Politics, governance and authority
Family: How Islam changed over time · 86 entries
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Event
Umar's last pilgrimage and Ali left as deputy in Medina
644 CE · 23 AHThe last pilgrimage Umar led in 23 AH, taking the Prophet's wives with their guardians who did not cover from him; Ali ibn Abi Talib was left as deputy over Medina. The book also records Umar appointing Ali as his deputy in Medina during the campaign of Ajnadayn and Jabiya.Ali appoints the sons of al-Abbas and Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr as governors
between 656 and 661 CEAli gave the provinces to several sons of his cousin al-Abbas: Abdallah in Basra, Ubaydallah in Yemen and Bahrain, Qutham in Mecca and al-Ta'if, Tammam in Medina, and with them Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, his step-son, in Egypt. The book sets this among a list of forty-one governors and holds that Ali and Uthman both appointed kin when their competence was clear, not for kinship alone.Ali's oversight of his governors: inspectors, complaints and discipline
between 656 and 661 CEAli followed his governors through inspectors who questioned people about them, secret reports, an open door for every complaint, and written advice. When a charge against a governor was proven he jailed and whipped him with a rod, and on hearing a complaint he would say, 'O God, I did not order them to wrong Your creation or to leave Your right unpaid'.Ali's inquiry into a missing traveller and his wealth
between 656 and 661 CEA young man complained that a company of travellers came back without his father and with his father's money. Ali had the police guard each suspect separately, questioned each on the journey, the lodgings, the cause of death and the burial, and found their accounts contradictory; one confessed, and they were made to pay.Reported advice to Ali by Ibn Abbas and al-Mughira on keeping or removing Uthman's governors
656 CE · 35 AH†The book sets out reports that give Ibn Abbas and al-Mughira ibn Shu'ba opposing counsel to Ali after his pledge: keep Uthman's governors until they pledge, or remove them and give Basra and Kufa to Talha and al-Zubayr. Ali refused to keep them. The book rejects these reports for weak chains and confused texts and calls them hypothetical.Death of Malik al-Ashtar on the way to Egypt
between 657 and 659 CEAli chose Malik al-Ashtar to govern Egypt after Qays ibn Sa'd was replaced. He died at the edge of the Red Sea before entering Egypt. A rumour says he was poisoned in honey, and some people of the kharaj were accused; the book leans toward Mu'awiya having incited it.Qays ibn Sa'd's governorship of Egypt and Ali's letter to him
between 657 and 659 CEAli sent Qays ibn Sa'd to govern Egypt after Muhammad ibn Abi Hudhayfa's death. Qays organised the province and did not force those who held back from the pledge. Abu Mikhnaf's narrations of letters between Qays and Mu'awiya and of his removal are largely rejected by the book, which prefers a version in which Ali asked him to come to Kufa.Death of Abu Kalijar and investiture of al-Malik al-Rahim
c. October 1048 CE · Ramadan 440 AHAbu Kalijar fell ill in Jumada I 440, was bled three times in the open country, and died on the Thursday night of Ramadan; the ghilman plundered treasuries, arms and mounts while his slave-girls burned the tents over his bier. His son Abu Nasr was acclaimed al-Malik al-Rahim and rode to the caliphal palace, kissed the earth, was robed in the seven-piece black investiture with the Rusafi turban, collar, two jewelled swords and gem-set crown, two bound standards presented, the patent of investiture read over his chest, and was counselled to piety and justice — then rode the caliph's own tayyar back to his camp to receive congratulations.The diwan manifesto impugning the Ubaydid genealogy
c. 1052 CE · 444 AHIn 444 manifestos were drawn up at the diwan recounting Egypt's ruler and his forebears in terms impugning the genealogy they claim — denying their descent from the Prophet through Ali and Fatima, attributing them instead to the Daysaniyya of the Magians and the Qaddahiyya of the Jews, and declaring them outside Islam, as had been done in al-Qadir's days — and the signatures of the ashraf, qadis, witnesses and scholars were taken upon it.Investiture of Tughril as King of the East and West by Caliph al-Qa'im
