Islamic Management:

Module One:

 Recent field of study to emerge

 Quran and Sunnah are guidance not just to Ibaadah but to all aspects of life
 Study management from an Islamic perspective
 No such thing as secular knowledge in Islam
 Not everything from the West is bad, we need to learn to make a distinction between what is
good and bad from what they teach
 We need to look at business management from both conventional (secular) and Islamic models,
using the Islamic model as the criteria
 Analyzing many case studies
 Some of the best business practices were found in the Sahabah, especially the rule of Umar
 USA only really become a business power during the industrial revolution (1705-1850), the key
to its success was the training of professional managers (people who study management as a
discipline and see which principles should be applied for the sake of growth)
 In studying management, we will study what works in making people more productive
 We need to make sure our business principles are compatible with Islam, and that we have the
right intention when doing it
 “a world waiting to be born” by M. Scott Peck – discusses that there is something very wrong in
how business management is conducted today (business lacking ethics)
 Example of problems in modern business:Advertisement shows a man deceiving his neighbor in
an airplane and fake-befriending him because he sees him as a prospect customer. Standard
business practice but is unislamic for a variety of reasons incl: deception, insincerity, going
behind a person’s back, only doing business with certain class of people
 Business is permissible in Islam, nothing wrong with earning a lot of profit, however it should be
done ethically within Shariah framework
 D&B street (http://www.dnb.com) – give company ratings and information of other companies
 “sounds like a prospect” – Muslims don’t only befriend ‘prospects’, he should never befriend
people based on “what we can get out from them” i.e. networking (networking is good, but
shouldn’t be our primary reason for meeting others) – fall into the trap of seeing people as
prospects
 “buy him a drink” – insincere, only doing it hoping to get something out of him
 Courtesy is good but what is your purpose/intention behind being nice to someone (insincere
courtesy can be seen in backbiting as soon as the person leaves)
 People are taught to be friendly because they want your money. We should be polite at all times
because it is the right thing to do.
 “going to the phone” – deceit, spying
 “new best friend” – again, only friends with people who we can benefit from

Module Two:
  Don’t have to be into business management to benefit from this course
 Difference between leadership and management (these two terms will be used synonymously
during this course)
 Leadership: Concerned with the Big Picture, doing the right thing for the business,
 Management: Concerned with the day-to-day issues and with doing things right
 There is a difference between effectiveness and efficiency (will be discussed later)
 “wisdom should be sought by Muslims wherever they find it,” (IbnMajah)
 “every action is judged by its intentions,” (Saheeh Bukhari) – our actions should be motivated by
desire to please Allah
 Common concept in Western Business: The Ends justifies the Means (Unislamic concept)
 Sahabah never conquered lands for purely worldly gains – example – Story of RabeeIbnAamir
and his discussion with Rustum
 The glory and good that Sahabah got in this world was just a side benefit due to their good
intentions
 Textbook mentions sources of management knowledge; Quran, Sunnah, Example of the Sahaba,
scholars
 In Islamic management, there is no line between secular and religious
 Muslims don’t necessarily do Halal business (don’t be naïve)
 Shouldn’t rationalize Haram to justify it (eg: Muslim airlines serving alcohol because Non-Muslim
customers)
 In conventional management, there is a line between secular and religion (religion doesn’t affect
business). Islam doesn’t agree with this
 Purpose of management: Islam: We were created to worship Allah and that should be reflected
in everything including our business practices. Conventional: Whatever the organizations goals
are
 Our organizations, etc have a common purpose (please Allah), secular businesses don’t
 Nothing wrong in Islam with wanting to make money, its how you earn and spend that money,
that is important and how you view the money (are you a slave to it?)
 Tawakul means to work and then depend on Allah
 Muslims believe in being responsible and accountable to Allah, even regarding our business
 “If you forsake your religion, you lose your religion but if you give up the world you lose both the
world and your religion” – Muslims are not suppose to cut themselves off from the world but to
use it to get closer to Allah and bring people closer to Allah
 Islamic workers should be paid properly
 Our motivation shouldn’t be to makea certain amount of money, but to work hard and be
satisfied with whatever Allah has given us

Module 3:

Why study Islamic Management:

  To create a conscious awareness of Islam’s relevance and solutions to life situations, whether in
the workplace or religious institutes
 IncreaseTaqwa

Islam came to protect five things: Deen, Life, Intellect, Family and Wealth

 If we are not aware of Islam’s core values, we end up compromising our Deen
 Example: In western society, pictures of modules are photo-shopped, to deceive people to buy
things
 The correct use of intellect is to bring one towards the truth
 Selling cigarettes goes against preserving human life!

Literature linked to Islamic management: (West has entire schools dedicated to management)

 A lot of effort has been made is Islamic banking and financial structures, but not as much in
terms of management studies
 Key driving forces in Islamic management: satisfaction and Dissatisfaction (people involved in
Dawah are more satisfied)
 Islam and Management – NaceurJabnoun (a lot of good work is being done in Malaysia)
 Management from the Islamic Perspective – Khaliq Ahmed
 A lot of good effort taking place in Islamic schools to balance Islamic education with other
sciences

Module 4:

 Two professions in professional development:

 1) Coaching –helping people get from point A to Point B – different from mentoring. Mentoring
is long term, Coaching is goal centered (make sure what you coaching or guiding a person
towards is Islamically acceptable)
 2) NLP (Nuero-linghuistic programming) –Programming a person’s mind, (make sure program
people with the right information)
 Shareef (1995) – employees must be educated
 Important to Islamize curriculum for any subject
 Mazhlor’s hierarchy of needs explained – covered in details in Psychology 101 – Islam disagrees
with this
 In our businesses and organizations, we shouldn’t fear that we won’t succeed if we follow
Allah’s guidance. Rather we should have Yaqeen that if we follow Allah’s commands and are
PATIENT then He will be successful
 YOLO – Unislamic principle of getting whatever you can of dunya!
 As Muslims, we need to learn and teach our children delayed gratification
 Lists any books about management and leadership in Islam

Module 5:
  Because something comes from the West, doesn’t mean it is Unislamic and wrong.
 We need to look at ideas from the West and see if they are Halal or Haram in off themselves
before thinking of Islamicizing them

Environment and the corporate culture:

