Muhammad (s): 11 Leadership Qualities That Changed the World
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AUTHOR: KRISTEN OBARSKY
When I first pulled this book off the shelf, I thought—I’m not a leader. Do I need this book? I’m not a CEO, but then the sīra’s attraction and pull always draws me in.
Even before I started reading it, I thought to myself (and I recommend you do the same), where in my life am I a leader?
Some things I thought of were:
- I volunteer and work with others.
- I am a visible Muslim, which means I serve as a representative of Islam.
- I am a mother and homeschool educator, steering my children’s academic, social, and religious upbringing.
- I will be expected to help make important decisions for/with family members as they age.
I hope you see yourself in one of these above categories, and if you do, you are a leader and may not realize it.
The author examines eleven prophetic leadership qualities: Integrity, Competence, Vision, Courage, Holistic Justice, Pragmatic Decisiveness, Servant Leadership, Practical Wisdom, Resilience, Compassion, and Spiritual Intelligence and explains how these serve as a universal model for good leadership.
The author uses sīra and Quran examples and explains how the Prophet ﷺ embodied these qualities in his leadership and how we can grow these qualities in ourselves.
He also examines contemporary cases of Muslim men and women and how they applied these qualities to improve their causes or communities. It was lovely just thinking about how I can better emulate the Prophet ﷺ, and the book did help me see where I fall short! Alhamdulillah!
I will say that I wish he examined more of the “under the radar” leadership that happens in the home, but overall, it did help me think “What would Prophet Muhammad ﷺ do here?” For example, he wouldn’t send a mean email complaining that people need to help out more. Instead, he would be understanding and help uplift that person, try to understand their difficulties, and motivate and encourage them.
May Allah help us gently steer those we lead using a Prophetic model. May Allah help us be good shepherds to our little flocks, whether at work, as volunteers, or in the home. May Allah help us go forth and be good representatives and leaders of the faith.