January 1058 CE · Dhu al-Qa'da 449 AHIn Dhu'l-Qa'da 449, the full investiture of Sultan Tughril by the caliph al-Qa'im: the caliph seated on a seven-cubit silk couch with the Prophet's mantle on his shoulder and the staff in his hand, Tughril kissing the ground at each approach, mounted on a lower couch, addressed 'O Ali' through the ra'is al-ru'asa' — 'Amir al-Mu'minin has invested you with all the lands God gave him: fear God, spread justice, restrain wrong.' Seven robes in one rite, a sword girded by the caliph's own hand, the style 'king of East and West', three standards with the liwa' al-hamd bound by the caliph himself, the investiture-patent read over him — and Tughril twice kissing the outstretched hand and laying it on his eyes.The return of al-Qa'im from Haditha to Baghdad
January 1060 CE · 25 Dhu al-Qa'da 451 AHThe caliph al-Qa'im's restoration after a full year of al-Basasiri's rule: Mihrash the 'Uqaylid of Haditha refused to surrender him, Tughril sent Amid al-Mulk with three hundred ghilman, fourteen Bactrian camels of tents and furnishings and a gold-plated litter; at the Nahrwan pavilion the sultan dismounted, walked, and kissed the ground seven times, while the caliph brought out the Buyid mountain of red yaqut and twelve large pearls. Tughril begged pardon for his delay — 'my jealous brother Ibrahim; I strangled him with his own bowstring' — and the caliph girded on him the only sword saved from his flight. The caliph entered Monday 25 Dhu'l-Qa'da 451, Tughril seated on the gatekeeper's bench at Bab al-Nubi until the procession passed; only the chief qadi and three witnesses were left in Baghdad to receive him.The killing of Sultan Alp Arslan and the accession of Malikshah
c. 24 November 1072 CE · 10 Rabi' I 465 AHCrossing the Oxus toward Bukhara with more than two hundred thousand horse, Alp Arslan had the captured fortress-commander Yusuf al-Khwarizmi brought before him and ordered him staked; Yusuf sneered 'shall the likes of me die such a death?', the sultan seized bow and arrows, shot and missed, stumbled rising from his dais — and Yusuf was on him with a knife in his side. The attendants killed Yusuf; the sultan's wound was bound and he died back at the Oxus on Saturday 10 Rabi' I 465, aged forty years and five months, after nine years and six months of rule. On his dais his son Malikshah spoke his first command — 'the eldest of you is my father, the middle my uncle, the youngest my son, and I shall do for you what has not been done before' — and the army gave bay'a through Nizam al-Mulk and Abu Sa'd the mustawfi.The death of al-Qa'im bi-Amr Allah and the accession of al-Muqtadi
April 1075 CE · 13 Sha'ban 467 AHIn Safar 467 the caliph al-Qa'im fell gravely ill, his throat swelling; dying, he wrote the heirship for his grandson Abdallah ibn Dhakhirat al-Din. Al-Muqtadi was acclaimed Friday 13 Sha'ban 467 in the Dar al-Shajara in a white shirt and fine white turban — the first to swear was Sharif Abu Ja'far, who had given him bay'a at the caliph's washing before the people, quoting 'when a lord among us passes, a lord arises'; the bier was borne on the tayyar with weeping but no wailing, prayed over with four takbirs and buried in the caliph's own chamber of retreat. Al-Qa'im's caliphate had run forty-five years and some months; and when Malikshah later turned on al-Muqtadi demanding he quit Baghdad, the caliph asked ten days' respite — and the sultan died on the tenth day.From Jan Balat through Tuman Bay to Qansuh al-Ghuri, 905–906
c. 4 June 1500 CE · 2 Dhu al-Qa'da 905 AHAfter al-Nasir Muhammad b. Qaytbay was killed, the amir-kabir Jan Balat overcame Sultan al-Zahir Qansuh, who vacated the citadel; Jan Balat took the sultanate at mid-morning Monday 2 Dhu'l-Qa'da 905, held it half a year and sixteen days and built the Janbalatiyya madrasa outside Bab al-Nasr before deposition, exile to Alexandria and strangulation. Al-'Adil Tuman Bay was then invested on 18 Jumada II 906, held the Citadel three months and twenty-three days and built the 'Adiliyya before the army killed him; al-Ashraf Abu al-Nasr Qansuh al-Ghuri followed on 'Id al-Fitr 906 — his second reign after about eleven days in 902 when he fled to Gaza and was lost at the battle of Khan Yunus.
