Muslim Leadership: An Oxymoron?

Dear Friends,
Since I have been mentioned a couple of times in this discussion, I would like to contribute a few thoughts:
- One process that I use in my executive coaching practice is called ``feedforward``. The key components of feedforward are: 1) focus on the future (which we can change) - not the past (which we cannot change), 2) learn to listen to others ideas without judgment - and say ``thank you`` when people try to help you, 3) when speaking to others - help as much as you can, 4) when listening to others - learn as much as you can and 5) overall - help more and judge less!
- In my older years I have decided to `give away as much as I can`. My new website, www.MarshallGoldmithLibrary.com, has hundreds of free articles, columns, interviews, audios and even videos. Please feel free to read, listen, watch, download, copy and share whatever you wish - with whomever you wish. If any of my work helps you anyone you know have a better life - I will feel great!
- Although I am a Buddhist, I am still a ``citizen of the world``. Your dialogue is very important. If I could help any of your leaders advance your cause in a positive way - that helps bring us all together - not apart - please just contact me at Marshall@MarshallGoldsmith.com.
Thank you very much for your kind comments about me and for your interest in my work.
Life is good.
Marshall

Re: # 10
Good and you??.Keep it going dude!!...

Re: # 10
Good and you??.Keep it going dude!!...

Let me explain the logic of Mr. Jinnah as I understand it:

Muslims of India constituted a separate nation with a distinctly separate identity
British India should be divided into a ``Pak`` Muslim Pakistan and a non-Muslim (or Hindu) India
The Land of the Pure should consist of UNDIVIDED Punjab and Bengal even though it would have huge Hindu and Sikh minorities, who then would no longer be that distinct from the ``Pak`` Hindus
Fully one-third of the Muslims of British India will not be able to reside in Pakistan, Land of the Pure and Homeland for Indian Muslims.
Some Indian Muslims could migrate to Pakistan (Jinnah Sahib included), but the vast majority would have to live as Indian citizens (but now resented by other Indians and dubbed as a fifth column due to the partition of the motherland)
The TNT was only used to obtain partition, after partition, Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan beome ``Pak`` and Muslims in India therefore by elimination are ``Na-Pak.``
So, a Punjabit Rajput named Chauhan, living in Rawalpindi, is more Pak Muslim than a Rajasthani Rajput named Chauhan, living in Ajmer.
Even more ridiculous is the notion that a Sindhi Muslim named Soomro is more Pak Muslim than a Lucknowi Shia whose ancestors came from Iran.
...and here is the height of absurdity,

Jinnah (or Jinna) who was descended from Gujju Hindu converts to Islam, had more right to a Muslim homeland for Pak Muslims than Abu Kalam Azad.

I am just baffled by the sense of logic used by the Muslim League chauvinists to obtain the Land of the Pure. I think the Aryan theory of the Nazis was almost as sensible.

Salim

Cayenne,
Couldn`t agree more with you.
How are you, my dost?
Salim

What young muslim men need are not stern lectures and dire warnings from caped figures.They need more hugs from their daddies.Bear hugs!!.They need LOVE.They feel unloved and unwanted and burdened by restrictions.They are not being allowed to explore their feminine side.They express their anger through violence against society.They are actually sending a message to their own society by harming others.They are making things worse for their own societies, namely, the muslim world and that is their aim.Not islamic domination.That is the purview of those who manipulate these young men.

Terrorism has no place in islamic India, `cause here we are free to express ourselves individually.An indian muslim family may be religious and follow all tenets of the religion but a muslim dad can take his family out to dinner, for ice cream, to the movies, have friends over(of all faiths), hug his children in public,in short, love and be loved.That`s why you don`t see young indian muslim men involved in self-destructive behaviour.Fundamental Islamic societies need more LOVE.

… after reading points 1,2,3,4,5,6 … I am like … wtf?

… these lines seem to be out of a tqm manual … curse of the 90s … revenge of the blue-collars. Now, if you could add a flow-chart to it, with arrows connecting neat little boxes, and break it down in an easy to follow 7-step routine … it would be a great service to the ummah.

