FINAL

From:
Faheem Usmani Qasmi
English teacher in Markazul Ma’arif
Education and Research Cnetre, Mumabi
And columnist in Eastern Crescent, Mumbai
Faheemusmani9@gmail.com
Wed, 10 July 2019

Good Leadership is Must for Solution of the Problems of Muslims

By Mufti Muhammad Faheem Usmani Qasmi

(The article is a translation of a piece in Urdu by Maulana Muddassir Qasmi).

A community or a nation, no doubt, cannot turn out well if it lacks talented and
effective leaders. A community not only stays behind in success but also falls into
the pool of backwardness and remains undeveloped when it is deprived of well
qualified and sincere leaders. The malaise of a community that does not possess
good quality of leadership is that, it being unaware of the speed of contemporary
time, it considers its own pocket-size world everything and collectively
demonstrates pushed into an impasse.

Such people neither think to come out of their carapace nor do they recognize the
need to engaging in the transformation of their world. As a result the fast-paced
changes over a course of time leaves a question mark on their existence.

Let me share a personal experience of mine that would be of assistance to

understand the point mentioned above. I was on the way back to home from the
market at the time of evening so all of a sudden I happened to see a Muslim
rickshaw-driver, sitting on the back seat of rickshaw, educating his son who
seemed to be 12 years of his age how to drive the rickshaw.

I then saw the son, having followed his father’s instructions, succeeded in taking
the rickshaw further down the road. The happiness of the father, on that occasion,
is beyond words as he expressed it through his endearing words to his towards his
son expressing his appreciation for the young one’s alacrity in learning.

He was seeing his son’s bright future as a rickshaw-driver and a breadwinner in

times to come.

This snapshot of a father-and-son story explicates how Muslims in India are doing
enough to create a new and powerful Muslim leadership. There are untold numbers
of such laborers who even cannot think of a better future of their children than a
they were-- laborers..

If we ponder deeply on this critical situation, we will come to the clear conclusion
that there is a complete absence of such leaders who can guide the laborers towards
higher stations in life. The basic factor for this condition is that, leaders who could
acquaint them with a challenging way to lead their lives, are so limited in their
self-absorption that they do not share their recourses for anyone else. They do not
guide the younger generation through formal and informal teaching to take up the
challenges of the future.

With the hovering of such depressing conditions, how can Muslims realize their
dream of progression and success on an extensive scale or the national level?

If we think about the solution of life’s problems we find a complete guidance

exemplified through the life of Allah’s messenger (saws). However, the condition
of Muslims in the Arab world at that time was hand-to-mouth compared to the
Muslims of today. Religious, social, financial, political and educational conditions
were in the lowest form.

In such circumstances, the prophet Muhammad (saws) set an example to transform

the Arabs into an exemplary force to contend with, through his unparalleled
teaching for all of life multifarious problems that people face at all times.. He was
remarkably successful in training and forming a host of tried-and-tested followers
comprising nearly 100,000 as his companions.

They later made a positive and impact on the entire world, not through merely
physical valour, but through the force of character and the excellent qualities that
they imbibed through the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (saws).
Describing the same exemplary leadership quality of the prophet Muhammad
(saws) Mrs. Annie Besant, a British socialist, theosophist, writes in “The Life and
Teaching of Muhammad”: “Look at Arabia, Arabia where there is a fierce and
cruel idolatry that even offers up human beings in sacrifice to idols, and where the
worshippers feast on the bodies of the dead; where lust has taken the place of
human love, and utter licentiousness the place of family life; where bitter and
bloody wars break out on the slightest provocation; where kinsman slays kinsman
and life is almost too foul for words. Into that seething hell of human passion,
murder, lust and cruelty a child is born.” She also wrote “Let us remember how he
was loved in the place where he lived. Little children would run to him and cling to
his knees. His neighbours called him Al-Amin.”

Pandit Gopal Krishna, editor of Bharat Samachar, gave the title of Maha Purush
(great man) to the prophet (saws). He wrote about him “when we think of the life
of the prophet Muhammad (saws) we come to know that he was sent down by his
Lord to reform the world. He possessed such power as a great reformer possesses
On one hand he was a great conqueror for Arabs but on the other hand he was quite
mercy for the vanquished nations. A beautiful aspect of his teachings is that made
no distinction between rich and poor in their living styles”.

These quotes of non-Muslim authors present a clear picture of the quality of the
leadership of the prophet (saws). Also it tells us that he did not allow his people to
remain in the same situation or wait for mercy from any mysterious power, but
rather he made a complete revolution in their lives through his tireless efforts.

Now, it is desperate need of the time that Muslim leaders and responsible figures,
adopt the way of prophet (saws). They must stand up by any means to bring the
suffering Indian Muslims out of the whirlpool of tribulations and problems.
Furthermore, they should consider the fact that strong moral leadership is a must to
gain all-round progress at every stage. This is because common people are always
in need of leadership for every difficulty whether it pertains to a particular locality,
country or the world, or whether it belongs to religion, education, society or
politics.
Remember! Indian Muslims’ problem is not only about their poor and ineffective
performance in politics but also their backwardness in education and scarcity of
financial recourses

So it is high time to ensure a comprehensive strategy for both the short and long
term to overcome all weaknesses and drawbacks rather than to cry only for one
problem to be solved.

These few lines are enough to prove that an effective leadership is the need of the
time to allow Muslims come out of their plight. Toward this goal, our elders must
come forward to broaden their circle of work as well include the educated younger
generations , gearing them up to face the challenges without waiting for any
invitation and try their level best. If we build the quality of our moral leadership in
this way we can, in the fullness of hope, Insha’Allah, bring about a clear
transformation in our lives.