A Preamble to Educating Leadership

Intention

Before one can lead others with integrity, dignity, and grace he must lead his own heart, mind, and action with sincerity towards a path that is noble, worthy, and good. 

At Sanad Prep, the cornerstone education service of Sanad Trust Foundation, we begin every day with the intention inspired and passed down from Imam Abdullah ibn Alawi al Hadad — the sage and scholar of the 12th Hijri century. Its comprehensiveness and brevity inspired us to incorporate it as The Sanad Prep Oath for Teaching and Learning from day one. 

After beginning in the name of Allah, praising Him, and asking for the peace and blessings of Allah grace the Prophet Muhammad we say, with Imam Hadad:

I intend to learn and to teach; to remember and to remind; to benefit myself and to benefit others; to serve and to be served (by the knowledge); to encourage observance of the book of Allah and the example of His Messenger (peace be upon him); to call towards guidance; to direct towards the good; to seek (thereby) the Countenance of Allah, His Satisfaction, His Closeness, and His Reward.  

Character as Channeled Force

After orienting our intention we must begin building our discussion upon some of the foundational qualities of leadership. For educators and students, the young and old, individuals and organizations, parents and community no audience can be spoken to about leadership without including the imperative of moral etiquette, refinement, and good character — or adab, defined broadly in those terms. Furthermore and within this context, adab channeled, is specifically an even greater achievement and must be a greater encouragement. An individual with adab must know or be inspired to discover what they can do with this quality when it is guided well, thus adab is seen as an ability. 

When perceived through this lens we can begin to imagine open-ended questions. What can we accomplish extrinsically with adab as an intrinsic quality? And collectively, if we have individuals of good character, what can this collective accomplish? Then we expand the boundaries of our thoughts beyond the individual level or communal level but, continue to a global level. The impact of people walking on this planet upright with good character — men and women — is what the world calls us to imagine at this moment and at any given time, that’s a goal, to at least imagine this. 

The Imperative to Preserve

And this is one of the things that we try, or rather we have an intention for, as I can’t say that we are always successful … only Allah knows, but it’s one of the things that we attempt to do at Sanad Prep with our students. That is, to cultivate and create an environment where our students and even our staff, who are also, in one regard, students of knowledge, can preserve their good character and imagine their positive impact on the world around them. Most K-12 learning environments and social settings, in general, today exhaustingly and incessantly challenge this effort of maintaining the attributes of adab (moral etiquette). The reality is that our learning and social environment can disfigure our character. Our life space can (and should) also be inspired and cultivated and beautified and made better and improved upon, and in turn, have this influence upon us and our character as well. 

Youth Must Know Who They Truly Are

There is an idea that we talk about with our students often and we share this with all youth. It may not always be meaningful and that’s okay. It may not always seem important and that’s also okay. The truth is that we’re all still growing and we’re learning what our priorities are, what is important, and the definitions of things. As educators at Sanad Prep we’ve always been okay with that process of growth, it never deters us from continuing to remind our students about these concepts. We know that our students are the most important part of what we do. 

The idea is that we all are important. We mean something and we must matter in the effort to serve and uplift humanity. It is critical to consistently remind students about why they are so important in this regard, why they are so loved, and why our work for them is so important. The reality is that they are ‘the tomorrow’ and within them is the environment that we’re hoping for in our world. 

What we remind youth about and the culture we help them cultivate within themselves is what will impact the world. In 5, 10, 20 years many of our students today, who are young adults already, will be in positions of influence and leadership. At Sanad Prep perhaps we have an extraordinary amount of hope, but when we see our students — and I hope that every educator feels the same way about their students — we truly see the leaders of tomorrow.  We expect our students, every one of them to be a leader in their own regard, in their own respect, in their own personality, and in their own qualities. It doesn’t mean that they have to give speeches on the top of a mountain but we certainly expect them to be leaders of character. Their refinement and ihsan should manifest in their words, actions, good decision making, and wisdom. We expect them to lead in those qualities, many of which are inward qualities. 

A Conclusion for Youth and Adults

In the end, what we remind any youth who may be reading this, whether they’re a Sanad Prep student or not, is that what you may see in the world of disorder and chaos and political turmoil and environmental issues, those are all things that are unfortunately waiting for someone to change them. As Dr. Suess wrote amongst the last lines of The Lorax, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” So, if you’re a young person looking around at the world today, don’t be dismayed, and don’t be depressed, and don’t be saddened. Rather, be motivated, be inspired, and know that those are opportunities waiting for someone with good character, perhaps like yourself, to change them, address them, and improve upon them. 

Any conclusion to this discussion that does not center some of the responsibility upon us as parents, as leaders, as educators, and as institution-builders to really believe in this ideal first and foremost within ourselves is void. With this ideal in hand, we then must try our best to create the space, the environment, and the inspiration within young people to believe this potential in themselves. If we’re having a hard time expressing and communicating to the young people in our lives how important they are, how much they are loved, and how much the world is in need of their potential …  then we have failed.

A Prayer

I end with a prayer that wherever a student may be learning today, whether it’s a public school, a private school, a faith-based school, or a homeschool that they feel first and foremost loved;  then, that they are important; and finally, that they know they have the potential to change the world around them. No matter how young you may be, you have that capacity in you. I pray that you’re in a learning environment that cultivates that awareness and inspires that. And I pray that you are in a family environment and a community that does this as well. 

May God give us the himma (the aspiration and motivation) for not just completing our academic life and work with success in this regard year after year, but for the entirety and the balance of our lives. May God enable us to be inspired and grace us with the ability to inspire others insha’Allah.

Know that for those of us who strive to live by faith-based principles, and specifically the principles of Islam and the character of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that we have all of the tools that we need.

_{An essay inspired by and based on the Jan. 7, 2020, Sanad Prep morning assembly – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETsxPhUqXNY}

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