Person
al-Mutawakkil 'Uthman, lord of the Maghreb
Al-Mutawakkil 'Uthman al-Hintati — lord of the Maghreb; died the night of 27 Ramadan 893 past seventy.Sharif Abu Sa'd ibn Barakat, lord of the Hijaz
Abu Sa'd b. Barakat b. Hasan b. 'Ajlan — sharif and lord of the Hijaz; died Rabi' II 894.al-Mansur 'Abd al-Wahhab ibn Dawud, lord of Yemen
Al-Mansur 'Abd al-Wahhab b. Dawud — lord of Yemen; died Jumada I 894.Ya'qub Beg ibn Hasan Beg, sultan of the two Iraqs
Ya'qub Beg — Uzun Hasan's successor as Aq Qoyunlu 'sultan of the two Iraqs'; died 896.al-Malik al-Nasir Muhammad ibn Qaytbay
Qaytbay's son, acclaimed a day before his father's death in 901 while just of age; deposed after six months and two days, restored after al-Ghuri's eleven days and disappearance at Khan Yunus, reigned a year and a half more, then killed before sunset on Wednesday 15 Rabi' I 904 — the chronicles relate ugly things of him.al-Malik al-Ashraf Jan Balat
Qaytbay's mamluk, taught by him Qur'an and reckoning; grand dawadar under al-Nasir, governor of Aleppo six years and Damascus seven months, then amir-kabir in Cairo; overcame al-Zahir Qansuh and took the sultanate on 2 Dhu'l-Qa'da 905 for half a year, built the Janbalatiyya madrasa, then was deposed and strangled at Alexandria — his body carried to Qaytbay's tomb then to his own outside Bab al-Nasr, reportedly unchanged.al-Malik al-'Adil Tuman Bay I
A leading mamluk of Qaytbay; seized power in Syria, then was acclaimed sultan after Jan Balat's deposition, mounting the throne on Saturday 18 Jumada II 906 — four months and fifteen days from his Syrian takeover, three months and twenty-three from his Citadel investiture; built the 'Adiliyya madrasa and his turba outside Bab al-Nasr, then the army stormed him and killed him.Abu Numayy II, sharif of Mecca
c. 1504 CE · 910 AHAbu Numayy II Muhammad b. Barakat — sharif of Mecca, partner to his father then sole amir; briefly deposed after Selim's accession and shared with his cousin Idris before returning; al-Nur al-Safir praises him as Mecca's most eloquent and ablest amir; died 'Ashura (the book places it under 990; historically 992).al-Shaykh 'Amir ibn Muhammad, sultan of Yemen
Sultan of Yemen — tidings of his death arrived at Damascus together with Bayezid II's and the Meccan sharif Qaytbay b. Barakat's on Sunday 18 Rabi' I 918.Qaytbay ibn Muhammad ibn Barakat, sharif of Mecca
Sharif sultan of Mecca — news of his death reached Damascus on the selfsame day as Bayezid II's and Yemen's Sultan 'Amir b. Muhammad's: Sunday 18 Rabi' I 918.Amir Marjan al-Zafiri
Aden's amir who built the dome over al-'Aydarus and lies buried with him in it — per Ba Haruq, 'counted among the saints, the humblest of rulers, most generous to the poor'; d. about 923.Muzaffar Shah, lord of Gujarat
Gujarat's sultan — 'just, learned, a lover of scholars', a fine calligrapher who copied mushafs with his own hand and sent one to Medina; his soul left him while he was prostrating. The historian notes he was apparently the sultan at whose court Ba Haruq stayed and for whom the Sira was composed.'Isa Pasha, na'ib of Damascus
The scholar-amir of Damascus — a madrasa man first (to the Eight Colleges), then muwaqqi' of the imperial diwan, then amir of Aleppo 'where his conduct was praised', then of Damascus, reseated after dismissal; he never left reading in office, abolished many wrongs and 'the villagers lived well in his days', took the Qadiri khirqa from Hasan al-Kilani; by his will he was dragged a little on the ground before burial 'in self-abasement' and buried in Ibn 'Arabi's hawsh at its eastern window.Bayezid ibn Sulayman al-'Uthmani
Prince Bayezid b. Sulayman — Shah Tahmasp killed him at the order of his own father Sultan Sulayman in 961.Humayun ibn Babur
