{"id":108248,"date":"2026-09-14T08:18:38","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T06:18:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=108248"},"modified":"2026-09-14T08:18:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T06:18:38","slug":"leadership-power-or-amanah-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/leadership-power-or-amanah-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership \u2014 Power or Amanah – Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Power Becomes an Amanah<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leadership, Justice & the Islamic Way<\/strong><\/p>\n

Leadership \u2014 Power or Amanah?<\/strong><\/p>\n

On 15 September, the world observes the International Day of Democracy \u2014 a day that encourages us to reflect on participation, leadership, representation and the way societies are governed.<\/p>\n

As an Islamic radio station, this gives us an opportunity to look beyond political systems and ask a deeper question:<\/p>\n

What does Islam teach us about leadership, justice, consultation and our responsibility towards society?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When we hear the word leadership<\/em>, what comes to mind? Power? Authority? Influence? A position of importance? Perhaps the ability to make decisions and have others follow them?<\/p>\n

But Islam asks us to look at leadership differently.<\/p>\n

In Islam, leadership is not simply about having power over people. It is an amanah<\/strong> \u2014 a trust and responsibility.<\/p>\n

And that changes the entire way we understand what it means to lead.<\/p>\n

A person may have a title, a position or tremendous authority, but that does not automatically make them a good leader. The real question is: What do they do with the responsibility they have been given?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allah says in the Qur’an:<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, Allah commands you to render trusts to whom they are due and, when you judge between people, to judge with justice.\u201d<\/strong> (Surah An-Nisa, 4:58)<\/em><\/p>\n

Notice how the Qur’an connects trust and justice<\/strong>. Leadership is a trust, and those entrusted with responsibility are expected to deal with people fairly.<\/p>\n

This principle was beautifully demonstrated by Muhammad \ufdfa.<\/p>\n

He \ufdfa was undoubtedly a leader. He \ufdfa led a community, made decisions, settled disputes, commanded an army and dealt with matters affecting the entire society. Yet his leadership was never about elevating himself above people.<\/p>\n

He \ufdfa served.<\/p>\n

He \ufdfa listened.<\/p>\n

He \ufdfa consulted.<\/p>\n

He \ufdfa cared.<\/p>\n

And perhaps most importantly, he \ufdfa understood that authority came with accountability.<\/p>\n

There is a famous statement attributed to the second Caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab \u0631\u0636\u064a \u0627\u0644\u0644\u0647 \u0639\u0646\u0647, which captures this mentality: \u201cIf a mule were to stumble in Iraq, I would fear that Allah would ask me why I did not pave the road for it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether leading a country, an organisation, a community, a classroom or even a family, the Islamic understanding remains powerful: the greater the responsibility, the greater the accountability.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This also gives us something important to think about in today’s world.<\/p>\n

We often judge leaders by how powerful they appear. We admire confidence, authority and the ability to command. But Islam encourages us to look deeper.<\/p>\n

Is the leader honest?<\/p>\n

Are they just?<\/p>\n

Do they listen?<\/p>\n

Do they protect the rights of those who have less power?<\/p>\n

Do they accept advice and correction?<\/p>\n

Do they use their position to serve people, or do they expect people to serve them?<\/p>\n

Because leadership is not ultimately measured by how many people obey you. It is measured by how responsibly you treat the people entrusted to you.<\/p>\n

And this applies to all of us.<\/p>\n

You don’t need to be a president, politician or community leader to be a leader. A parent leads a family. A teacher leads students. A manager leads employees. An older sibling may lead younger siblings. Even among friends, people can have influence.<\/p>\n

Every position of influence carries responsibility.<\/p>\n

The Prophet \ufdfa taught that every person is a shepherd and every person is responsible for their flock<\/strong>. In other words, leadership is not reserved for those at the top. Each of us will have areas in which we are responsible for others.<\/p>\n

Because in the Islamic worldview, power without responsibility is dangerous, authority without justice is destructive, and leadership without accountability can become a test that a person fails.<\/p>\n

True leadership is when power becomes an amanah.<\/p>\n

And perhaps that is one of the greatest lessons Islam can offer our world today: don’t seek leadership because you want to be above people. Accept responsibility because you are prepared to serve them.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Power Becomes an Amanah Leadership, Justice & the Islamic Way Leadership \u2014 Power or Amanah? On 15 September, the world observes the International Day of Democracy \u2014 a day that encourages us to reflect on participation, leadership, representation and the way societies are governed. As an Islamic radio station, this gives us an opportunity […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[43],"tags":[5476],"class_list":["post-108248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-special-feature","tag-special-feature"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-s9W","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-21 11:11:01","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-1.jpg?fit=399%2C501&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108250,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108248\/revisions\/108250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}