 Culture: A) a certain style, character or way of doing things that determine success and failure
 B) A system of shared values and beliefs that produce norms of behavior (main definition)
 Islamic view: Managers are viewed as vicegerents on earth
 Umar said that it is our misdeeds that cause the natural problems on earth (eg: global warming)
 Muslim managers understand that we have a responsibility to the earth (a lot in common with
environmentalists)
 Muslim managers shouldn’t pollute the earth, we should look after animals, etc
 Umar regarding a camel “To satisfy my desires, I have put this animal in distress,” (such care for
animals)
 Umar had roads built to make travel easy for animals!
 If a person loves and fears Allah, he will treat Allah’s creations well
 The entire earth is considered a Masjid, so we should respect the earth just like we respect
Masjids
 A woman was punished for torturing a cat and forgiven for showing mercy to a dog
 Allah created the earth for us to use, not to misuse

Organizational culture:

 Every organization has its own culture

 It is the founders, leaders and managers (the policy makers) who establish the culture
 Workers can contribute to the culture but don’t have as such effect
 Sometimes what the leaders and employees want are in opposition, still the policy makers have
a bigger influence on the culture and can establish it by force
 Culture can influence the effectiveness of an organization
 One thing that can assist an organization prosper is freedom of expression of ideas by
employees and the policy makers taking these ideas seriously and considering them
 Some people are not open to ideas because they think they were made the manager because
they know everything, this is arrogant and Unislamic and causes a lot of problems for the
organization, as it causes stagnation and suppresses many great ideas
 “Sometimes we are convinced of only what we want”
 It’s not only about our opinion, we need to look at what is best for everyone
 Good example of freedom of expression – FedEx postal system “Absolutely, positively
overnight” – workers are given full freedom to do whatever possible (and legal) to get a package
delivered overnight, example of one their employees fixing a tower overnight (costing the
company $2000) to keep the FedEx promise/motto/culture
 You can have critical thinking and initiative but without freedom, you can’t excel
  Another example: IBM spent $20 million for a new division, a few years later that division was
closed down for running at a loss. The head of that division was brought to the head office and
asked, “I guess you called me in to fire me?” The boss replied, “No, we have $20 million worth of
experience in you so why should we fire you?”
 As Muslims, everything that happens is good for us, either through sabr and learning from our
mistakes, or through success
 Not everything we do will be successful, but it can be a learning experience
 Workers need to be free to make mistakes and learn from them
 When Umar was the Caliph, he asked a man how did Ali rule in his case, and Umar felt their
ruling was wrong but left it as it was, because “they are the experts and that is why I put them
there”
 We should allow our employees to exercise their expertise, even if we disagree
 When working for others, sometimes we should implement Islamic principles at work without
mentioning that it is an Islamic principle/policy, etc (depending on the situation)
 Islam is very strict in how we compete with each other, Islam encourages healthy competition,
not ruthless competition
 Positive environments open the door for progress and becoming competition for others
 Culture can be positive or negative
 One should fit the strategies to our culture or vice versa
 If your strategies contradict your culture, you come across as hypocritical
 Managers develop the strategies, and need to make sure they are in agreement with the culture

Module 6:

 Managers should always be open to correction as we are humans and humans always make
mistakes
 Muslim managers should want to improve so should want to be corrected when wrong
 Example of how Umar accepted correction from a woman in the Masjid – Muslim managers
have Zero Ego!
 Always correct people in the nicest way possible
 A good manager would establish a culture where everybody can be open to correction and free
to correct each other, and information is shared freely
 Management isn’t always from a big boss level, even if you are a team leader or department
head then you still can (and should) apply management principles
 Example of when Abu Bakr become Caliph, “I am not the best among you, so please advise me,”
(freedom of expression)
 Freedom of expression has limits (USA goes to extremes in this by allowing defamation, etc)
 Muslims are always balanced and take the middle course
 Umar allowed people to express their displeasure with him, but NOT about Islam (protecting the
religion)
  Recap: This is an emerging field and there is an increase of Muslim professionals who are
concerned of their accountability to Allah for their behavior and actions (growth in demand for
this type of knowledge), the Muslim manager is aware of his role as a vicegerent on earth
 Two layers of the environment:
 1) general (external) environment relates to the outer layer and doesn’t affect day-to-day
operations (eg: technology, society, socio-cultural aspects, politics, etc)
 Managers don’t normally have impact on these external factors but must be aware of them
 2) Task environment: Inner-layer: relates to those aspects of the environment that the manager
has control and direct influence over, the day-to-day issues
 External issues can impact the task environment but for the most part they are not usually
affected
 Saifudeen (2003) said that the word technology can’t be found in Quran but the concept is
found in the Quran, Technology (a systematic approach to doing things – Greek translation) –
technical definition: creation of tools or technical means for completing taskslike industrial
arts more efficiently and effectively
 Example: the Quran refers to ship building, navigation, metal-armor making
 Muslims should embrace technology, many of the early forms of technology were developed by
Muslims
 Muslim managers should learn to use technology to their advantage
 How we use it will determine whether it is Halal or Haram
 Socio-cultural environment: A Muslim manager should always remember that Allah’s rights
come first, and then he must remember the rights of the employees/employers.
 Major problem in Muslim Communities: Delay of payment to workers (completely Unislamic)
 Fulfilling agreements are very important
 Employees too must fulfill their obligations in agreements and contracts
 Stealing time from your workplace is stealing too
 Google has just a great culture that people WANT to work for them!
 Create a culture in which your employees WANT to come to work!

Module 7:

 The Shaykh googled ‘best companies to work for in Middle East” and didn’t get any results
 Top Ten companies to work for in USA: 1. NetApps 2. Edward Johns 3. Bostantconsulting 4.
Google 5. Wakemans 6. Sisco 7. Genetech 8. Methodist Hospital 9. Goldman Sacks 10. Nigget
Market
 Most of these companies go out of the way to please employees
 Managers should make easy for their workers
 Try to work in a job that you enjoy
 Managers should make sure their employees are placed in correct jobs were they would excel
 Help people do what they do best and are happiest to do, even if it means that they don’t work
for you (love for others what you love for yourself)
 Help people maybe by helping them study, get retrained, gain experience, etc
 Create options for yourself and others
 One of the most depressing things is when people feel that they don’t have any options
 If a person is depressed about lack of options, help them by listing their options and help them
develop a plan to fulfill those options – Care for others
 “People don’t care about how much you know until they see how much you care”
 If employees don’t feel cared for, they will only do the minimum required of them
 Be careful of policies that you make, that they don’t demotivate people
 Don’t implement the broom theory “clean up and clean out” – changing everything because you
are the new manager (MAJOR MISTAKE)
 Before making changes, first check what works and what doesn’t (eg: Umar deciding to collect
the Quran due to change in circumstance)
 Don’t just say I don’t have any options, think what your options are even, even if they are not
nice options
 The Muslim manager should seek as much knowledge as possible of the creation of Allah and
how it can be used for benefit of humanity
 Economic rules: interest is forbidden, as is fraud, deceit, oppression, etc
 Hoarding is also prohibited (major problem in the world today, USA pays farms not to produce
fruit!)
 Wastage is also prohibited (another major problems these days, especially in workplaces, eg:
wasting paper)
 Why do we print thousands of flyers/handouts, etc just for it to be thrown away within 30
minutes
 Ignorance of laws and regulations does not free us from responsibility
 Inner environment should create loyalty of employees (the prophet had strong loyalty from his
Sahabah because of his concern for them) Caring for people creates loyalty!
 Visit your workers, remember their names, their children’s names, etc, show concern for them
and they will love you and be loyal to you – this can also be Dawah if your workers are not
Muslim
 Things for the manager to be cautious about:
 Always take the middle road and avoid extremes
 Don’t be over-optimistic or over-confidant, be objective and practical
 Don’t implement strategies, etc which your employees are not ready for yet or can’t do
 Weigh Pros and Cons
 Produce a STABLE work environment, don’t change something if it is working
 Don’t make changes without explaining to the people why you are making that change
 Always analyze your plans for change to see if it’s worth making such a change
 Remember that people are naturally resistant to change
 Don’t have a lack of confidence either (opposite extreme)
 Some people are afraid to move out of fear of failure
Module 8:

 Some people are afraid of losing their jobs and managers use this to manipulate people, this is
Unislamic and demoralizing
 “Surely I know a verse which if people follow it, it would suffice for them for everything in life:
For those who have Taqwa, he provides them provision from sources they never could have
imagined,” (Hadith) Tawakkul is key for success
 Sometimes we have to take a leap of faith and put our Tawakkul in Allah
 Muslims should give people hope, not despair
 In a wrong environment, everybody is only worried about themselves
 In a healthy culture, Tawheed comes first (accountability and responsibility to Allah) – beware of
oppressing your workers!
 The dua of the oppressed is accepted!
 Leadership shouldn’t be given to the one who craves it!
 However if you know that you are best person to do a particular leadership role and you are
needed to do it then you should do it!
 Leadership is a responsibility, not a privilege
 Work should be viewed as worship (a duty as Muslims)
 Brotherhood in the workplace is important
 Follow the social guidelines of Islam (Study Tafseer of Surah Hujaraat)
 A lot of problems in the workplace are caused by backbiting, gossip, etc – avoid and stop!

Values to be applied to organizations:

 Intention should be to please Allah (will get reward for doing work)
 Knowledge
 Being Efficient
 Sincere
 Passion for excellence
 Evaluation and Self-evaluation (ask people you trust for critical feedback)
 Always mindful of Allah
 Justice (no peace without justice) if there is disharmony in the workplace, there is usually
injustice behind it.Non-Muslims enjoyed having the Sahaba ruling them because of their justice!
(Muslims look for the best person, not someone they know!)
 Truthfulness and honesty
 Patience and Perseverance
 Moderation- Making changes gradually and not suddenly
 Keep promises – if you want people do something, lead by example
 Prohibition of excessive love and awe for this Dunya – Islam teaches us to look at those lower
than us and be content after working hard
 Prohibition of excessive love for wealth
 Prohibition of miserliness
  Prohibition of excessive love of power
 Avoid arrogance/pride

Module 9:

 Planning:
 Allah plans as planning is part of wisdom
 Plans are related to goals
 A plan is based on a vision and mission statement
 Most people don’t know the mission statements of their organizations
 In the planning process, there must be a general idea of what the vision of the organization is
 Most organizations have a vision statement – the big picture
 Vision of Muslims is Jannah
 The mission statement is the practical side of the vision – how to achieve it
 The mission of Muslims is to worship Allah
 Aims – broad goals closely aligned with the vision
 Objectives – tangible goals
 Targets – interim steps towards an objective
 Goals –
 You should know what the vision and mission of your organization is and aligned all your actions
with it
 Feasibility planning – is the vision, mission, goals, etc practical or not
 Feasibility statement – mention of resources (human, finance), etc
 Planning takes a lot of time, many people don’t think if their plan is practical
 Flexibility planning – leaving room for adjustments for unexpected turn of events in keeping
with the goals
 Contingency planning – The Back Up Plan (Plan B)
 Example of contingency plan in Islam – If sick during Ramadan, can make up fasts later
 Backing up files on the PC is also a Contingency plan
 Contingency planning is crucial when planning an event (back-ups based on things going wrong
– technical support, speaker not showing up, etc)
 Vision – Mission – aims – objectives – goals

Implementation of plans:

 Two components of implementation: Patience (plans take a while to pay off) and Consistency
(need to stick to the plan as best as possible, while keeping it flexible and having a contingency
plan)
 Third aspect of implementation – persevere (do the work and keep at it!)
 Once all the planning and decision making have been done – people should be unified in
implementing it
 Umar said, “There is no Baraka in a decision made without Shoora!”
  After planning, making decisions and implementing, we must put our Tawakul in Allah
 The prophet use to make Shooraa with the Sahabah
 Allow for healthy debates in planning BUT once the decision is made, everybody must be unified
in implementing it
 If the plan doesn’t work out , people shouldn’t say “I told you so” etc
 Once you start implementing a plan, you still need to review it in light of changing circumstances
as new information might reveal itself that this plan isn’t right for this situation
 Managers have to let go of their egos
 If a plan is working, don’t change it
 Planning is a process that is necessary for us to go through to achieve our goals and objectives
 Those who fail to plan, plan to fail!

Module 10:

 Study a workshop on putting together a vision or mission statement

SWOT matrix for analysis: this can be used for any simple project

 S – Strengths
 W – Weaknesses
 O – Opportunities
 T – threats

Identifying strengths: what do I/we do well (use this also when writing a CV), what experience do I have
in this field, what success do I have in this area, ask others about your strengths

Identifying weaknesses: What don’t I/we do well, (must look at own weaknesses to improve and plan
realistically), eg: bad customer services, outdated products, cash flow (a lot of businesses borrow money
to pay employees)
Identify opportunities: Look at what your competitors are doing or not doing, what technology have we
not used which could assist us, (eg of opportunity – IBM going down due to new tech, Microsoft rising
from a garage due to new tech)

Identify Threats: Look at your competition, what will I do if this competition tries to put me out of
business?