Sultan Humayun b. Babur, king of India — the cause of his death was a fall from a roof; the Persian chronogram of his death ran 'humayun badshah az bam uftad'.Qutb Shah, sultan of Golconda
Qutb Shah b. Qasim Shah — sultan of Golconda; he killed his father the sultan at Tarjalandar (per the source), then reigned thirty-six years; died 988.Abraham Maslow
The American psychologist Abraham Maslow, as presented by Tareq al-Suwaidan: in 1943 he published the 'hierarchy of human needs', ordering man's needs from the physiological to self-actualisation.Adam Smith
The Scottish economist and thinker Adam Smith, as presented in Tareq al-Suwaidan's lessons: author of The Wealth of Nations (1776) and of the division-of-labour principle he drew from watching a pin factory; counted among the founders of modern management.al-Malik al-Zahir Qansuh
Sultan between al-Nasir b. Qaytbay's killing and Jan Balat's coup — Jan Balat came from the Damascus governorship in his days, was made amir-kabir and married to his sister; Tuman Bay sowed discord between them until Jan Balat overcame al-Zahir, who left the citadel of Egypt to him in 905.Elton Mayo
The physician Elton Mayo, as presented in Tareq al-Suwaidan's history of management: the first to argue that man has social needs more important than money — appreciation, security and belonging — producing Theory Y against Taylor's view.Frederick Taylor
The American engineer Frederick Taylor, as presented by Tareq al-Suwaidan: in 1911 he published what is counted as the first scientific study of modern management and was named 'father of scientific management'; his philosophy treated the worker as a machine moved by money (Theory X).Henry Ford
The American industrialist Henry Ford, as presented by Tareq al-Suwaidan: he revolutionised industry in 1908 by adding the assembly line to production, building on the division-of-labour principle.Jack Welch
Jack Welch, head of General Electric, as Tareq al-Suwaidan presents him: author of the 20/70/10 rule dividing staff yearly into twenty per cent outstanding — kept and rewarded — seventy ordinary who are trained, and ten per cent dismissed.Janbirdi al-Ghazali
The Circassian commander who defected at Marj Dabiq — kafil of Hama then Damascus under al-Ghuri, he had secretly pledged himself to Selim for Damascus's niaba; yet after fleeing the sultan's wing he still joined Tuman Bay against Selim until Egypt fell, then held Damascus for the Ottomans, restoring the witnesses, abolishing the mukus tolls and barring even Ottoman troops from molesting women and children.Kenneth Blanchard
Kenneth Blanchard, author of The One Minute Manager, under whom Tareq al-Suwaidan studied and whom he describes as kind and encouraging to youth; he co-authored The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey with William Oncken.Stephen Covey
Stephen Covey as Tareq al-Suwaidan presents him: the trainer from whom he learnt the critique of annual award ceremonies — asking a company head who honoured fifty of his nine hundred and eighty employees: did you hire successes or failures?Sun Tzu
Author of The Art of War, as Tareq al-Suwaidan presents him in his Practical Administration course: the oldest surviving book on management, teaching the military commander how to run his army and deal with his opponents.Vilfredo Pareto
The Italian thinker Vilfredo Pareto, author of the 80/20 law that Tareq al-Suwaidan teaches in management: twenty per cent of causes produce eighty per cent of results.William Oncken
William Oncken, the management thinker behind the 'monkey laws' theory of delegation, published in the Harvard Business Review then issued with Ken Blanchard as the joint book The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey.
