Obligingness to Leadership: A Case Study of the Qur’an
| Journal | Al-Basirah |
| Title | Obligingness to Leadership: A Case Study of the Qur’an |
| Author(s) | Shahzad, Irfan |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Year | 2015 |
| Pages | 39-58 |
| Full Text |  |
| Keywords | Following; Obligingness; Hierarchy of Needs; SelfActualization; Ego Depletion; Situational Factor. |
| Chicago 16th | Shahzad, Irfan. "Obligingness to Leadership: A Case Study of the Qur’an." Al-Basirah 4, no. 1 (2015). |
| APA 6th | Shahzad, I. (2015). Obligingness to Leadership: A Case Study of the Qur’an. Al-Basirah, 4(1). |
| MHRA | Shahzad, Irfan. 2015. 'Obligingness to Leadership: A Case Study of the Qur’an', Al-Basirah, 4. |
| MLA | Shahzad, Irfan. "Obligingness to Leadership: A Case Study of the Qur’an." Al-Basirah 4.1 (2015). Print. |
| Harvard | SHAHZAD, I. 2015. Obligingness to Leadership: A Case Study of the Qur’an. Al-Basirah, 4. |
Abstract
We can divide human beings into two categories: Leaders and Followers. Leaders are a few, the rest of the overwhelming majority of the human beings are followers. They show an earnest tendency of following or obligingness towards their leaders. This capacity of the following is exploited and abused by the egoist and toxic leaders to bring destruction to their followers and the world. The author of the paper tries to explore and determine the motives of obligingness or complaisance of blind following. The author studies this phenomenon in the light of theories of the hierarchy of needs by Abraham Maslow, The Situational Factor by Philip Zimbardo, the Function of Labeling by Albert Bandura and Ego Depletion by Michael Cholbi. These theories have earned good acceptance from the experts. The theories are found helpful to understand the mentality of leaders and their followers as described by the Qur’ān. These theories are applied to some selected cases from the Qur’ān to reach a better understanding of the phenomenon. The Qur’ān at many places describes and discusses this human tendency. It presents dialogue between the leaders and their blind followers in the life hereafter, the person of Pharaoh, his maneuvering, his courtiers, the common people of Egypt, the followers of pagan chieftains and their opposition to the prophets give us ample description to know how blind following actually works under the influence of leadership. The author hopes that this study helps understand the mentality of the present day leaders and their blind or complaisant followers.