Assalamualaikum.
Me personally feels annoyed with how world close their already-blind-eyes to the cruelty that is happening clearly on their face. Especially to what is happening in Syria now. COWARD! The 'cruel' but coward them. Cruel Bashar al-Asaad will trapped with his own cruelty!
May Allah ease those who are in those situation. PALESTINIAN. SYRIAN. BANGLADESHI. CAMBODIAN.. and whoever they are. Wherever you are. Be strong. Never give up. ALLAH hear you. Wait for the time to come.
AS MUSLIMS, WE SHOULD STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT ISLAM WILL FINALLY WIN!
Allah knows when.
Here I share how I condemned Bashar al-Assad and his 'leadership-so-call' skills in 'formal manner'. This is my Industrial and Organisational Psychology: I/O In The New's assessment which I need to give opinions regarding any article chosen from the newspaper. I do not get high marks for this assessment. But I got high understanding through out the writing process. I wrote this a year ago, it's the downfall of Bashar al-Assad.
Reminder: THE WRITINGS ARE FROM ME, AND THEY ARE REFERRED FROM THE REFERENCES LISTED BELOW. Please inform me if there are misinformation found. Do not believe 100% as this is might be a bias opinion from me, and please do not kopi-pasta as the information might not 100% accurate. I will not responsible for any misuse of the kopi-pasta from your part.
Review of the Article
On 16 December 2011, The Star newspaper reported that
Syria revolt enters 10th month. The article is about the undesirable
situations that currently happen in Syria for almost a year today. The revolt
started when Syrians first erupted in mid-March 2011 against Bashar al-Assad’s
leadership.The clashes in Daraa province is initially happened due to the
uncovered of the report that several numbers of rebel soldiers mutinied after
receiving direct orders to shoot on civilians.
The newspaper article later stated that Human Rights
Watch had named 74 military and intelligent officers who allegedly ordered,
authorized, or condoned widespread killings, torture, and unlawful arrests in
its report entitled By All Means Necessary. But, the specific names of
those people are not being published in the article. Anna Neistat, from the New
York-based Human Rights Watch, said that those responsible people, up to the
highest levels of the Syrian government should answer for their crimes for
Syrian people. She was urging the UN Security Council to refer the case to the
International Criminal Court. Unfortunately, because Syria is not an International
Criminal Court (ICC) member, the court can only intervene after a Security
Council referral (The Star, December 2011).
The relationship of the article with the Industrial and
Organisational Psychology is that to view and compared between the leadership
styles of the president of Syria, Bashar al- Assad with the Islamic leadership
styles that is recommended not only by the religion, but also practical for the
whole world society.
Syria Current Condition
Syrians have already started the
revolution against their dictatorial regime, the Assad’s family, which scores
killed and injured in Daraa and neighboring cities. Syria has been ruled by the
al-Assad family since 1970 in
the name of the Baath Party when general Hafez al-Assad came to power after a
bloody rebellion, that later was succeeded by his son; Bashar al-Assad, after
his death in 2000.
The Assad family is part of the
minority sect, a Shiite (Shiah) Muslim group that has dominated political life
in Syria since the Baath Party seized power in 1963 despite making up only 12
percent of the population.
People revolt to overthrow Bashar
al-Assad from the president position after he is being very cruel to the
people. Large protests started erupted in the southern city of Daraa in March
2011, after the soldiers arrest the school-children who scribbling
anti-government graffiti on walls. Until today, thousands of people have been
killed, including civilians, opposition fighters and the regular crowd.
Bashar al-Assad Leadership Style
At the beginning of his leadership, Bashar's rise to
power was received with obvious neglect; and doubts were expressed regarding
Bashar's ability to lead the country. Bashar is lack of maturity, experience, and
self-confidence. He is also seen lack charisma and leadership qualities, while as
one noted expert on Syria put it, Bashar lacks the "killer instinct"
vital to anyone who would rule the country (Eyal Zisser, 2003).
In his domestic policy, he has been criticized
for a disregard for human rights, economic lapses, and corruptions. The Syrian
Security Forces represented by several brigades and ultimately under the
control of the president of Syria Bashar al-Assad, have reportedly directly
executed, commanded, or supervised attacks against demonstrators and more
generally civilians (International Federation of Human Rights, 2011).