Concept
Ahl al-Diwan (those paid from the state register of soldiers and officers, and the rules of their conditions and distribution)
Diwan is a Persian loan-word meaning a collection of sheets and writings, in which the army and those given grants were written; for the jurists it is the register in which the names of those in state service who receive a stipend from the public treasury are recorded, and the office that keeps it. Umar ibn al-Khattab was the first to set up the diwan, according to two accounts. The people of the diwan are of several kinds: soldiers, on conditions that are regulatory, such as puberty, freedom, Islam, health and fitness for fighting; holders of office, such as governors, judges, scholars, collectors, imams and muezzins; and the needy. The Companions differed on preference in distribution: Abu Bakr and Ali made it equal, while Umar and Uthman preferred by precedence in Islam, and Umar added kinship to the Prophet; Abu Hanifa and Ahmad followed the latter view.Ahl al-Hall wa al-Aqd (those who loose and bind: the men of power whose choice confirms the imam)
Ahl al-hall wa al-'aqd are the men of power among scholars and notables through whom the purpose of authority is achieved; the term comes from loosing and binding affairs. They differ from the ahl al-shura, since the mark of the latter is learning while the mark of the former is power. They must be just, learned, judicious and wise, have a following among the people, and be sincere toward the Muslims. The choice is made by a group known as ahl al-ikhtiyar, appointed by the caliph or those present. Their work includes choosing the imam, by agreement; renewing the allegiance to a designated successor who was not qualified when he was designated; summoning an absent designee; and dismissing the imam when the cause arises. The number needed to form the imamate is disputed: the Hanbalis require most of them in every town, others say five, and the Hanafis and Shafi'is set no number.Ahl al-Mahalla (the people of a quarter, their imam, call to prayer, and their part in the oath and blood money where a body is found)
Ahl al-mahalla are the people who settle in a place and make it their home. They differ from the 'aqila, the clan and kin who bear blood-money, since they may or may not be related. The people of a quarter have a right to their own imam in their mosque if he is fit to lead, and by the majority their call to prayer suffices for those who hear it. Where a dead body is found in a quarter and its killer is not known, the claimant swears fifty oaths; the people of the quarter then swear, or pay the blood-money, and the schools differ on the detail.Islamic management
Islamic management as Tareq al-Suwaidan frames it: a project to rewrite the science of management on the philosophy of tawhid and the principle of following the Prophet, rather than copying Western categories and colouring them with verses; he is writing it, unpublished so far, drawing on Muhammad al-Ashqar's classification of the Prophet's roles.Experience versus service, and self-development
Experience versus service in Tareq al-Suwaidan's teaching: years of work do not add up to experience without continuous development, whose minimum standards he sets as two books a month, three courses a year, one specialist and one general journal, and following two scholars of one's field.The nominal group technique
The nominal group technique, a meeting method devised at the University of Wisconsin after studying more than ten thousand meetings — which al-Suwaidan reports gives four times the results in a quarter of the time — by steps: sub-headings, individual silent writing, collecting all views without repetition, objections and inquiries only, then voting.Leadership and the leader's six roles
Leadership in Tareq al-Suwaidan's teaching: the ability to move people toward a goal; the leader works only in six roles — planning, innovation, building key relationships, solving chronic problems, developing himself and others, and appreciation — everything else is management, delegated.Situational leadership
Situational leadership as Tareq al-Suwaidan teaches it: the leader either directs or encourages, producing four styles (director, coach, encourager, delegator) matched to four subordinate types (beginner, intermediate, advanced, expert); the effective leader changes his style with the task and the person.Vision and mission in strategic planning
The vision, in Tareq al-Suwaidan's teaching, is a mental picture of the organisation at a future point, and the mission a short sentence summarising who we are and what we want; he gives the ten criteria of a mission and the team method for writing both, distinguishing them from the slogan and the logo.Motivation
Motivation in Tareq al-Suwaidan's teaching: a person receiving a verbal, positional or material reward; it fails without inner desire and without knowledge, planning and experience, its highest degree is belief in an idea, and honouring a single 'ideal employee' is a failed philosophy.Strategic planning
