ISLAM FOR BEGINNERS BRS 107.pdf - CUEA

contains the cosmological dimension of actions and interactions; it implies, therefore, adirection shared with others for a common goal. Sharing is the essence of suchconception.However, the study of leadership requires also an awareness of various mechanisms andnature of leadership, its problems, expectations and philosophies since they do differ fromone scholar to another. Thus, leadership in Christianity may not have the samesubstructure in Islam. Besides, a good leader in Christianity may not be regarded as goodin Islam and vice-versa. We can equally assert that the question above-mentioned (Who isthe leader of the Muslims), if it is rooted on a non-Muslim background, may not find theexpected response if our texts do not correspond to their contexts. There are differentperspectives for different philosophies and that is why the study of interactions andinterrelations, conflicts and black holes of a particular group is not only important but alsonecessary for one to grasp the vivid knowledge of it.I agree with Charles J. Keating that leadership encounters dilemmas found between theleader and the people, between the people and the situations at hand. These dilemmascould lead to confusion in the sense that, not having a full knowledge of a giving situation,the leader and the people may not know the kind of leadership is to be exercised for aparticular good. 20 In this way, a person with strong personality may spring up and declarehimself a leader. And the acceptance of his leadership depends on the success and thenobility of his actions and decisions to cure a disease or overcome a demon, to defeat aking, to control a situation, to increase the life of his followers. That is why manyeducators such as Marie-France Perrin Jassy observe that a leader may be an appointedperson or a person who, out of his abilities emerges from the group. It is here that the soclaimedleadership of Osama bin Laden could be justified within an exclusive context andlanguage.As a matter of fact, leadership neither does nor arise from a vacuum; it comes to meet asituation-it could be famine or war. In the case of Osama, he arose in order to lead a waragainst the enemy of Islam; therefore whoever is an enemy Islam is an enemy of Allah.Such a leader acquires absolute power, which enables him to enforce obedience to his20 .Charles J. Keating, The leadership Book ( Toronto: Paulist Press, 1978), p.8Frederic N. Mvumbi,OP Page 63 of 85