Who Are We Preparing to Replace Us?

*Islamic leadership was never meant to be about occupying a seat indefinitely. It is an amānah!*

Towards the end of the life of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, he appointed Usāmah ibn Zayd رضي الله عنه to command an army. Some questioned his appointment, and the Prophet ﷺ responded by defending his suitability for leadership: “By Allah, he was indeed worthy of leadership,” just as his father Zayd had been worthy of leadership before him. The significance of this is difficult to miss. Usāmah was a young man, yet he was entrusted with genuine responsibility, not merely given a place amongst the elders to observe them.

This was not an isolated feature of the Prophetic model.

 Zayd ibn Thābit رضي الله عنه was still a young man when the Messenger ﷺ recognised his ability and commissioned him to learn the writing of the Jews so that he could handle important correspondence. Zayd would later become one of the central figures entrusted with the preservation and compilation of the Qur'an.

There is something here that I think our communities need to reflect upon.

We speak frequently about developing the next generation, but development requires more than youth programmes and occasional opportunities to speak. At some point, young people have to be brought close enough to leadership to understand how decisions are made, how difficulties are managed, how people are dealt with, and how institutions actually function. They need to shadow those carrying responsibility, then carry some responsibility themselves, make mistakes while experienced people are still present to guide them, and gradually become capable of carrying the institution without them.

Too many of our community institutions remain dependent upon one or two individuals. The same people chair, decide, negotiate, resolve problems and hold institutional knowledge for years, sometimes decades. Often this is not because of bad intention; it simply develops gradually. But from an organisational perspective, we have created a single point of failure. If the leader becomes ill, relocates, burns out or dies, much of the knowledge and capability leaves with them.

Islamic leadership was never meant to be about occupying a seat indefinitely. It is an amānah, and part of that trust is ensuring that what has been built can continue when we are no longer the ones building it.

Perhaps our boards, mosques, schools, charities and community organisations need to think about succession as deliberately as they think about growth. Every significant leadership role should have someone being developed beneath it. Not as a ceremonial “youth representative”, but through genuine exposure, mentoring, delegated authority and a pathway towards responsibility.

The success of leadership is not only measured by what happens while we are in the seat. It is also measured by what remains capable of functioning when we eventually leave it.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ did not leave behind a community that could only function in his presence. He ﷺ developed people capable of carrying the mission after him.

There is a lesson in that for every one of us entrusted with leadership today.

Your brother

Sajid Umar

Location: 'somewhere en route to the hereafter'

12/03/1448 (AH) - 25/08/2026