The Shepherd's Way: Ep. 3 - A Leader Loved, Is Leader Followed (2022-07-02) #

0:00:14 and sisters and friends
0:00:16 and welcome to the third episode
0:00:19 of our hija series the shepherd's way
0:00:23 now the third timeless leadership lesson
0:00:26 brothers and sisters is
0:00:27 a leader loved is a leader followed
0:00:31 the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
0:00:34 said
0:00:35 the best of your leaders are those whom
0:00:37 you love
0:00:38 and who love you
0:00:40 and who invoke allah's blessings upon
0:00:42 you and you invoke his blessings upon
0:00:45 them and this is an authentic hadith
0:00:48 narrated by muslim
0:00:51 now
0:00:52 given that's a reality
0:00:54 we should ask ourselves the following
0:00:56 question
0:00:57 how do we become leaders
0:01:01 that are loved
0:01:03 there are three things that we have to
0:01:05 internalize adopt and actualize
0:01:08 number one
0:01:10 we need to be empathic number two we
0:01:13 need to be compassionate and committed
0:01:15 to people's well-being
0:01:17 number three
0:01:18 we need to consult people in our affairs
0:01:21 so what does it mean to be empathic
0:01:23 brothers and sisters it means we have to
0:01:25 seek people's context we have to
0:01:28 imaginatively
0:01:29 feel what they feel
0:01:31 this is extremely important when it
0:01:34 comes to engaging with team members or
0:01:37 other human beings
0:01:39 because it allows us
0:01:41 to be in the right space to be able to
0:01:43 connect with people
0:01:45 because we're seeking the context and we
0:01:48 are imaginatively trying to fill what
0:01:49 they're feeling in other words we are
0:01:51 taking our shoes off putting on their
0:01:53 shoes
0:01:54 and walking a few steps
0:01:57 and the reason this is very important
0:01:58 because once you understand people's
0:02:00 context once you understand people's
0:02:02 feelings
0:02:03 once you understand people's
0:02:05 intellectual social spiritual and
0:02:09 emotional context the way you relate to
0:02:11 them will be
0:02:12 profound because you'll be relating to
0:02:14 who they are
0:02:16 as they are
0:02:17 and you won't be relating to
0:02:19 your own judgments
0:02:21 of who they are this is extremely
0:02:23 important with regards to developing
0:02:25 empathy and establishing profound
0:02:28 relationships brothers and sisters so
0:02:29 what does it mean to be compassionate
0:02:31 and committed to people's well-being
0:02:34 well brothers and sisters the prophet
0:02:35 sallallahu alaihi wasallam said
0:02:42 you won't truly believe unless you love
0:02:44 for your brother what you love for
0:02:45 yourself and this hadith is in the
0:02:47 famous collection
0:02:49 of the 40 a hadith of anawi the arabin
0:02:53 of annababi and and never we comments on
0:02:55 this hadith and he says that this
0:02:57 basically means that you want goodness
0:02:59 and guidance for your brother and for
0:03:01 your brother in humanity interestingly
0:03:04 this is reflected in another hadith that
0:03:06 is narrated by bukhari and you could
0:03:08 find it in
0:03:10 where the prophet sallallahu alaihi
0:03:11 wasallam said
0:03:12 love for the people love for humanity we
0:03:16 love for yourself and the arabic is
0:03:19 it's not
0:03:20 like the other hadith it is
0:03:22 for the people for humanity
0:03:25 so the prophet sallallahu alaihi
0:03:27 wasallam is basically telling us that we
0:03:28 must love for others what we love for
0:03:30 ourselves and in the context of the
0:03:32 classical understanding in other words
0:03:35 the understanding of anawi and also the
0:03:37 scholar ibin
0:03:40 they basically said that we must be
0:03:42 committed to the well-being of other
0:03:43 people in other words we want goodness
0:03:45 for people and guidance for people
0:03:48 this is extremely important brothers and
0:03:50 sisters
0:03:51 we must ooze this
0:03:53 it must manifest in our way of being
0:03:55 that we are sincere
0:03:58 in our commitment to the well-being of
0:04:00 the people that we're leading that we
0:04:02 want true goodness for them and true
0:04:04 guidance for them and from this
0:04:06 perspective we could also develop a
0:04:08 principle which is an islamic principle
0:04:11 in actual fact it's a
0:04:13 moral principle in islam which is
0:04:15 it is better to er in mercy
0:04:19 than it is to er in harshness the
0:04:21 default position should be mercy
0:04:23 and the thing that you fall back on all
0:04:26 the time is the merciful and
0:04:28 compassionate approach
0:04:30 so what does it mean to consult brothers
0:04:32 and sisters
0:04:33 there's a beautiful verse in the quran
0:04:35 in chapter 3 verse 159
0:04:38 that summarizes the compassionate and
0:04:40 soft-hearted nature of the prophet
0:04:42 sallallahu alaihi wasallam but also his
0:04:45 leadership style with regards to
0:04:47 consultation
0:04:49 allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says it is out
0:04:52 of allah's mercy that you o prophet
0:04:55 have been lenient with them had you been
0:04:57 cruel or hard-hearted they would have
0:05:00 certainly abandoned you so pardon them
0:05:03 ask allah's forgiveness for them and
0:05:05 consult with them in conducting matters
