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The environment that fosters leadership

البيئة المحفزة للقيادة

Tareq al-Suwaidan's model of the environment that makes leaders: six parts, flexibility, curiosity, freedom, values, balance and sponsorship, with evidence from the Sira; with it he closed the programme 'Secrets of Prophetic Leadership'.

Depth

At a glance

Region
Global / Diaspora
Review

Politics, governance and authorityEthics and character

Summary

"The environment that fosters leadership" is the last model in Tareq al-Suwaidan's programme "Secrets of Prophetic Leadership", set out in episodes 29 and 30. 1 2 Its idea is that someone not raised in a leadership family still has a chance if an environment that fosters leadership is created around him; the model has six parts: flexibility, curiosity, freedom, values, balance and sponsorship. 2 3 Without such environments, he says, the community loses its best resource, its people, and its talent emigrates. 4

Flexibility

He defines it as "positive adaptation to intellectual and material change", and says that rigid environments and spineless ones alike fail to produce leaders. 5 6 He cites the Treaty of Hudaybiyya: Suhayl ibn Amr objected to writing "the Merciful, the Compassionate" and "Messenger of God"; Ali would not erase them, so the Prophet ﷺ erased them himself. 7 8 His rule: never give up principles and values; positions and means can be given up. 8 Gradualness is part of flexibility for him, and he relates from al-Shatibi the answer of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz to his son Abd al-Malik, who urged him to hurry his reforms. 9 10 Flexibility means knowing when to be soft and when to be firm; his example of firmness is the poet Abu Azza, freed after Badr without ransom on condition he would not fight again, who fought at Uhud, was captured a second time, and was not freed. 11 12 6

Curiosity

He defines it as the love of discovering the unknown, and sets three conditions for it to be positive: it concerns public, not personal, matters; it is useful; and it concerns the person himself. 6 13 14 15 He sees a child's curiosity as a sign of intelligence, and advises parents to answer, be patient, and say "I don't know". 16 17 Among his examples are the Prophet's scouts before Uhud, including al-Hubab ibn al-Mundhir, who went into the Quraysh camp. 18 19

Freedom

He defines it as "saying and doing what you wish" on two conditions, courtesy and no harm; its limits for him are "disciplining morals and freeing thought and expression". 20 21 He mentions that he explained freedom in his programmes "Life Taught Me" and "Winds of Change" and was criticised for it. 22 He rejects two extremes: freedom as chaos, and the fear of freedom that multiplies prohibitions. 23 24 He cites al-Shafi'i's saying that where there is disagreement, censure falls away, and the principle that things are permitted by default. 25 26 Among his examples are the Ansar's rejection at the Trench of a settlement with Ghatafan over the fruit of Medina, which the Prophet then dropped, and Ibn Ubayy's withdrawal with three hundred men at Uhud, for which he was not punished. 27 28

Values

Values for him are "the controls that govern behaviour" in word and deed, with favour to no one. 29 One of his examples is the story of Zayd ibn Sa'na, the Jewish scholar who lent the Prophet dates to help a newly Muslim tribe struck by drought and then came to demand it roughly before it was due; the Prophet rebuked Umar, not him, and Zayd became a Muslim, saying he had been testing the trait of forbearance. 30 31 32 Another is Abu Bakr's stance towards Mistah after the affair of the slander, when he swore to stop supporting him and then resumed after a verse of Surat al-Nur came down (al-Nur 24:22). 33 34

Balance

He defines it as giving each thing its due, no more and no less, and avoiding both excess and neglect. 35 36 He cites the story of Salman and Abu al-Darda', and that of the three men who wanted to fast without break, pray all night and keep away from women. 37 38 39

Sponsorship

Sponsorship for him is "caring for a candidate for leadership materially, morally or both", and he says there is a sponsor behind every leader. 40 His examples include the house of al-Arqam as the first "intensive courses", the twelve representatives at the second pledge of al-Aqaba, and the Badr captives who could not pay ransom being allowed to ransom themselves by teaching ten Ansari boys to write. 41 42 43 44

The close

Al-Suwaidan ends the programme with three "illusions" he says he set out to dispel: that the lessons of the Sira are exhausted, that the community must stay backward, and that it can rise apart from its Islamic identity. 45 46 47 His life, he says, is focused on two things, thought and leadership, and preparing leaders is methodical, hard and continuous work. 48 49

Connections

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Subject of
Asrar al-Qiyada al-Nabawiyya, Secrets of Prophetic Leadership (television programme)

People and things also explored

The leader's eight roles and training in general leadership· Bad leadership and its seven types· Specialised leadership and training in it· The model of leadership upbringing· Followership and the eight kinds of follower· The model for discovering leaders· Leadership and the leader's six roles· Situational leadership

Sources

  1. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 28, at 00:53:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  2. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:08:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  3. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:01:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  4. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:04:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  5. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:08:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  6. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:22:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  7. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:09:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  8. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:12:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  9. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:16:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  10. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:17:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  11. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:19:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  12. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:20:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  13. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:22:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  14. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:24:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  15. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:24:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  16. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:25:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  17. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:27:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  18. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:31:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  19. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:32:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  20. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:36:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  21. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:47:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  22. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:37:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  23. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:39:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  24. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:40:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  25. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:41:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  26. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:42:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  27. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:45:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  28. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 29, at 00:46:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  29. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:05:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  30. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:13:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  31. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:14:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  32. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:18:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  33. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:18:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  34. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:21:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  35. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:23:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  36. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:23:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  37. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:27:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  38. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:30:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  39. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:33:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  40. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:37:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  41. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:38:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  42. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:38:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  43. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:40:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  44. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:41:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  45. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:46:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  46. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:47:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  47. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:48:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  48. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:49:00 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
  49. Assabile archive of Tareq al-Suwaidan's lectures (video) , Asrar Al Qyada Al Nbawya, episode 30, at 00:49:30 · Listen at the archive (opens the audio at this time)
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “The environment that fosters leadership”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/al-bia-al-muhaffiza-lil-qiyada/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-02.

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The leader's eight roles and training in general leadership

Tareq al-Suwaidan's model of training in general leadership: eight roles, direction, example, change, motivation, training, relations, intervention and empowerment, each with two elements, two competencies and a training skill for each; everything else is management, to be delegated.