Leadership Lessons for Contemporary Managers from Early Islamic Literature

Islamic literature contains much evidence of the leadership skills of the Prophets of Allāh (pbut) through the ages. Varying situations, environments and cultures to which these Prophets were exposed seemingly parallel seamlessly with the adoption of the most appropriate techniques and styles of leadership needed by them in order to best manage the given situations they were presented with. Prophets such as Nūh, Yūsuf, Mūsa and Muhammad (pbut) thus demonstrated the importance of having the correct management and leadership trait in any situation. In contemporary society, demands on organizations are equally broad leading to the need for the adoption of leadership styles tailored to a similar breadth of situations. Thus, there is a need for researchers to examine various styles and techniques of leadership employed by the Prophets and look at possibilities of transfer of knowledge and skills into the modern world. This research focuses on the qualities required by leaders, how these qualities are articulated and dealt with in Islamic literature and the reasons why certain qualities have been endowed upon certain Prophets. The paper examines a variety of key leadership qualities evident from the Prophets as articulated in the Islamic tradition and draws lessons for leaders in contemporary society.