By Mohamed Abutaleb

If you missed the earlier article on 5 Mistakes of Young MSA Leaders, check it out here.

When I was first handed the reins of our MSA (Muslim Student Association) at the age of 18, I never imagined that it would lead to some of the most powerful leadership experiences I’d share at job interviews for more than a decade to come:  difficult personalities, budgets, crisis management, media, public speaking, and mediation. Many of my cabinet and successors shared the same experience. More than one credited his/her MSA experience in landing a great job.  Here are 5 tips on how to hone exceptional leadership experience throughout your years of service:

1. Become a Remarkable Listener – Whether in families, marriages, or MSAs, many of us are already busy preparing our rebuttal while the other person is still speaking to us. Resolve to become a remarkable listener. Hear not just what the person is saying, but what is beneath their words. Pause a lot, repeat what the person is saying, and let others do most of the talking. Be open to being wrong. So many times, the Qur’an reprimands people who “would not hear.”

2. Learn to be Loved and Hated – This is a tough one. Effective leadership commands respect and comes with honor but that also means it is a weighty responsibility and attracts jealousy, envy, and hatred. Find that tough balance between self-righteousness and stardom. Don’t be fooled into thinking every time someone disagrees with you, you’re the only one on the truth and Islam’s last defender. Moderate your opinions with mentors and a wise inner circle. To lead, you must also give up your dream of being popular or everyone’s best friend. If everyone’s always singing your praises, then you’re either insincere or not doing anything worthwhile – even the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) himself had those who opposed him.

3. Shift the Spotlight – The Prophet ﷺ says, “He who does not show gratitude to people, has not been truly thankful to Allah (subhanahu wa ta`ala – Exalted is He).” When you appreciate the investment of your team, you embody a small, human manifestation of the attribute in Allah’s Name As-Shakoor (The Appreciative) – the One who rewards His servants’ deeds beyond measure. Be quick to volunteer for the most difficult and least glamorous tasks, and the last to claim credit or seek worldly fame.

In our MSA, there was a brother who would pick up all the date pits during Ramadan and take out the trash before the assigned committee could ever get to it. None of us could figure out who he was. When that unknown brother broke his arm, all of the sudden, the date pits piled up and the trash bags weren’t collected. He never shared it with anyone, and I don’t think anyone figured it out but me. Forget the likes, fame, and people’s adoration – seeking to please Allah is true leadership.

4. Treasure Your Time – To truly excel, you must cultivate not only the discipline to avoid the prohibited (haram), but the courage to let go of some of the halal. We all only get 24 hours a day. Al-Hasan al-Basri says, “You are but a collection of days – when a day departs, so does a part of you.” Great leaders treasure their time more than others while remaining balanced, they spend less idle moments, turn off notifications, and moderate their consumption of entertainment. Beyond the x’s and o’s, they beg Allah to place baraka (blessing) in their time. Reading the stories of scholars is a great place to see this trait in action.

When I was 21, people told me that I was one of the stronger public speakers in the DC area. I was in trouble. I heard people calling me “scholar” when I didn’t even qualify as a student, and I was one of the more driven individuals in my circle of friends. Then I met a passionate speaker with few as equals, with a stronger command of both the Islamic and worldly sciences than I. Essentially, a person who made me feel he had accomplished more with his time in every facet that I was praised for. Great leaders have to find the self-security and courage to surround themselves with people who are better, faster, and smarter than them.

5. Renew, Restore, and Reinvest – It seems like the more technology we have, the less productive we are; the more messaging apps, the worse our actual communication; and the more stuff and clutter in our lives, the less focused we are on our actual purpose in existence. Do you realize that your great-grandparents lived in a world without television, personal computers, the Internet, and laundry machines? Do you know that just 12 years ago, neither YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, nor Snapchat even existed?

The five prayers give a natural structure to the day, and this ummah (global community) is blessed in the time of the early morning hours. Make a sincere intention to wake up for fajr prayer and stay up, and discipline yourself to structure your day. To do that, you have to sleep at a reasonable hour. Don’t start or end your day with emails or texts.  Don’t touch your phone, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever for at least the first hour. Start with a spiritual breakfast (prayer/dhikr – remembrance), exercise, and a healthy meal. Remember that to give back to others, you must first be healthy and whole yourself.

I ask Allah to grant you sincerity, patience, and fulfillment in carrying the trust and responsibility of MSA leadership.  I pray that it is a means of growth and development for you and those you serve, and a joy on the day you meet Allah (subhanahu wa ta`ala).