This kind of feel-good stuff is inconsequential, as well as dangerous … it creates moments of blissful peace … as one goes on accumulating baggage of delusional ignorance. Snap out of it dude … such thoughts have haunted the ummah for over a millennium. 90s are over, the economy will be in doldrums for a long time, and the ummah continues to dream of establishing khilafat … what muslim leadership are you talking about here … ???

....... ok, I`ll bite ... how old are you? no ... really ... how old are you ....??? Such cacophony is unforgivable from anyone a day over 25 .............

Interestingly I was thinking about this subject a few days back after reading several perspectives on Muslims in the media(WSJ and NYT). I find it interesting that the article`s heading says, Muslim Leadership vs. Leaders Who Are Muslims.

Re: # 5

I agree too.

Mr. Azar,
A good Muslim leader is one who leaves people alone to worship or not worship as they wish. A good Muslim leader is one who teaches tolerance of other sects, other religions, and other viewpoints. A good Muslim leader is one who really cares for ALL humans and is not prepared, at ANY cost, to sacrifice his people or OTHERS, for his/her own advancement.
Thanks,
Salim.

You say ``...A good Muslim leader can be simply defined as someone who has the ability to embrace the changing world of Islam,...`` Really?

A good Muslim leader should embrace the changed or changing world not just changing Muslim world, dear man!

``... Every Muslim leader already knows the precise path expected of him by Allah and the Ummah....``
I really like to know what this path is. Care to explain a bit more? Is it anything some thing so different than one that is preached and practised elsewhere by the faithful of other religions for instanc ?

I hereby nominate a certain ``Zafar Anjum`, nationality yet undeterminable, but possessing an islamic name, to be the Grand Ayatollah of Moderate Muslims everywhere, based on the sagacity and truthfulness exhibited by him in his essay on this site, on another board on the state of muslims in India and the state itself, based as he is in Singapore, the very bastion of multicultaralism and free enterprise.Hip Hip Hurrah!!!

Dear Azar,

``But, as Marshal Goldsmith (a famous author) once said, “For most leaders, the great challenge is not understanding the practice of leadership. It is practicing their understanding of leadership.”

Indeed we can draw a lot of insightful lessons from Marshall Goldsmith. The example here in the UK of an excellent Muslim leader is Yusuf Islam formerly AKA Cat Stevens.

Muslims the world over must envision and focus on a positive future, not a failed past as many of them are endemically prone to. Humility steepening the learning curve and modesty will allow an Islamic basketball of success to go through the hoops of life. Not an Imran Khan genre of faux-modesty. Life provides no titanium bullets yet Muslim leaders through the instrument of Qiyas ( community consensus) can cross many bridges.

It is often more productive to help people be “right,” than prove they were “wrong.” Azar Negative feedback unfortunately is what society thrives on. An often fatal exercise in “let me prove you were wrong” grapples the tentacles of our society. This tends to produce defensiveness on the part of the receiver and discomfort on the part of the sender. Islamic defensiveness is what triggers an apologetic premise.

Even ``constructively`` delivered feedback is often seen as negative as it necessarily involves a discussion of mistakes, shortfalls, and problems. Islamic leaders need to coalesce such feedback from community-based multi-faith campaigns.

Azar:

-Muslim leaders need to filter-out scathing moralisations and negative judgment on others.
-Their constructive feedback is supposed to “focus on the performance, not the person”.

-A Successful Islamic sense of identity needs to be better alligned with our work.

-Muslim community leaders must avoid ``personal stereotyping`` and negative self-fulfilling prophecies. Our Muslim leaders, Ulema, Maulvis must lose their near-photographic memory of our previous “sins” and avoid scathing diatribes.

-Islamic community leaders need to undergo rigorous social appraisals in the form of referenda a la Californian style.

-The Ulema and its stake-holders should adress its community as “fellow travelers on the journey of life” rather than patronising “experts”.

-Excellent team building community exercises are the way forward. Not rhetorical monologues but pluralistic dialogues.

-Quality communication in Mosques is the glue that will hold future Islamic generations together rather than preaching and sermonizing. Followers and non-believers alike will be more receptive to its content.

I, for example, am often condemned for drinking alcohol as a Muslim but as long as I do not intentionally hurt anyone moral slander should not be muddied on me.

Azar

Faith is an internalised process

Not a political exhortation.

Absolutely out of sync!!