Organisational Leadership: An Islamic Overview of
Leadership
Islam recognizes that every individual has the potential to lead and
acquire responsibility of leadership, which can range from being a ruler to a
leader of prayers in a community or an organisation. As mentioned by Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh), “Every one of you is a shepherd and every one of you is
responsible for what he is shepherd of” (Sahih Al Bukhari). But, some characteristics
have to be fulfilling to become a good leader. Safi (1995) generally defines
leadership as the capacity to mobilize of people towards a set of articulated
goals, and to ensure their continuous cooperation for the realization of these
goals. In other point of view, the main concept of Islamic leadership is to
lead to achieve and compete to be ahead of others to seek the measure of Allah
and success in the hereafter (Majeed et al., 2011).
According to Sufi (1995), there is several leadership
traits that has to be possess in order one’s to be a good leader. Some three of
those are as follow:
One of the important
traits is Knowledge or ‘Ilm.
Leaders expected to be knowledgeable and well informed. Without a proper
knowledge, there must be some difficulties in leading the organization.
Ultimately, it is not one’s scope of pure knowledge that matters in the
exercise of leadership, but one’s ability to apply the knowledge obtained to
practical situations. As we discuss earlier, Bashar has a lack of knowledge in
administration the country at the first place. This might be the disruptive for
him to success in his leadership. In short, leaders must be intellectual and
perceptive, capable of analyzing the overall situation, establishing priorities
for action, and developing strategies for their implementation (Safi, 1995).
The next important trait is Conviction or Yaqin.
Convictions and patience are one of the leader’s most important qualities. This trait is
important in times of volatility and change is seen in the fact that the
existing rules, regulation, and order begins to break down. In this situation,
actions can be guided only by the principles and values of the leader.
Conviction also important in order the leader wants to reform the accepted
patterns of behaviour, and to challenge the status quo of the organisation. As
Bashar lack of the leadership characteristics, it is hard for him to climb to
the top, or even a lower stage of a ‘good leadership’ title. (lack information here, sorry!)
Another important trait of a good leader is Leniency
or Lin. Leniency is leader’s genuine concern for the well-being of
subordinates and for those who come under his responsibility and reflect
attitude of a compassion and humility. This is totally contradicted with the
leadership of Bashar who is not only cannot being lenient to the people,
instead has killing thousands of innocent people. Prophet Muhammad is one of
the good model as a leader, whom his kindness and good manner that kept the believers
attracted to him, as stated in ali – Imran verse 159,
“It is by the mercy of
Allah that you have been lenient with them (the believers). Were you severe or
harsh hearted, they would have broken away from you: so pass over (heir faults),
and ask for (Allah’s) forgiveness for them, and consult them in (public)
affairs.”
In conclusion, effective leader is recognized as an important
figure in achieving organisational goals and objectives. Continuous efforts to
acquire skills would be able to lead a person to become a successful leader. Thus,
the ultimate objective of the Islamic leadership is to attaining satisfaction
of Allah through fulfillment of organisational rational (halal) objectives.
References
A.
Leadership in Islam
Safi, L. (1995). Leadership and subordination: an Islamic
perspective. The American Journal of Islamic
Social Sciences, 12, 204-223.
Ather, S. M., &Sobhani, F.A. (2007).Managerial leadership: an islamic perspective. IIUC Studies, 4, 7-24.
Majeed, Y., Khalid,
Z., & Khan, M. A. (2011). The impact of islamic leadership on organizational objectives. Far East
Journal of Marketing and Management, 12.
Toor, S. R. (2008). Merging spirituality and religion:
developing an Islamic leadership theory. IIUM journal of Economics and Management, 16, 15-46.
Mir, A. M. (2010). Leadership in islam. Journal of
Leadership Studies, 4.
B.
Syria and Bashar al- Assad’s Leadership
Characteristics
FIDH, (2011). Report of human rights violations committed in
syria. Bashar al Assad: Criminal against
Humanity.
AFPC, (2010). Syria. World Almanac of Islamism.
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