Another planning model: Six Thinking Hatsby Edward de Bono:

(http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_07.htm)

 Blue – Meta Thinking – Process control – controlling the meeting to cover all six areas, looking at
processes and procedures
 White – Information/Data –what can learn, gaps in knowledge, what data do we have
 Red – Emotion – intuition, how people will react emotionally, understand those people who
don’t understand your reasons,
 Black – Discernment – look at the bad points in your decision, being pessimistic and cautious,
helps spot fatal flaws and form a tougher more resilient plan
 Yellow – Optimistic responses – Optimistic, looking at the good points, value, etc
 Green – Creativity – look at other creative options

Major mistake in planning these days is that we want only people who think like us on our team! This
only shows one perspective. You need people from six different perspectives for a complete picture, or
you need to fit into each of these six styles of thinking.

Hijrah is a good example of SWOT analysis – the prophet considered their opportunities in Madinah,
strengths of Muslims, threat of Makkans and weaknesses in the ummah before deciding to make Hijrah.

Example of different thinking hats – the different teaching methods of the prophet (pbuh) and did not
stick to just one method (today we know that people learn differently from each other), different
Sahaba had different fields of expertise, eg; Ayesha for Fiqh, Ibn Umar for prophet’s habits, Abu Hurayra
for Hadith, etc.

Managers need to understand that not everyone in the team is going to see things in the same way.

Module 11:

Motivation:

 Important topic –we are all affected by it

 Big factor of success – how motivated are your employees?
 What motivates people?
 Obedience to Allah motivated the prophets and Sahaba and this opened the door of Dunya for
them as well
 We should work as part of our Ibaadah and duties to Allah
 Organizations should plan to motivate their workers
  For people to be motivated, they need to know what’s in the goals for them.
 WIIFM (What’s in it for me?) – how people usually think
 To feel motivated, people need to have a sense of belonging and commitment to the
organization – ways to do this: a culture of participatory management (eg: Shooraa), (sometimes
what we think are motivating factors are not motivating factors at all), create loyalty,
 Organizational culture affects motivation! Google is best example of this

Myths about motivation:

 Myth #1 - I can motivate people – People need to motivate themselves!

 A speech won’t motivate people unless it mentions what’s in it for the audience – this is why
JumahKhutbahs don’t motivate most people
 Myth #2 - Money is not a good motivator – if you increase people’s salaries but don’t make
them feel good about themselves, they won’t be motivated. Some managers give people more
money to shut them up and overwork them
 Money stops people from being less motivated but doesn’t make them more motivated
 Areas with the most money have highest suicide rate
 Myth #3 – Fear is not a good motivator, it only motivates for a short time
 Myth #4 – not everyone is motivated by the same thing, eg: recognition – note who is motivated
by it and use this with them, likewise some people are motivated by free time. Not necessarily
what motivates you, motivates others
 Myth #5 – increased job satisfaction doesn’t increase performance
 Myth #6 – Motivation is a science. It is just understanding human nature (not everybody is the
same, get to know the people you work with and understand what motivates them)

How to motivate people:

 This starts with motivating yourself. (If you hate your job, seems like everyone hates it too)
 Enthusiasm is contagious
 Ask people what you can do to help them perform their job better
 If you taking care of yourself and your own job, you have a clearer perspective of others
 The results of the work must contribute to the goals of the organization
 Set SMART goals
 Just asking alone motivates them because it shows that you care about them
 Recognize that motivation is a process, not a task
 The thing which motivates younger people don’t motivate older people (things change, people
change, motivations change)
 Use systems and not just good intentions

Module Twelve:

Communication:
  Most common complaint or concern is to do with failure in communication
 “And we taught men (bayaan) speech and intelligence,” (Surah Rahman, verse 4)
 We should speak intelligently
 Quran also says, “And always speak the truth (QawlSadeed)
 “The prophet would choose a specific time to teach us so that we won’t get bored, we did not
sermon us all the time” – Sahaba
 Communication ; the transfer and exchange of information as well as the understanding from
one person to another, both verbally and through body language, and other means
 It is a process which requires both a sender and a receiver, when the receiver has UNDERSTOOD
the message then communication is complete
 There are different types of communication:
 1) verbal: a) oral b) written
 2) Body language
 Verbal communication in an organization: do we know who should be communicating with
whom directly? Every organization should have an organizational chart!
 These charts give a formal pattern of communication.
 Part of the problem is when people cross these lines of communications

The communication process has six elements:

1) The sender – very often the sender doesn’t convey the necessary details and reasons
2) The message
3) The channel
4) The receiver
5) The noise - make sure your message only has the 5 W’s and no noise!
6) The feedback – checking – has the receiver understood the message!Ask if they understood the
message! Both the sender and the receiver should check if the message is understood correctly!
Be careful though: don’t make people feel stupid! Be tactful!

Think of the 5 W’s before sending a message – who, what, when, where and why

Anything which interferes with the message communication is classified as noise

Non-verbal communication:

Images – includes videos, charts, etc

Actions – gestures, facial expressions, postures and appearance all communicate something

Some forms of communication differ from culture to culture, eg: eye-contact

 Remember the power of words – can either be positive or negative

 Use language which suits your audience – avoid slang, etc
 Use humor when appropriate
Barriers to effective communication:

 Assumptions about the other person

 Distractions
 Emotional resistance
 Poor listening skills
 Bad timing or location

Reminders for good communication:

 Before speaking, always mention Allah

 Avoid confusing people and good correct facts
 Don’t omit information that people should know
 Don’t say anything which is misleading
 “A good word is charity” “Whoever believes in Allah and the last day should speak good or
remain silent” – always be pleasant in your speech, even to those who are rude
 Don’t be insincere (flattery, sucking up)
 “Over praising a person breaks their back” – Hadith
 Be truthful and dignified
 Avoid all forms of lies, deceit and ambiguity

Listening:

 “If you sit with scholars, be more interested in listening than speaking. Learn good listening
more than speaking. Never interrupt a speaker until he finished” HasanIbn Ali
 If someone tells you something you already know, don’t say I know that already
 Good book – Dale Carnegie’s How to win friends and influence people – just listen to people,
they will like you
 Most of the time when people come to you, they just want someone to listen to their problems
 Normally if you let a person talk, they end up answering their own questions and problems
 Be polite and understanding

