Conceptual Leadership Based Upon the Writings of Muslim Thinkers: A Survey of Sources

Abstract

This article will focus on conceptions of leadership amongst muslim thinkers. Ideas of leadership not management will be explored in this article. Preference would be given towards the turath especially al-Farabi, Ibn Sina and Ibn Khaldun. Questions: Has muslim thinkers devised a certain way of thinking about leadership and its models that would then be applied at their particular time and context? Is there or are there conceptual models based solely upon the teachings of the Prophet or more dynamic in the sense that each of these models are open-ended which are wholly determined by various sociopolitical considerations? An analysis of muslim thinkers closer to our period would also be undertaken. Notably Muhammad Iqbal, Seyyed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas. It is believed that such leadership values are to be rooted within a particular understanding of the universe and the subject, thus a particular worldview which is based upon Islam. Ideas dealing with values and concepts are intertwined when discussing worldviews and leadership which is based upon such an idea. Were the muslim thinkers working within such a framework or was it more of an open-ended system? This is an interesting question in itself and would help further in locating and situating the ideas of values and its discussion in the wider field of Islamic thought and philosophy. Instead of the usual descriptive method normally employed, a more dynamic way would be used where conceptions are discussed vis a vis the thinkers involved/selected. In the end hopefully we would be able to answer some of the questions we initially set out to answer: The paper forms apart of an ongoing research on conceptions of leadership in Islam.