Strategic planning as Tareq al-Suwaidan teaches it: a decision about the direction of the future, made at sector level and above and covering five years or more, unlike operational planning; he presents Pfeiffer's Applied Strategic Planning method, adjusted by his own experience, from 'planning to plan' through the values review.Alay (Ottoman ceremonial parade and the military term)
Alay, a Turkish word probably derived from the Greek allagion, a division of the Byzantine army. In Ottoman usage it meant a troop or a parade, then a crowd, and from the 19th-century military reforms a regiment. The Ottoman sultans' ceremonial parades bore the name.Ali ibn Abi Talib's administrative principles
The principles the book draws from Ali's letter to Malik al-Ashtar and his letters to governors: balancing order against the human factor, valuing experience, watchful oversight, appointment by test and not favour, consultation, material security for officials, opposing rigidity, direct contact between superior and subordinate, the management of kharaj and the treasury, protection of traders and the weak, and reward and punishment. The book presents these as its own reading of the texts, not as a fixed administrative code.Amir (commander, governor, prince in Islamic history)
Amir, a term basically Islamic for commander, governor and prince. The Qur'an has only ulu l-amr, but amir occurs often in the traditions. In the Medinan caliphate army commanders and governors who had been conquering generals were called amirs. The Umayyads separated administrative and financial duties, and under the 'Abbasids the amir became a bureaucratic official appointed by the caliph, until the amirate turned into independent dynasties.Amir silah (grand master of the armour; Mamluk office)
Amir silah, 'grand master of the armour', was an office of the Mamluk kingdom. He was in charge of the armour-bearers and supervised the arsenal, bearing the sultan's arms in public ceremonies and conveying them to him in battle; under the Circassians he was the second office among the highest amirs.Teamwork and running meetings
Tareq al-Suwaidan's seven criteria of a work team — choosing a leader who actually leads, planning, participation, motivation, distributing roles, managing discussion while protecting the weak, and managing the three kinds of information — including his summary of how meetings are run and sabotaged.Fiqh al-tamkin (the fiqh of the nation's empowerment)
Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy holds that the nation's empowerment has conditions, causes, obstacles and results, and that the nation lost it when it abandoned its causes.Gifts to officials (hadaya al-ummal) and the rule against them
Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy holds that public money is a trust in the hands of the ruler and official, and that accepting gifts because of one's office comes close to bribery.Life management and choosing one's field
Life management in Tareq al-Suwaidan's teaching — the fourth generation of time management: choosing a single field of life by the desire-opportunity-ability equation, setting three to ten major projects needing fifteen to twenty years, and distributing goals over one's faith, social, health, financial and skill roles, by the fifty-per-cent rule.Time management
Time management as Tareq al-Suwaidan teaches it: four generations — the to-do list of non-repeated tasks in columns, then the weekly schedule by periods not hours, then priority-ranking with three to five circles, then the ordering of all of life; his rule that discretionary tasks are distributed one day ahead only, since the average person accomplishes half of what he plans.The science of management
Management as a science, as presented in Tareq al-Suwaidan's Practical Administration course: a human discipline as old as humanity, which he divides into four parts — administrative operations (planning, organising, directing, controlling), administrative functions, administrative skills, and the modern trends he added.Imamat al-kubra (the great imamate, the caliphate)
The great imamate is a general leadership in religion and state, as the successor of the Prophet. The jurists agree that it is a communal obligation carried out by those who choose and those who qualify. Its conditions include those agreed (Islam, adulthood, maleness, freedom, capacity and sound senses) and those disputed (justice, ijtihad and Qurayshi descent). It is established by allegiance, by the imam's designation of a successor, or in necessity by seizure. The majority forbid two imams at one time. The imam's duties are guarding the religion and serving the public interest.Imara (the office of amir: delegated rule, the seized emirate and the emirate of the pilgrimage)
