|
Mothers should be Leaders :
June 2010
"Truly, in the Messsenger of Allah, you have an excellent example" (Qur’aan 33:21)
Prophet Muhammad (saw) was the best example of a leader, because it was with the divine guidance of Allah (SWT) that he became the supreme leader of the human race. Prophet Muhammad (saw) was not only a leader to His people and people of many nations; he was a leader to his wives and children. It is indeed a natural occurrence that we look to our fathers for strength, leadership and wisdom. Moms are there for nurturing, understanding, love, sympathy, thoughtfulness, compassion and kindness. Allah (SWT) gave each gender a diverse set of qualities and responsibilities, each formulated to create the perfect balance. Allah (SWT) again shows us His plans always encompass fairness and equity for humankind. In all parts of our lives, Islam teaches us to be fair and equitable. As a leader, whether to our children, our co-workers, our sisters in Islam or sisters in humanity, there are certain qualities that we must possess or strive for in leadership and management roles. We must possess knowledge, ability, genuineness, understanding, personality, honesty, modesty, fairness, good judgment, exemplariness (walking examples), responsibility, organization, dependability, teamwork and sacrifice. With this in mind, we are all leaders one way or the other, since most of us possess many of these qualities. We do not necessarily have to be in a management or supervisory position, to be leaders.
Our role as mothers encompasses many challenges, tests and responsibilities, which requires us to be good leaders. Let us, use the example of the set of ducks we see crossing the street? The mother duck is up front and all the other little ducklings are behind, following the mother. The mother duck is taking her best precautions to make sure she is taking them to a safe place to eat and rest (and whatever else ducklings do). She is their leader and they have all placed their trust in her to lead them right. When we make the effort to lead our children to doing right and back it up with our good actions, we not only set examples for them, but also for their circle of friends. We know that young children and young adults formulate their opinion of people very quickly. The criteria they use are based on the person’s actions, behavior, verbal manners, and also the level of piety they sense from this person.
If they hold a negative opinion of someone, obviously, our duty is to correct and explain to them they should not criticize or backbite anyone. It is up to us to make the concerted effort to guide them, lead them, and show them how to be good children and better adults. This we can do, by learning more about the life and conduct of the greatest leader to walk this earth, Prophet Muhammad (saw). We also need to implement his teachings into our lives and teach it to our children, who will in turn (Insha Allah) teach it to their children and others. It is said, “A child lives what he/she sees". If he/she sees us praying, they too will pray, if they see us helping others, they too will help others, if they see us reading Quran, they too will read the Quran, if they see us conducting ourselves with modesty and humility, they too will live humbly and modestly, if they see us striving to create a loving, kind, caring, compassionate family, they too will do the same (Insha Allah). These positive qualities will be imbedded in their memory and will be the moral fiber of their character (Insha Allah). So as a reminder to you and myself, let us be living examples to our children and youths by upholding the core values (Allah has blessed and guided us with):
*Honesty ….."You who believe, heed God and stand by those who are truthful" (Quran 9:119)
*Fairness….."whenever you judge between two people, you should do so with fairness" (Tirmidhi)
*Knowledge….When a person follows the path to gaining knowledge, Allah will make it easy for him to enter Paradise (Muslim)
*Modesty…"be modest in the way you walk and lower your voice, the ugliest sound is a donkey’s braying (Quran 31:19)
*Exemplary behavior…. “There is nothing which weighs heavier in the balance than good character" (Ahmad)
Remember these are some of the qualities we need to convey to our “little ducklings" and the only way to do so is to live it. May we always make the right choice to follow Allah’s (SWT) guidance to do good and forbid evil.
Sis. Sylmarie
Mustapha / Coral Spring, Florida U.S.A / June 2010
|
|