We should influence good behavior

 Very good book – Strengths Finder – helps you identify your strengths, helps you help others
identify their strengths
 “sticks and stones will break your bones but words will never harm you,” is not a true proverb
but a psychological tactic to overcome bad words
 Use such psychological tactics to get people to do better
 ‘but’ is a negative word, don’t use it to motivate
 ‘if’ is a positive work that motivates people to do better
 Don’t put people down or defame them
 Never reprimand someone in front of others
  After the reprimanding, nothing else should be said about that person or issue
 If you need to say something bad about someone, say it in the nicest way possible
 Make dua to Allah for help

End of First half of semester:

Module 13:

Managing Change and Conflict:

 Most people are resistant to change, especially in organizations

 A lot of organizations change often
 Change – transform, transfer
 Conflict – struggle, wars, perceived difference between two or more parties which could occur
at three levels, between two individuals, between a person and an organization, between
organizational groups
 Change is constant – we change every day, our environments change every day and we adapt to
the change
 Change could be positive or negative
 Positive change – job promotion, extended staff, new boss or employees, reduction of extended
hours
 Negative changes – loss of profit, loss of staff, extension of shortened hours, downsizing
 Conflict is functional when it improves performance by forcing us to look at what we are doing,
forces us to re-analyze our goals
 It is dysfunctional when prevents the groups goals from being achieved, when undesirable,
chronic, when it stops progress
 Conflict is inevitable just like change – it WILL happen
 Occasional conflicts are desirable when they cause healthy tension and dialogue
 Sometimes conflict is necessary to get out of people what they are really feeling
 Conflict can be functional and productive
 The Sahaba had functional conflicts, eg: their reactions to his death
 How Abu Bakr dealt with Umar’s reaction to the prophet’s death gives good example of conflict
management: he addressed the people, instead of Umar directly. He reminded the people of
what the Quran says. Remind people of the facts.
 The companions did not like moving to Madinah (Change) – remind people of the greater good
to help them deal with change, remind people of what’s in it for them!
 Collection of the Quran (Change) –In keeping with goals of Islam by preserving the Deen
 We try to avoid conflict as much as possible but we can never become completely conflict-free,
we need to learn how to manage it effectively
 How do we deal with people to help them deal with change

Strategies:
  The manager gets the group to see how the conflict is affecting the organization
 Cross-training – get the conflicting parties to do each other’s jobs and see each other’s
perspective. Three benefits: understand each other roles, might have idea of how to improve
each other’s role, if someone quits, you have people who know how to do their work
 Confrontation meeting – a lot of psychologists push this idea but it is not an Islamic idea )Don’t
make things angry on purpose)
 Assume the best of people – HusnZann – don’t take thingspersonally – assume they don’t know
any better
 Most conflicts are a result of bad systems and not bad people – analyze your systems and see
what isn’t working or what needs to be added
 Story of placing the black stone (conflict) – made everybody play a part in the solution – do this
as long as the result will be good

SALAM resolution model:

 S – Stating the conflict in view

 A – agreeing that a conflict does exist
 L – Listening to and learning the differences (active listening)
 A – Advising in the nicest way possible (don’t worry whether people become defensive, don’t
argue)
 M –Minimizing areas of disagreement that could lead to aggression or withdrawal

SNT model:

 S – Shooraa - consulting
 N – Nasiha - advicing
 T – Ta’oon - assisting

Q & A:

 Personal development is a very important part of growth and being a manager, etc
 We should know our strengths and weaknesses and areas that need improvement
 Develop Personal Development Strategies to change yourself
 Personal development takes years of change
 Acknowledge your problems and change them, eg: anger management
 “When someone tries to make me angry, I do NOTHING, I say NOTHING,”
 Preserve in changing yourself
 Self-Development isn’t possible without being honest with yourself
 Make dua for change
 Ask someone trustworthy what your faults are
 Change is slow and we make mistakes but we must persist in trying to change
 How to advice a difficult person: use psychology (put hand on shoulder, etc) and find a godo way
to do it, say stuff like, “Would you like me to help you?”
  If people are backbiting or having a negative conversation, change the topic subtly
 We shouldn’t put on a fake smile and personality for our customers, shouldn’t make things looks
like they are not (deceptive)
 A lot of companies who fake standards of excellence in order to accreditation - HARAAM
 Sometimes you just need to change your job
 If your boss doesn’t like ideas, make it seem like his idea

Module 14:

 Recommended Books: “Who moved my Cheese” – Dr Spencer Johnson (also: the one minute
manager). Cheese here is a metaphor for what you want in life, good book regarding adapting to
change and embracing it
 “Working with difficult people” - Muriel Solomon
 How to deal with an arrogant boss – they are usurpers, usurpers are generally micromanagers,
they think that they can’t trust others to do things right – you need to subtly get him to
understand that it is not professional to micromanage.
 People who are difficult to work with have an idea in their mind why they do what they do
 1. You need to be assertive when dealing with difficult people. Being passive doesn’t work.
 2. You need to present your ideas as coming from him/her – take what they say and turn it into
an idea and make it seem like they come up with it
 3. To keep them constantly informed – this will keep them off your back (flip the script –
micromanage them)
 Example of not being a micromanager during the time of Umar – Umar leaving Ali’s court
decision as is even though it was against his opinion, letting the experts to their work (don’t
micromanage)
 When you give people a job, give them the space to get it done
 Dealing with false claimers – those who take credit for your work
 Warning in the Quran against ARROGANCE and FALSE CLAIMS (plagiarism) – Surah Aal-Imraan,
188
 “Whoever issues a false claim to acquire some kind of gain, then Allah shall surely grant him
decrease,” (Saheeh Bukhari)
 Such people are usually arrogant, selfish and unwilling to share. They think to themselves, “I
taught so-and-so so his idea in my idea,”
 Reminding people of your favors is Haraam
 1. If they are Muslims – advice them against this behavior
 2. Sharing the credit – give them some credit
 3. These are High Maintenance people (need a lot of attention) – seek their advice often, share
your problems with them (keep them in the loop)
 4. Document your procedures and accomplishments and send it to others so people know it is
your idea
  Dealing with the brow-beater - someone who always complains about something you did
wrong and is always correcting you – they are bullies, use hate and fear to keep control,
 “A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim, he never humiliates him, oppressing him or looks down
upon him, and piety is here. It is evil enough for a Muslim to hold another Muslim in contempt”
(Hadith)
 When you dealing with bullies – you have to stand up to them!
 1. You need to practice assertiveness, being tough and confrontation – appear strong, firm and
unemotional (DON’T SMILE) even if you are shaking in your boots
 2. When they are talking to you, let them vent their anger – Active Listening – then figure out
what they are trying to say
 If they can’t make you angry, they get tired
 Bullies want confrontation or for you to run away – if you do neither, they’ll give up
 3. You need to tell them straight that you won’t tolerate this treatment – they don’t expect this
behavior and it puts them off
 “Bullies can only be successful with people who let them bully them,”
 4. Bullies want to make their problems your problems – think like a therapist and work out what
their problem is – ask them what upset them (change the topic)
 These things need to be practiced a lot in our heads before we can be effective with others
 Most times when people are angry, they are not angry at you but at something else
 Dealing with the sadist –machinists like to inflict pain on themselves, but sadists like to inflict
pain on others
 They take pleasure in harming you and demand from you blind obedience
 1. Shock Treatment – respond in a way they don’t expect – be assertive, tell them off
 2. Adopt the company recourses with such issues