Imara is the office of the amir, the authority that governs. It is general, the caliphate, or specific, when an amir is appointed for a task, a place or a time. The delegated emirate is the ruler's commission to someone who governs a region; its conditions are Islam, sanity and being male, and justice, ijtihad and capacity are disputed. The seized emirate is the ruler's confirmation, for the sake of public order, of one who has taken power by force. The emirate of the pilgrimage has two kinds: performing the rites and conducting the pilgrims.Inizal (the ceasing of an office when its holder loses qualification)
Inizal is the passive form of the verb for dismissal (azl), which is separating one thing from another; in fiqh it is the loss by a holder of authority of his right to act. It may come through dismissal or by operation of law, as with the apostate or the insane. The principle is that one who takes an office by a fixed competence or specific conditions, and then loses that competence or an essential condition, is dismissed by law without need of a decision. This differs from the entitlement to dismissal (istihqaq al-azl), which arises when the holder commits what requires his removal, such as a judge who is corrupt, rules by whim or takes bribes.Islamization
Islamization is societies' turning to Islam in belief and institutions; the conquest literature records people entering Islam after the futuh, while academic study describes the transformation as gradual across centuries.Key performance indicators (KPI)
A key performance indicator, as Tareq al-Suwaidan teaches it, is the minimum acceptable level of a goal in a given field; it is set for every independent and support unit, between three and ten indicators, difficult yet achievable, necessarily measurable, and agreed by negotiation with the unit's leadership.The decision matrix
The decision matrix as Tareq al-Suwaidan teaches it: essential conditions are separated from preferential ones, alternatives failing the essentials are excluded starting with the easiest to check, the survivors are scored on the preferentials, and conditions may be weighted; his rule is that a decision improves as alternatives multiply.Nawa'ib (extraordinary levies on the people: their rightful and unjust forms)
Nawa'ib are the plural of nawaiba, a calamity or an extraordinary matter that befalls people. In the Hanafi usage the term can mean a rightful levy, such as one the imam imposes to equip the army or ransom captives when the treasury has no money, or an unjust exaction. Imposing a levy is obligatory when there is public benefit and the treasury cannot meet it, the jurists citing the Qur'anic command to strive with one's wealth and self (surat al-Tawba, ayah 41). A permitted form is a fee for escort or guard that does not burden the people. An unjust levy need not be paid, and Ibn Abidin held that paying unjust levies helps the oppressor. Guaranteeing a rightful levy is permitted by Hanafi agreement, and the Hanafis differ on guaranteeing unjust ones. The Hanafis allow one who pays another's levy with his leave to reclaim it.Motivation theories in management (X, Y, Z and Maslow)
Motivation theories as Tareq al-Suwaidan narrates their development: Taylor's Theory X (man is a machine moved by money), Mayo's Theory Y (man is a social being), Maslow's hierarchy of needs (1943), Theory Z (needs differ from person to person) — and his own proposed 'Theory A': a return to creed as the foundation of management.Conspiracy theory (nazariyyat al-muamara) and the nation's decline
The programme asks whether the conspiracy theory explains the nation's decline; Sheikh Omar Abdelkafy holds that the first cause of defeat is distance from God and the ethics of 'la ilaha illa Allah'.Pareto's law (the 80/20 rule)
Pareto's law as Tareq al-Suwaidan teaches it: twenty per cent of causes yield eighty per cent of results — in decisions, time, customers, staff and problems — with Jack Welch's 20/70/10 rule at General Electric as an application.The monkey laws and delegation
The monkey laws as Tareq al-Suwaidan explains them from Oncken and Blanchard's book: the monkey is the next step, it has one owner, its owner is the lowest management level able to handle it, delegation does not cancel responsibility, and his rule — 'do not take other people's monkeys'.The quartets of making creatives
Tareq al-Suwaidan's methodology distilled from the lives of the greats of Islamic civilisation and the sciences of management and human development — also called 'the secrets of the greats': four stages of four elements each, from the spark of beginning to unique giving; two per cent of creatives suffices, in his view, for the ummah's rise.The police (shurta) under Ali
Under Ali the police were an important office. His police included Abu al-Hayyaj al-Asadi, Qays ibn Sa'd, Ma'qil ibn Qays, Malik ibn Khubayb, al-Asbagh ibn Nubata and Sa'id ibn Sariya; their work included helping the needy and feeding the poor, and prisoners were fed and clothed.Line of business and strategic business unit (LOB and SBU)
