not mere seniority, but it is also an embodiment of experience, which
deserves appropriate valuation.
Wrong "impressions"?
There is already enough misunderstanding, misinformation and misinterpretation
about Islam. It is only natural to expect that Muslims would be at the
forefront to alleviate these problems of mis-, mis-, and mis-. Unfortunately,
our opinions and views are often based on mere "impressions", not
based on information or fact. This is especially unfortunate because so much
information is available these days just a mouse-click away.
At what age did Umar (r) became the Khalifa? At 14 or 17? Nope. He was born in
581 AD. He was 11 years younger than the Prophet. He became Khalifa in 634, at
the age of 53. [
<http://www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/article/4/0,5716,109494+2,00.html
] Abu Bakr (r) became Khalifa in 632 at 62, Uthman (r) in 644 at 70, and Ali
(r) in 656 at 58. [
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/politics/firstfourcaliphs.html
]
We all need to do our due diligence not just before communicating an opinion,
view or statement to others, but before we form an opinion. We need to base
our opinion or view on the basis of knowledge and information, not merely on
"impressions". We need to develop a habit of and commitment to
self-criticism.
By the way, on any such matter related to Islam, if anyone needs some basic
corroborative research assistance (particularly, before preparing any
write-up), please do not hesitate to contact me. I will try to help to the
best of my ability, subject to the nature of the question, my time
constraint and urgency of the questioner.
If you are already not familiar, I have also been participating on Askme.com .
Questioners can ask questions even anonymously. 250+ of questions that I had
the opportunity to answer during the last few months are archived there. Visit
<http://www.askme.com and look up the
Islam category or dr_farooq. I have been somewhat withdrawn lately. But I am
still signed up there.
Whatever we believe in or opinion/view we form, let's do our due diligence. We
owe it to ourselves. I would also urge the respected management/moderation of
Alochona to urge its subscribers to do their due diligence before sending
their write-ups. This would improve the quality of deliberations
significantly.
Oops! Earlier I mentioned that Islam as a way of life is
"success"-oriented, not just in the life hereafter, but also in this
life as well. It has a business-like approach. Recently, I was invited by a
leading Islamic monthly magazine to write an article on Muslim Unity, the
theme of that month's issue. The title was "Muslim Unity: A Business-like
Approach". Despite initial enthusiasm on the part of the editor, the
article faced a wall on the basis of some "technicalities". Somehow,
it
turned out that the sticky point was Bangladesh related part in my article. If
interested, please read it from my personal homepage at <http://www.globalwebpost.com/farooqm/writings/islamic/unity.htm
.
HOME
Index of my
writings
Have you visited my site on Kazi
Nazrul Islam?
Genocide
1971 Page?
Hadith
Humor Page?