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Mohamed AbuTaleb serves as the Imam of the Islamic Association of Raleigh. He is a lifelong student of the Quran and Islamic studies and also shares a love of science and reason, having completed his Ph.D. and Master’s degrees in electrical engineering from MIT along with degrees in physics and mathematics from the University of Maryland.  Mohamed has traveled the United States extensively as a lecturer, trainer, and educator.  His style focuses on enabling audiences to couple transformative understanding with relevance to daily life, and to cut across labels and divisions through scholarship and dialogue.  You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube or on his website. 

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

By Mohamed AbuTaleb

The MSA was one of my first exposures to activism, leadership, and community organization – and some of the experiences I had there would not be repeated for a decade after.  But life looks different as the years pass, and looking back, our 18, 20, and 22 year olds carry a heavy load that many seniors would crumble under.  Here’s a few mistakes to avoid from your older brother that I wish someone told me when I was entrusted with the reins of our MSA:

1.  Spiritual Laziness – With the demands of activism, the meetings, emails, and late conference calls (do you all still do those?) it’s easy to take away from your extra nafl worship or worse, encroach on the obligatory fardh.  Remember that when the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) was given extra responsibility by Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He), he was commanded to pray more and more, not less.  As an activist you should hold yourself to a higher spiritual standard than those you lead.

2. Untouchable Ego – Chances are, you wouldn’t be in your position if you weren’t ambitious, accomplished, and diligent.  But that doesn’t make you or me perfect.  Select a group of friends where you’re just you – not president, treasurer, or activist – and choose friends who aren’t afraid to be your mirror and give you some tough love when you need it.  I could tell you by name who these people were (and are) in my life, and point to several occasions when they really let me have it (lovingly) when others weren’t courageous enough to give me the advice I needed.  Pick good mentors and teachers as well – if you’re the best person you know, then I don’t know how you plan on improving.

3. Lowering the Guard with the Opposite Gender – A midnight chat message for that upcoming da`wah (outreach) event.  A 10 pm phone call to plan for tomorrow’s meeting.  Text messages back and forth.  Your responsibilities will open the door for sustained and substantial interactions with the opposite gender, whether you seek them or they come to you.  Be conscious of Allah (swt), and also surround yourself with practices that promote the right conduct – including promoting the right behavior when others don’t share your same standards.  Know what time at night you stop replying to messages and taking calls.  Meet in groups and in public places, and avoid isolation.  When you have to email someone one-one-one, cc somebody else who’s related to one of you – they probably won’t read it, but since they might you’ll both think about the language more carefully.  Tips like these help box out the shaytan (Satan), so that it’s not always so tough on you and others to do the right thing.  The decisions and seriousness you approach this with will directly impact the quality and happiness of your future marriage and the spouse Allah (swt) blesses you with.

4. Academic Mediocrity – You are in a period of investment, and it’s called school for a reason.  What you take for granted now will be much tougher to attain later – being surrounded by scholarship, freedom of thought, diverse perspectives, and so much more that makes the college experience.  Work hard in your classes and don’t be like me and take until junior year to learn how useful office hours are.  Remember that Allah (swt) loves those who practice ihsaan (excellence), and that whoever takes a path seeking knowledge, Allah (swt) makes easy for him or her a path to heaven through it.

5. Becoming a Night Owl.  The five prayers give a natural structure to the day, and this ummah (community) is blessed in the time of the early morning hours.  Make a sincere intention to wake up for fajr (the dawn prayer) and stay up, and discipline yourself to structure your day.  To do that, you have to sleep at a reasonable hour.  Don’t start or end your day with emails or texts.  Don’t touch your phone, Facebook, Twitter, or whatever for the first hour – start with spiritual breakfast (prayer/dhikr [remembrance]), exercise, and physical activity.  Remember that to give back to others, you must first be healthy and whole yourself.

I ask Allah (swt) to grant you sincerity, patience, and fulfillment in carrying the trust and responsibility of MSA leadership.  I pray that it is a means of growth and development for you and those you serve, and a joy on the day you meet Allah (swt).

Mohamed AbuTaleb serves as the Imam of the Islamic Association of Raleigh. He is a lifelong student of the Quran and Islamic studies and also shares a love of science and reason, having completed his Ph.D. and Master’s degrees in electrical engineering from MIT along with degrees in physics and mathematics from the University of Maryland.  Mohamed has traveled the United States extensively as a lecturer, trainer, and educator.  His style focuses on enabling audiences to couple transformative understanding with relevance to daily life, and to cut across labels and divisions through scholarship and dialogue.  You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube or on his website.