Q&A:

 Before telling a false claimer an idea, make sure you already told it to the people who might
boast about it, so people know it’s your idea
 Accept that these people have a problem and don’t allow yourself to be offended by it
 You can’t win every situation; sometimes have to leave justice to Allah. Justice will come to
oppressors and thieves in both worlds.
 Don’t try to take revenge or be vindictive – as it leads to an ugly cycle
 Don’t give them the whole idea, leave it hanging so that they have to come back to you
 If a team effort so no one person can take the credit for themselves
 You can’t change people, you can just change your reaction and way of dealing with them
 If people are not doing their tasks, give them a deadline and get them to agree on the deadline
 Don’t check on them every day but every few days, like how way towards the deadline and then
the day before
 When dealing with upset of difficult people, not responding is a very good strategy
 Sometimes must just let people get their anger out of their system
Competition:

 “Race with each other in seeking forgiveness from your Lord,” (Surah Waqiyah)
 Competition is not Unislamic, it’s a good thing
 The best competition is competing in righteousness
 Seeing others doing good should inspire us to do good as well
 The same applies in business, competition drives you to do your best
 When good Muslims leave a community, others in the community stop trying hard to practice
 Negative competition: anything which involves hatred or envy
 “None of you truly believe until you love for your brother what you love for yourself,”
 Competition is bad when you want good for yourself but NOT for others
 This indicates a wrong understanding of Rizq, Tawakul and Tawheed
 Allah’s store is eternal, there is more than enough for everybody
 We need to trust In Allah that He is the best sustainer and His Sustenance can never be depleted
 Competing is good as long as you don’t make things difficult for others or undercut them
 Eg: many communities have banned Wal-Mart because they undercut under businesses
 Muslims should be involved in Co-op-etition – work together while providing healthy
competition for each other

Module 15:

 Muslims should not try to get rid of competition believing there isn’t enough for everyone
 Survival of the fittest in business is a Darwinian idea
 Microsoft forced people to install their operating systems (unhealthy competition)
 Nothing wrong in Islam in trying to be the best, but not boastfully or by trying to put others
down
 Don’t worry what Allah blesses others with. That is their Rizq.
 The concept of absolute scarcity is alien to Islam, relative scarcity is a reality
 Excessive Risk Aversion – We should take a calculated risk knowing that Allah is the provider
 Competition can be bad because it leads to lust, materialism and love of Dunya
 Lust and desire for power can lead to great evil
 Materialistic Competition is endless, such people are never content
 If people are not satisfied with fulfilling their needs, they will never be satisfied with more than
it

Ethics:

 Morality, honesty, good behavior

 Why do people go off-track?
 “Do not be envious of each other, don’t artificially inflate prices, don’t hate each other, do not
undercut each other…be brothers,”
 Ethics: Truthfulness, trust, brotherhood
  Fitrah – original goodness, we are born with natural goodness so what went wrong? Why do
people have bad ethics?
 The influence of the environment are decisive in what a child grows up with
 Aql is a gift from Allah that can be used for good or evil
 If there is one element in the process which negates morality, that makes it unethical
 Sometimes a company should let things go to create goodwill with customers

Factors which affect ethical behavior:

 1. Legal misinterpretations: How people perceive the law and apply it.
 2. The culture of the organization: if the culture is corrupt, workers there will become corrupt
 Example: Woman broke bottle in store, manager deceptively double charged her to cover its
cost – deception on his part
 3. Group mentality – seeing others do wrong things makes one think it is okay – this usually
effects young people (peer pressure)
 “When a man gets caught committing a crime, it is not the first time he committed it,” (Ali)
 Difference between someone who committed a crime and a criminal (person whose way of life
is crime)
 One of the biggest mistakes a CEO can make is not establishing ethical policies
 Whatever is company policy and is Halal, must be upheld, eg: don’t make personal photocopies,
don’t take company pens home
 A policy could be written or generally understood
 Accepting gifts/brides can be unethical and a form of corruption
 When morals clash, the lowest moral standard becomes the norm
 Using your family to get ahead is unethical

Module 16:

 Moving numbers around in records is deceptive and unethical

 “The one who deceives us is not one of us,” (Hadith)
 Winking too can be a form of deceit
 Sometimes people accept wrong practices as wrong, but don’t have moral courage to do
anything about it
 Copyright Infringement is also unethical
 Accountants moving numbers and being rewarded for it, leads to IT guys installing pirate copies
and being rewarded for it, other workers see this and start making pirate copies for themselves
 Eventually the company will be sued and will fire the IT guy which leads to drop in morale and
people leave. (Short-term gain for long-term loss)
 The CEO must draw clear boundaries and guidelines as to what is ethical
 We must create an open culture where people can correct each other ethically
 Some companies are so corrupt that people are paid to report the unethical practices of the
company (you shouldn’t only do the right thing when there is something in it for you)
  In our effort to make things right, we shouldn’t make things worse
 People can make mistakes, these are ethically careless and not malicious
 Perception of unethical practices can increase them
 Sometimes when you advising or questioning an unethical practice, people can take it personally
 We should always accept correction and advice from others
 Create immovable boundaries and teach them and their reasons to your team

Q&A:

 Spying and giving insider information are unethical practices

 When trying to change, you will make mistakes, just try again
 Leaders must lead by example, if leader is out of line – the organization is dysfunctional and
nothing can be done about this by subordinates (in general)
 Nobody should be an exception to the policies, unless necessary
 Looking at your spouse’s phone ,etc without permission is Haraam – Spying and Suspicion

Module 17:

Quality and management excellence:

 Perfecting ourselves and manners is part of our Deen and something we should always be doing.
 Self-reflection is very important – makes you less judgmental
 We should focus mainly on our short-comings, not others
 Allah loves those who work to the best of their abilities
 “When you do a job, do it well” – Hadith
 “When you pray, ask for Firdaws,” – aim for the highest
 “Allah demands Ihsaan in everything,” (Hadith)
 Excellence must be part of our mission statement
 Excellence – doing things in the best and most efficient way possible
 Train people to be excellent at their jobs
 We need to analyze how we can do things in more efficient ways
 Sometimes things we do in 2 hours can take 30 minutes if we find more efficient ways to do it.
 Always look for ways to do things better and faster

Module 18:

Leadership:

 Are leaders born or made?

