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Leaders you love vs leaders you hate

Leaders you love vs leaders you hate
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February 11, 2022
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عَنْ عَوْفِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏”‏ خِيَارُ أَئِمَّتِكُمُ الَّذِينَ تُحِبُّونَهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَكُمْ وَيُصَلُّونَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَتُصَلُّونَ عَلَيْهِمْ ، وَشِرَارُ أَئِمَّتِكُمُ الَّذِينَ تُبْغِضُونَهُمْ وَيُبْغِضُونَكُمْ وَتَلْعَنُونَهُمْ وَيَلْعَنُونَكُمْ ‏”‏ ‏.‏ ‏ ‏.‏ رواه مسلم.

It has been narrated on the authority of ‘Auf bin Malik that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:

The best of your rulers are those whom you love and who love you, who invoke God’s blessings upon you and you invoke His blessings upon them. And the worst of your rulers are those whom you hate and who hate you and whom you curse and who curse you. (Muslim)

This is a very authentic narration. The Prophet (peace be on him) is addressing the importance of the responsibility of the leader. It’s black and white. There is no grey area. Leaders have to be the best quality. They cannot be less than that.


Who are those leaders who lead the way in the community at any level?

Good leaders have to fulfil the requirements. What are the requirements? They have to genuinely look after those they are responsible for, whether it is their family, their school, their hospital, their company, or the nation.

When they are genuinely concerned for their people and look after them sincerely, people love them. Not because of their looks or speeches, but because of their service to their people.

When they do their job properly they look after the interests of the community. That is why the community prays for them from the bottom of their hearts and ask Allah to bless them.

Otherwise they are hated because they are hypocrites and they only seek our approval at election time and make promises they have no intention of keeping.

The Prophet (peace be on him) warns us not to be the ones whom people curse, because they do not deliver what they promised.

Do not take that position if you cannot fulfil the responsibilities of that role. You choose which camp you will be in – the camp which delivers goodness or the camp which delivers evil.

If you are in the first camp Allah will bless you and love you and people will love you. If you are in the second camp, people will curse you and Allah will hate you. The choice is between the best and the worst.

If you do not want to be cursed by the people then do not seek leadership with the wrong intention, for self-aggrandizement, to impress others and for your self-interests. It is an amanah. You are answerable to Allah Almighty for looking after everyone in your care.

This is why the Prophet (peace be on him) showed us the best and worst. May Allah make us from among the best. Ameen.

Shaykh Haytham Tamim Khutbah 11th Feb 2022

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Shaykh Haytham Tamim is the founder and main teacher of the Utrujj Foundation. He has provided a leading vision for Islamic learning in the UK, which has influenced the way Islamic knowledge is disseminated. He has orchestrated the design and delivery of over 200 unique courses since Utrujj started in 2001. His extensive expertise spans over 30 years across the main Islamic jurisprudence schools of thought. He has studied with some of the foremost scholars in their expertise; he holds some of the highest Ijazahs (certificates) in Quran, Hadith (the Prophetic traditions) and Fiqh (Islamic rulings). His own gift for teaching was evident when he gave his first sermon to a large audience at the age of 17 and went on to serve as a senior lecturer of Islamic transactions and comparative jurisprudence at the Islamic University of Beirut (Shariah College). He has continued to teach; travelling around the UK, Europe and wider afield, and won the 2015 BISCA award (British Imams & Scholars Contributions & Achievements Awards) for Outstanding Contribution to Education and Teaching.

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