The line of business (LOB) is the strategic axis of what the organisation sells, and a strategic business unit (SBU), in Tareq al-Suwaidan's teaching, is any part of the core business able to stand alone with its own plan, management, budget and decisions; together they govern an organisation chart that changes with each plan.Organizational change
Organizational change as Tareq al-Suwaidan distils it from leading management scholars: change is planning plus expected resistance and how to overcome it; it is practised in success, not only in crisis; it is brought down big and sudden rather than gradually; and it is effective only through changing people and their mindsets.DISC personality analysis
The DISC model (and its British counterpart Thomas) as Tareq al-Suwaidan teaches it: classifying leadership personalities on the axes of task- versus people-focus and fast versus gradual — dominant, influencer, steady, cautious, and the centre — applied to hiring and team building, with a stated error margin.Ulu al-amr (those in authority)
Ulu al-amr are those in authority; the phrase in the Qur'an has two views: scholars of the Qur'an and of knowledge, and the rulers and governors. The caliph must be a Muslim, free, adult, sane, male, learned, upright and capable; those below him have fewer conditions. Obedience is owed in what is not sinful, and their duties include guarding the religion, enforcing rulings, protecting the state, enforcing penalties and consultation.Wizara (vizierate and the minister's office)
Wizara (vizierate) in the lexicon derives from burden, support or refuge, and is a kind of authority: the minister is a helper, an adviser and a refuge in trouble. The Qur'an reports Moses asking God for a minister from his family, Aaron, and the sunna reports the saying that the Prophet's ministers in heaven are Gabriel and Michael and on earth Abu Bakr and Umar; a report from Aisha says that God gives a ruler a true minister when He wishes him well. Al-Mawardi argues that if a minister is lawful for a prophet it is more so for an imam, who cannot manage the community's affairs alone. There are two kinds: the minister of delegation, the first office after the caliphate, who holds whatever authority the caliph holds; and the minister of execution, weaker in authority, who carries out and transmits the ruler's orders. A minister of delegation must be a Muslim, a man, sound in mind and judgement (some say mature at forty), just, trustworthy in money, able to exercise independent judgement in religion though not at the level of the fully qualified jurist, capable in administration, sound in senses, brave, and not engaged in trade. Appointment requires an express words conferring general authority and asking for deputyship; a bare permission or an ambiguous phrase does not suffice. A minister of delegation has general authority, such as appointing judges and governors, raising troops, disbursing funds and sending armies, except the designation of an heir, resignation from the imamate, and dismissal of the one who appointed him. Two ministers of delegation cannot be appointed with equal general power: if they are joined, they act only on what both agree; if each has a separate field, they are governors of a limited task rather than ministers of delegation. The minister must consult the imam in grave matters and report his decisions; he chooses assistants by the legal qualities and watches over their work. The executive minister needs trustworthiness, honesty, moderate greed, freedom from enmity, memory, intelligence, freedom from desire and experience; he need not be a jurist, since he does not judge. Al-Mawardi and Abu Ya'la allow a non-Muslim as executive minister, al-Juwayni refuses, and Umar rebuked Abu Musa for employing a Christian secretary. The appointment is a revocable contract: the ruler may dismiss either minister, a minister of delegation may dismiss his own executive minister, and either may resign; a minister is dismissed for proven betrayal, negligence or incapacity, or moved to a lighter post.
Group
Work
Al-Tartib al-Idariyya (The Administrative Arrangements)
Al-Tartib al-Idariyya, as presented by Tareq al-Suwaidan: the oldest printed Muslim reference on administration, from the seventh Hijri century, containing job descriptions for state posts from the judge to the army commander.The Art of War
Sun Tzu's The Art of War, as presented in Tareq al-Suwaidan's Practical Administration course: the oldest surviving book on management — a military book teaching a commander the rules of running an army and handling opponents, on which later management books such as The Art of War in Business were built.The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey
Kenneth Blanchard and William Oncken's joint book on the 'monkey laws' of delegation; Tareq al-Suwaidan recounts that publishers rejected Oncken's idea until Blanchard wrote the book's foreword, after which it spread and made its author famous.
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