Political: 3 Essential Qualities for a leader of a Muslim Community

Professor Syed Mohammad Naquib Al-Attas excellently lists the below mentioned as three essential qualities for any leader of any Muslim community in his book "the concept of education in islam- a framework for an Islamic philosophy of education"

- High Moral standards
- High Intellectual standards
- High Spiritual standards

In the traditional Muslim societies, there was more social mechanisms to ensure individuals who rise up to become leaders had such high standards. A chief mechanism was the social recognition of individuals who possessed such standards and giving them importance and due high regard and emphasis. In today's Muslim societies where selfishness is rife, everyone is downplayed in accordance to the rhetoric of "i am better than thee".

In traditional Muslim societies another chief mechanism that maintained those above high standards was the constant development of necessary educational institutional and physical infrastructure. Today Muslim communities never go beyond aiming for quran recitation classes and some additional classes and in some countries its commonly held in makeshift locations that double up as masjids. Unless Muslim communities put in place the necessary educational processes which involve masjids, madrasahs, curriculums, teachers etc, the current educational systems will never be able to produce such standards in individuals for leaders to rise from them with such standards.

In traditional Muslim societies, when there were individuals who somehow lacked these standards and yet became leaders, there was a consciousness and awareness that such leaders were lacking these standards. In contradiction, Muslim communities either close a blind eye if they are aware or they ignorantly subscribe to the propaganda and marketing campaigns of today's unscrupulous leaders to not even realize that their leaders lack these basic standards. Muslim communities are too distracted by the pressures and pleasures of dunia such that they either isolate themselves or dissolve themselves away from true integration. Hence this allows neither for an effective environment for individuals to be groomed to possess such qualities nor leaders to outgrow from masses with such qualities.