 People are born with certain leadership qualities (example: the prophets)
 “each of you is a shepherd…” (Hadith)
 People need to be trained with certain leadership skills
 We all find ourselves in some form of leadership capacity or the other
  Leaders are not always people of authority or power
 Leaders influence others – they gain followers, become role models
 Huge volumes of books (1000s) have been written on leadership
 “A world waiting to be born”
 Civility – the use or abuse of power
 Leadership have spiritual power – to influence people through their Fitrah
 Leadership through authority – through money or position
 Robert Greenleaf – founder of Servant leadership – Christian perspective – leaders need to
suffer like Jesus did (non-materialistic leadership)
 The 100 most influential men – Michael Hart - Prophet Muhammad is number 1!
 The prophet Muhammad was the only person to have influential in every field in the world –
political, socially, religiously and many other ways
 Leadership is about giving without expecting anything in return, caring without expecting in
return, supporting without expecting in return
 Leaders try to create order and avoid chaos
 Leaders makes others confident, safe and secure
 Leaderships create positive change which benefit others
 Leaders understand the psychology of people
 People need confidence and support to perform at a higher level
 A Leader makes the maximum usage of resources
 The current countries which are making the most progress are the countries with the best
leaders – same goes for organizations
 Sahaba understood the critical nature of leadership as seen in delaying his burial to elect a
new leader
 Prophet Muhammad appointed different leaders for different situations showing that
leadership effectiveness depends on the situation, followers and person
 “Abu Bakr and Umar had followers like me, I have followers like you,” (Ali)
 The best leader is not the one who knows the work best but the one who knows how to
motivate people and make them feel good
 People who understand the responsibility of leadership, don’t want it
 Leaders MUST have a succession plan

Module 19:

 A World waiting to be born - by M. Scott Peck – There are those who have naked lust for power
and authority for its own sake without desire to serve, so they abuse it
 God calls us to servility – can such people be those God calls to power?
 This abuse normally indicates something bad from their past
 Islamic Leadership features:
 Strength and trust – leaders must both be skilled and trustworthy, must be strong and faithful
  Strength and trust are two pillars of leadership – Quranic evidence (Shuaib’s daughter about
Moses, Qualities of Taaloot, Yusuf (AS)
 Strength doesn’t just mean physical strength, it means competence at whatever the job is
 Competence is more important than piety when hiring someone!
 Many people study engineering but become managers (HOW?)
 Is leadership a science or a craft? Leadership is a science – it’s something you have to learn
 People in places of authority should have some knowledge of the work that people in his
organization does
 Skillfulness and knowledge
 If you have the skills to do a job and feel doing it will benefit people then you can ask for that
position (example of Prophet Yusuf) but this should be done for the sake of good, not selfish
reasons
 When hiring, choose skills over piety – example: AmrIbn Al-Aas hired as commander few months
after accepting Islam
 A leader will not have absolute power – because Islam encourages participatory management
 A good leader is one who makes other leaders, listens to people and allows them to make
mistakes – the prophet, Umar, etc were good examples of this
 We must train successors as we will one day leave our posts and jobs
 We shouldn’t worry about training people that they will replace us, this isn’t true
 People do make mistakes but we shouldn’t repeat our mistakes
 A good leader should be kind, shouldn’t overburden them and should ask Allah to forgive them
 Islam teaches us to take the easy Halal way so we should make things easy for our workers
 Leaders shouldn’t be too quick to make a decision as it affects many people
 Another quality of a good leader – intuition (Faraasa)

Module 20:

 The three main decision making models are:

 Participatory management – employees are asked their opinions, shuraa is made but decision is
still made by the leader
 Authoritarian management – guy at the top makes the decisions and those below him have to
follow
 Consultative management – the employer consults people INDIVIDUALLY, not as a group, so the
people don’t talk to each other, just the employer – normally a smaller group of people are
consulted as compared to participatory management
 Consensual management –decision-making authority is handed over to the employees – after
discussion, a decision is reached through consensus
 People who believe in consensual management don’t believe in right or wrong, authority, etc
 Nobody is accountable for the decision in the consensual model – it takes too long to reach a
consensus
 Participatory management and consultative management are both Islamic
  Consultative is better as it can work on any size organization, while participatory management
only works in small companies

Q&A:

 One should have a business plan before starting a business which states what you want to do,
what’s your budget, resources, what your target market is – doesn’t need to be elaborate
 www.sba.gov – small business administration official website
 A business plan keeps you focused
 Restaurants are hard work and long hours with stiff competition
 MOST businesses fail!
 More than 50% of businesses fail in the first three years due to undercapitalization
 Businesses don’t make a profit instantly (in general)
 Being rich can be a real fitna – people treat you differently and easy to become arrogant
 Trade Unions – organizations for employees’ rights – don’t exist in Arab countries because of
authorial style government
 Umar did not allow his governors to be businessmen because of conflict of interest

Module 21:

 “Begin with the end in mind” – Stephen Covey – 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
 For Muslims, our end is Jannah and we should always keep that in mind
 When choosing a business, choose something that you are passionate about
 Most people who do business, don’t do it to get rich – they do it for flexibility, time, no boss,
pursue their passions, etc
 Doing what you are passionate about makes you more content
 Qualities of the leader – strength, trust, making leaders, kindness, tawakul, consultation and
resolve
 Knowledge and Wisdom – a leader must have knowledge and wisdom so that they can add
value to the organization
 What value can a person add to an organization – something a leader should look for in
employees
 Example of adding value by Umar – creating the Hijri calendar
 The title of the Caliph – Ameer Al-Mu’mineen was also coined during the reign of Umar to make
things easy for the people
 Tawakul – putting trust in Allah after doing your best
 If a leader is not committed to the vision of the organization, he won’t be effective
 When a leader doesn’t practice what he preaches, it demotivates the followers or can chase
them away – example of what made Malcolm X leave NOI
 Role modeling is very important for a leader
 Leaders are culture makers
  Leaders must have empathy and put themselves in their employees place, they must treat the
employees with kindness and mercy
 Followers must also be empathic to the leaders
 Tawakul includes doing the best that you know how
 A leader shouldn’t allow himself to become angry quickly
 A leader should never take things personally
 Communication is a very important skill for a leader (eg: Malcolm X)
 If you don’t have good communication skills, get someone else who is (eg: Musa getting Haroon)
 A leader must be adaptive
 Don’t take sides with one worker against another
 As leader, never oppress anyone in any way
 A leader must be eager to learn and adapt
 A leader must be aware of his followers potential and weaknesses
 A leader must be aware of his own limitations

