Here’s the story of a great leader. Pay attention to his response to a complicated situation. One of the hallmarks of great leadership is to be able to deconstruct complexity into its basic components. Before we go to the story, however, let’s recap what we’ve discussed so far.
In the last article I mentioned that if we want a decent life in our nation, we should choose leaders who establish justice.
The question now is what is the practical way for the leader to enact justice?
The previous piece mentioned that it can be done by equalizing opportunities for the people. But we can go deeper. In today’s treatment of the subject, therefore, we will take the remaining two topics which make the duty of a leader clearer:
A simple way to handle reward and punishment
Two expectations of a leader – this removes the confusion about the functions of leadership
Now the story:
Dhul-Qarnayn came upon a people. Then he was told, “O Dhul-Qarnayn, either you punish [them] or else adopt among them [a way of] goodness.”
If you were the leader in this situation what would you do? Of course, you would fret and start thinking of what kind of offence they committed to merit punishment and what kind of punishment they deserve, etc. Similarly, you would consider many questions on the option of guiding them to the straight path.
But Dhul-Qarnayn drew a line. And in adopting “among them [a way of] goodness” he went back to the first principles.
Here’s what he said, and I dare say that it’s one of the greatest inauguration speeches ever recorded: “As for one who wrongs, we will punish him. Then he will be returned to his Lord, and He will punish him with a terrible punishment.
“But as for one who believes and does righteousness, he will have a reward of Paradise, and we will speak to him from our command with ease.”
From these words in Suratul Kahf (check from verse 83) we can extract two lessons for the leader which make their work lighter.
One, an unrepentant criminal has double punishment – he will be punished in this world and the hereafter.
So when a criminal commits a crime, it’s the responsibility of the leader to punish him.
While he may be punished in the hereafter, it is irresponsible leadership to say “God dey” or Allah Ya isa“ the way some of our leaders do in Arewa.
Because if the leader doesn’t enforce the punishment, other crackpots would copy them and the society can degenerate into chaos – making justice difficult to administer.
(For a deep dive on that topic, read my article on the Broken Windows theory titled “Can this theory explain Nigeria’s indiscipline?”)
The reason why Nigerians resort to jungle justice is that most of the time, they have no hope of getting justice from the institutions responsible for the enforcement and dispensation of justice.
The second lesson is that the obligation of the leader toward those who do good is to respect and honour them. Because their actual reward is with Allah.
It’s my opinion that if you were to give material rewards for every doer of good deeds, the society would be hemmed-in with hypocrites and lazy people. Because they would do good for the reward but once the reward is withdrawn morality would regress to zero.
Look at it this way, it would sound strange for a citizen to stand before a leader requesting a reward because: “I’m honest, a good neighbour, a great parent and because I give generously in charity.”
Anyone who is crazy enough to present such a request, the leader would be right to say “go to God for your reward.” What the person deserves from the leader are respect and kindness.
The third lesson here is for all of us – not only the leaders. When confronted with a huge challenge, it’s best to go back to the basic principles. In the case of Dhul-Qarnayn, it appears that before responding, he considered the fundamental question: “What is the purpose of life?”
Lastly:
TWO THINGS REQUIRED OF A LEADER
The third and final question on this topic is the “two expectations from a leader which removes the confusion about the functions of leadership.”
For that answer, we turned to Umar, the second caliph for his usual insights. And it is the best definition of leadership that I’ve ever read.
Umar said:
“Leadership is firmness in which there’s no injustice, and kindness in which there’s no weakness [i.e. you’re not taken advantage of.]”
That is all!
We need leaders who are not only strong but also merciful.
Even the Qur’an supports this definition and Professor Maqary drew our attention to it recently in a video clip. Al-Qasas verse 26 says “Indeed, the best one you can hire is the strong and the trustworthy.”
Dhul-Qarnayn was this kind of a leader. Umar himself was a strong and kind leader.
Therefore, an individual who is not strong, even if competent, should not be given leadership.
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