0:05:08 once you make a decision put your trust
0:05:10 in allah surely allah loves those who
0:05:14 trust in him
0:05:15 this is
0:05:16 an extremely beautiful verse especially
0:05:19 if you understand the context because
0:05:21 the context of this verse
0:05:23 is in the context of the aftermath of
0:05:26 the battle of ahud what was the battle
0:05:28 of uhud brothers and sisters the battle
0:05:31 of ahud was a perceived loss
0:05:35 because of a tragic mistake of some of
0:05:38 the companions that they didn't listen
0:05:40 to the prophet sallallahu alaihi who
0:05:42 would send them properly
0:05:44 and this is not any old mistake it's not
0:05:47 coming to work late or not fulfilling
0:05:49 this month's targets it was a tragic
0:05:52 mistake that led to the injury of the
0:05:54 prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and
0:05:57 also the death of hamza
0:06:00 his beloved uncle
0:06:03 and oversee
0:06:04 to the death of sahaba
0:06:08 and in this context the prophet
0:06:11 sallallahu alaihi wasallam
0:06:14 was soft and kind to those who made that
0:06:18 tragic mistake
0:06:20 look at the compassion of the prophet
0:06:22 salallahu alaihi wasallam how many
0:06:25 leaders
0:06:26 tell off their followers or their people
0:06:29 when they don't fulfill certain targets
0:06:32 but what happened at the battle of uhud
0:06:34 is far worse
0:06:36 and look at the soft-hearted nature of
0:06:38 our beloved prophet sallallahu alaihi he
0:06:40 will send them
0:06:41 not only that
0:06:42 allah tells him to forgive them
0:06:46 and allah tells the prophet sallallahu
0:06:48 alaihi wasallam
0:06:50 to ask allah for their forgiveness
0:06:54 not only that
0:06:55 allah tells the prophet sallallahu
0:06:57 alaihi wasallam
0:06:59 to consult them
0:07:02 in his affairs
0:07:04 think about how important consultation
0:07:07 is
0:07:07 to the degree that allah advises the
0:07:10 prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam to
0:07:13 consult
0:07:14 the sahaba in his affairs even though
0:07:17 there was a tragic mistake
0:07:20 which shows the importance of
0:07:21 consultation in empowering
0:07:25 your followers
0:07:28 so brothers and sisters consultation is
0:07:31 so significant
0:07:33 the reason consultation is significant
0:07:35 is because
0:07:36 from our perspective obviously the
0:07:38 prophet salallahu had divine guidance
0:07:41 but from our perspective
0:07:43 we don't have knowledge of everything we
0:07:46 have blind spots
0:07:48 from our perspective brothers and
0:07:49 sisters we need experts or we need other
0:07:52 people's perspectives so they could give
0:07:54 us different ways of seeing the same
0:07:56 thing in order for us to have a complete
0:07:59 picture or to be able to make the right
0:08:01 decisions
0:08:02 and consultation is so important that
0:08:05 it's throughout our tradition brothers
0:08:07 and sisters
0:08:08 for example in a hadith narrated by
0:08:10 tiramidi the prophet
0:08:12 salallahu said one who is consulted is
0:08:16 in a position of trust and the
0:08:17 importance of consultation brothers and
0:08:19 sisters is further mentioned in the
0:08:21 quran in chapter 42 verse 38
0:08:25 when allah says
0:08:26 who respond to the lord establish prayer
0:08:30 conduct their affairs by mutual
0:08:32 consultation and donate from what we
0:08:35 have provided them and this is in the
0:08:37 context of
0:08:39 allah saying that what is with the light
0:08:41 is far better because in the previous
0:08:43 verse not verse 37 but verse 36 allah
0:08:46 says but what is with allah is far
0:08:49 better and more lasting for those who
0:08:51 believe and put their trust in their
0:08:53 lord so if you want this long-lasting
0:08:55 reward if you believe and put your trust
0:08:58 in your lord then as verse 38 says
0:09:02 conduct the affairs by mutual
0:09:04 consultation in other words you need to
0:09:06 engage in consultation
0:09:08 so brothers and sisters if you want to
0:09:10 be a leader that is loved then you need
0:09:12 to be empathic
0:09:14 be compassionate and committed to
0:09:15 people's well-being and consult them in
0:09:19 your affairs in the affairs of the team
0:09:21 of the group or the organization
0:09:24 so this is the end of episode three
0:09:26 brothers and sisters but just to remind
0:09:28 you again
0:09:29 we are experiencing the blessed days of
0:09:31 dulhija and as you know we've said this
0:09:33 before that the deeds performed in these
0:09:36 blessed days are more rewardable than
0:09:39 deeds performed during the days of
0:09:41 ramadan so brothers and sisters we ask
0:09:44 you to support sapience institute this
0:09:48 organization that sees a world where
0:09:51 everybody receives the message of islam
0:09:54 and the way we want to achieve that is
0:09:56 by
0:09:57 focusing on people developing and
0:09:59 empowering them to be able to share
0:10:01 islam academically and intellectually if
0:10:05 you're touched moved and inspired by
0:10:08 this vision and strategy then please
0:10:10 donate now go to the button or the link
0:10:14 below
0:10:15 and donate a generous donation brothers
0:10:18 and sisters assalamu alaikum
0:10:19 warahmatullahi