Module 22:

Managing quality and excellence:

 TQM (Total Quality Management) - is an integrative philosophy of management for continuously

improving the quality of products and processes
 very popular in Japanese companies
 Quality movement if about being more competitive and becoming more profitable
 In West all improvements on quality are for material gain
 A degree of excellence
 New development – not just looking at things from one angle – holistic
 In material life –humans are treated like robots
 TQM made companies better but this did not improve people – it was too mechanic and
materialistic
 Many Muslims just cut and paste what is successful in the West, we are suppose to analyze it
Islamically first
 Quality management has become a buzzword and a fad
 Quality & excellence – Ihsaan in Islam
 Going the extra mile and putting systems in place to go further as an organization
 Very easy to get the low levels of Paradise but Ihsaan leads to the higher levels of Paradise
 Quality is not static, it needs to be worked on all the time
 Expectations of customers are always changing so quality improvement needs to continue
accordingly
 A Muslim company should never stop a Muslim from praying on time
 Documentation are important for elaborating on a quality management system

Module 23:

 Islamic system is based on five ethical concepts: Tawheed, justice, freedom of opinion, sincerity,
vicegerency
 Islamic managers must intergrate Islamic doctrines into the organization – it isn’t easy but must
be done
 Managing resources – Islam emphasized optimal use of resources that Allah has given us
 Resources include human, time, wealth, etc
 Tips for managing resources:
 1. All resources come from Allah
 2. Resources come in variety
 3. Resources should be shared with the needy
 4. Resources should not be hoarded, they should be utilized
 5. Resources exist that we don’t know about
 6. Resources are to be used and consumed and we should be thankful to Allah for them
 7. Some resources are forbidden and some usages are forbidden
 8. Human are sometimes greedy for resources, we need to avoid this
 9. Any unethical acts to get resources are Haraam
 A Muslim should never make excuses to sell haraam products, selling haraam to non-Muslims is
not justified

Measurement of quality standards:

 Survival of any organization is based on its ability to provide best quality products for its
customers
 Policies, etc should be review periodically, at least once a year or twice a year
 Accreditation forces you to have this review process every few years
 The customer is NOT always right but he is always the customer
 Reminder of the people of Madyan oppressing and cheating their customers
 Continous Training and seeking of knowledge are important

Revision:

 Quality management – degree of excellence

 Islam recognizes the importance of documentation
 Shareholders, board of directors and top managers – Management
 Optimum use of resources – Islamic obligation
 Equitable use and distribution of resources

Module 24:

 Story of Umar asking Sahaba to make a wish, and he wished for people like Abu
UbaydaIbnJarrah, etc – value of human resources
  The key toa good organization is having the right people in the right positions
 Training and Development – VERY IMPORTANT
 All successful countries have invested a lot into training and development
 This includes training them to be more efficient and effective
 Hotel in Las Vegas spent $3 million on training staff for opening
 Human resource management – effective management of people at work
 HR should be focused on making staff more satisfied, and deal with training and development
 HR should be semi-autonomous from top management – they hire staff, control resources,
determine pay and HR should be an advocate for workers in the company
 HR should tell management how much people should be paid and how much certain projects
should cost
 HR should inform Management about what the salaries are in the competitive market
 Islam regards work as something obligatory and noble for anybody capable of working and in
need of money
 Islam discourages begging, being dependent upon others, etc’
 “It is better to take your rope to get wood than to ask people for charity,”
 Job Descriptions should be VERY CLEAR so that every worker knows exactly what their job is
 Job descriptions protect people’s rights, prevents abuse and holds people responsible for their
tasks
 Terms & Conditions should be VERY CLEAR in the contract
 People should not be forced or threatened to do things outside their job description
 Nobody should be asked to do something against their religion
 “Your servants are your brothers whom Allah has placed under your protection…”
 Employees should not be forced to do excessive work or overworked in terms of hours
 Don’t want to cause Burnout in your employees, this causes anger, depression, loss of
productivity
 The one thing employees’ value most is time-off!
 Employer must fix the MAXIMUM working hours
 HR should make sure they hire people who best fit the job and the culture of the organization
 Quran mentions qualities of good employee: Strength (at that type of work) and trustworthy
 “The truthful honest businessman will enjoy the company of the prophets and martyr,”
 Trustworthy employees will ensure that resources are utilized optimally
 It is hard to evaluate a person’s trustworthiness, but we can evaluate their competency
 Competency indicates their ethics

Module 25:

 Nepotism/Bias is not allowed (in Islam and West)

 HR should develop leaders, they should identify people with leadership potential and help them
develop their skills
 Always thank Allah when things go well
  Training is an important part of HR
 Training is not just limited to skills, but refers to attitudes as well
 People with attitude problems are more problematic in the workplace even if they are skilled
and experienced
 Compensation – people should be asked how much they think they should be paid
 People should be paid fairly to make their efforts worth it
 People should be paid based on value, responsibilities, experience and qualifications
 Men and women should be paid equally
 We shouldn’t ask people how much they earn – privacy
 There should be no discrimination between races, etc in pay
 Umar use to pay people properly to protect them from corruption
 Story of Moosa and how Shuaib made a contract with him to work for him
 Low pay can lead to bribery and corruption
 Certain responsibilities should be delegated to others
 Extremes – people who don’t delegate and people who only delegate and don’t do anything
themselves

Module 26:

Characteristics Umar looked for in a leader (Governor):

 Competency – this was more important than their piety when hiring someone for a job
 Experience
 “Islam will be lost when there are those who don’t know about Jahiliyyah,”
 He would never appoint someone based on family ties
 “If you appoint a friend or relative for no other reason except that, then you have betrayed Allah
and his messenger,” – Umar
 He would not appoint people who sort after positions – applying for a job you are good at is not
wrong but pining for a specific position of power is wrong
 The leader must give access to the people and allow for Shuraa
 He would test people’s competency
 He would look at people’s honor, perception and character
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