Presentation at the Islamic Leaders Conference, Jakarta on 12 September 2024.
Thank you to the organizers for the invitation. I acknowledge that I am among leaders in formal and informal organizations, and also mothers, fathers, brothers, and sisters exercising their own leadership capabilities.
Today I am invited to share my thoughts on the topic Maqasid Syariah: Ingredients of Organisational Success?
I will divide my session to first discuss what organizational success means, followed by a short intro to the Maqasid of the Shari’ah and how it can be an essential ingredient for organizational success.
Organizational success can come in many ways. Maximization of profit has been the mantra for old economists, which has fuelled excessive greed and corruption on earth if not restrained. So we know this cannot be organizational success ultimately.
There are other balanced goals, such as the triple bottom line: economic, social and environmental. Others may focus on happiness and wellbeing. There are many ways to define organizational success.
Contemporarily, there are increasing pressure to align organizational goals and objectives, as well as national goals, to the United Nations’ 17 SDG. Each country has her own dashboard. However, we need to be careful of adopting other organization’s objectives. We need to make sure that these objectives are aligned to our own organization.
Maqasid al-Shari’ah as Strategic objectives
From an Islamic governance perspective, we can set the Maqasid of the Shari’ah as the higher objectives or strategic objectives. Similar to the SDG, the Maqasid are classified as higher objectives that can be strategically aligned to. A brief introduction: Maqasid of the Shari’ah examines the higher purpose of Allah’s commands and prohibitions. There are many classifications of the Maqasid. The easier one is that all commands aims to promote social benefit and prohibit social detriments and corruptions. Another classification is the infamous five: the preservation and promotion of faith, life, intellect, posterity and wealth.
We can align the Maqasid of the Shari’ah and the SDG. There are many intersections, especially in terms of Life, Intellect, Posterity and Wealth. However, with regards to the preservation and promotion of Faith, the SDG do not give ample attention to it. Similarly, for Life, Intellect, Posterity and Wealth, the measures do not necessarily complement an Islamic system of governance. For example, for Wealth, the SDG do not necessarily consider zakat, waqaf and bait al-mal activities.
That’s why we need to be careful when adopting strategic objectives. By adopting the Maqasid of the Shari’ah, the definition of organizational success here is as defined in the Qur’an and the Sunnah, ensuring the many successes in this world AND the Hereafter.
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Maqasid al-Shari’ah as Light for Strategic Alignment
To simplify, we can use the light metaphor. The Maqasid of the Shari’ah is a light that originates from Allah SWT, and the Messenger SAW and the Companions RA all worked together to achieve the Maqasid. The light expanded with the expansion of the Islamic civilization, which can be seen until now. Groundbreaking Innovations were made to achieve the Maqasid of the Shari’ah, to preserve and promote Faith, Life, Intellect, Posterity and Wealth. These innovations are not only benefitting Muslims, but many others as well, as mercy for all.
These lights are reflected in the al-Madinah al-Munawwarah, the Enlightened City, or the Virtuous City. We can use this to also conceptualize our nations and states working towards achieving the Maqasid of the Shari’ah as virtuous cities, supported by virtuous societies and virtuous organizations. From the military to the financial institutions, everything needs to be developed to ensure the Maqasid are achieved collectively.
Most importantly, the lights from Allah SWT guide the hearts of individuals now and forever. Individuals have their own Maqasid, such as praying 5 times a day and earning halal income, so do leaders and followers with their own sets of Maqasid. As the Companions RA reminded one another and push themselves towards excellence, so do we as leaders and as followers in our own contemporary contexts. We, as leaders and followers, need to achieve the Maqasid of the Shari’ah.
We can see that all levels have their own respective strategic objectives, from individuals to corporations, to nations and even international bodies. What is important here is that these objectives are strategically aligned, especially to the Maqasid of the Shari’ah in order to achieve successes in this world and the Hereafter.
There is also a need for various actors to collaborate and form strategic alliances. It is imperative to do this now when there’s so many divisions and silos, leading to ineffective governance.
Furthermore, strategic balancing are needed on all levels to ensure the right political powers and resources are being utilized effectively and efficiently.
However, beware that the hearts can easily be corrupted. Various vices and poor characters can be implanted in the hearts of people, of leaders and followers. This then generate organizations, societies and cities with corrupted systems. Even if the systems in place are good, if the users have corrupted hearts, then it will only lead to immoral ends, away from the holistic Maqasid of the Shari’ah.
Concluding Remarks..
Of course, the reality is not only black and white. There are many grey areas in our life. This is where the Maqasid of the Shari’ah helps to show us the greater purposes, the higher objectives that should be pursue. So all our organizational objectives, departmental objectives, marketing objectives, HR objectives need to be aligned with the Maqasid.
Strategic alignment is needed to ensure that all people and systems are achieving the same higher purposes. When we focus on strategic alignment, consider forming alliances with those having similar or complementary goals to achieve the Maqasid collectively.
Last but not least, our hearts are one of the most powerful instrument that we have been bestowed with. The heart is the one that can recognize God, can understand the Maqasid, can detect corruptions in the systems, in others, and in oneself. Make concrete actions in our organization to purify the hearts of our employees. In our leadership training, purification of the heart should be a core module. A heart-based or spiritual leadership coaching is also beneficial to help leaders access the hidden potential in our hearts.
Remember, Allah does not change the condition of a nation unless they change what is in their hearts (13:11).
