Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) as the Most Effective and Successful Leader in Human History

Effective leadership qualities are a sort of art that we can see in charismatic leaders in the history and modern socio-political world. Technology leaders like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Linus Torvalds, Mark Zuckerberg are already proven to the world to be effective in leadership. Similarly, political leaders like Nelson Mandela, Mohandas Gandhi, Alexander the Great, Dalai Lama, Queen Victoria, Saladin, King Richard, Abraham Lincoln, Lenin, Adolf Hitler and so on, are placed in history books for their extraordinary leadership skills. But, when I’m going to pick the most effective and successful leader in human history, I will pick Islamic Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) on top of everyone else. Hart (1978) supported the argument many years back and declared him as the most effective, successful, and influential leader in human history. Any prophet like Jesus, Moses, Noah, Abraham (peace be upon them) is unquestionable the best human being on the earth with their God-gifted natural leadership quality. However, among them, Muhammad (ﷺ*) proved to be most successful with the effectiveness of modern leadership quality. We are discussing here only the qualities mentioned by Ulrich (2019) which he articulated as Leadership Code made up of The Five Rules of Leadership.

Shape the Future.

           As a leader Muhammad (ﷺ) took the charge of the entire Arabic Peninsula and shaped their future as an established nation. Before him, Arabs were tribal in nature having no defined central leader or government structure. Muhammad (ﷺ) not only lead the nation under a state leadership but also set the direction to stretch “all the way from Spain to Central Asia and northwestern India” (Cook, 2006). As Cook explained, he was at the right time to unite Arabs under one command body and have their own monotheistic religion. Otherwise, they might be converted to other monotheistic religions very soon and would have lost their own identity.

Make Things Happen.

           Muhammad (ﷺ) got the prophethood in his early 40s and continue leading the nation 23 years more, till the death. In these 23 years, he led his team from the front and did numerous actions to make things happen. One such example is the “Al-Hudaibiyah treaty”. Normally he takes the decision after taking some discussions with his companions. But in the case of the Al-Hudaibiyah treaty, he took the sole decision to sign the treaty with the Quraish tribe (no doubt, almighty Allah was always guiding him). None of his companions was in favor of the treaty, because almost all of the treaty points were against Muslims. But in the Holy Quran, it was discussed as ‘clear win’ (48 Surah Al-Fath: Verse 1)which was apparently not clear during the treaty time to his companions. After a couple of years, in 630AD, when Muslims conquered Makkah against the Quraish people, everyone clearly recognized the success and the impact of the Al-Hudaibiyah treaty (al-Mubarakpuri, 2002, p. 262). Similarly, in many cases in his life, he took steps to break the barriers and move things forward.

Engage Today’s Talent

           In his political career prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) were “exceptional having discrete talents that were identified and enhanced by him who assigned them responsibilities in the areas of their specific capacities” (Jamil, 2015, p. 32). He used juniors and seniors based on their personal capability, not age – a rare leadership execution at that time. He was not only successful in picking the right talent, but also extremely exceptional to develop talent in untalented. After his death, almost all of his companions became exceptionally valuable persons in society. Their wisdom, ethics and guidance made them most successful for centuries to come. And that was the outcome of the very personal nourishing of prophet Muhammad (ﷺ).

Build the Next Generation.

           Prophet Muhammad’s (ﷺ) the greatest success was building a sustainable next generation of leaders. And those leaders also developed their next generation and continued for centuries. As long as they focused on the trend and his teachings, Muslims commanded the world’s economy, education, science, politics, innovation, and so on. We need to remember that, Arab as a nation was not a countable entity to any of the established world political forces during his early life. By his strong leadership quality, we saw a rise of a nation that defeated that time superpower, Rome and Persia and didn't stop until reaching the heart of Europe.

Invest in Yourself.

           In this context, Jamil (2015) shared a good number of leadership-trait of prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). He is a great example of establishing loyalty, truthfulness, reliability, selflessness, ethics, and passion. In his political career, he started just as “al-amin (reliable)” and then developed himself up with anything a great leader can have.

Other Leadership Qualities.

           As a leader, prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) was a complete package. Almost all of the modern leadership traits were visible in him. Of them, Dadach (2019) highlighted a) awareness and farsightedness of matters, b) influencing power, c) embodiment of familiarity and consideration, and d) courage and determination. Similarly, exceptional qualities like conviction, unbiased, sympathy, raised self-esteem, consolidation capability, ethics and principle, long-term planner, etc. were also part of his quality (Jamil, 2015).

Conclusion:

           Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) is one of the finest leader mankind ever produced. He was not only a religious leader, but also an example of a good father, husband, commander, head of the state, thinker, negotiator, and politician. And his style of leadership was universal and can be applied till now – for all races, all genders, all regions, and for all generations. He is the symbol of peace for humanity.

References

al-Mubarakpuri, S. R. (2002). The Sealed Nectar (Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum). Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: Darussalam Publishers & Distributors.

Cook, M. (2006, May 22). How and Why Muhammad Made a Difference. (M. Cromartie, Interviewer) Retrieved from https://www.pewforum.org/2006/05/22/how-and-why-muhammad-made-a-difference/

Dadach, Z. E. (2019, December). Top Leadership Qualities of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Retrieved from Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337824518_Top_Leadership_Qualities_of_the_Holy_Prophet_Muhammad_PBUH

Ulrich, D. (2019, January 24). What Is an Effective Leader? Retrieved from American Management Association: https://www.amanet.org/articles/what-is-an-effective-leader-/

Hart, M. H. (1978). The 100: a ranking of the most influential persons in history. New York: Hart Pub. Co.

Jamil, M. Y. (2015). Islamic Perspective of Leadership: A Role Model for Today’s CEOs. Journal of Islamic Thought and Civilization (Volume 5, Issue II), 24-45.

* Sort form of “صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم” which means “peace be upon him”. A tradition to say after the name Prophet Muhammad.

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