The Trust of Leadership

Rasulullah saw has given precise warning and reminder on the importance of accomplishing trust. He says: “A servant that takes no responsibility to lead his society, surely he will be lying his society, Allah swt had banned him from entering the heaven.”

The generation after the era of the Prophet Muhammad saw had ruled big empires such as Saidina Abu Bakar, Saidina Umar Ibni Al-Khattab, Saidina Uthman and Saidina Ali ra. They are too worried to take the responsibility because they realized the burden of responsibility and trust which they have to fulfil. They always cry because they were afraid of the Allah’s punishment if they failed to fulfil their responsibility. They are willing to sacrifice everything in order to accomplish their mission and helping the society to live in happiness and prosperity. History has recorded many stories about the best leader among Khulafa’ Ar-Rashidin.

One night as Saidina Umar patrolling the town and village to see his people’s condition, he heard baby crying in a house. Saidina Umar tried to get closer to the house. He heard that the mother was cooking something but she was cooking for a long time until her children felt asleep in hunger. Seeing the situation, Saidina Umar gave his salam (greeting) and asked a permission to enter the hut. The woman does not know that he is the leader of that country. Saidina Umar asked about her condition. The woman replied that she and her children have not eaten for several days. If her children cried for hunger, she pretends to cook something by putting several stones into the pan. Her child will stop crying assuming their mother is cooking something.

The woman complained and cursed the leader of that country which is not responsible to his people. Hearing the complain and curse Saidina Umar stood up quietly and at a moment later he asked permission to leave. In the dark night, Saidina Umar went directly to Baitul Mal and took several sack of flour and sent it to the woman’s hut. As he arrived at the hut, he gave his greeting and entered the hut for the second time. He then cooked the flour that he carried for that woman and her children. The woman still did not realize that the man who brought and cooked the flour is the leader of that country. After finishing cooking, s Umar served the food to the woman and her children. Seeing they had eaten happily, Saidina Umar felt relief and left the hut. The woman said “It will be good if Saidina Umar done all these…” without realizing that the man who cooked and served her was Saidina Umar.

In our reality and in our lifetime, people will give you responsibility. Either it is in the form of formal or informal, both will be accounted in the Judgement Day. Recently, I received too many responsibilities to fulfil. I did decline and reject some of them. How I wish to decline all of them if I could. Somehow in the end I will face the same situation in the future. The decision made by syura really surprised me. Start when I enter main campus as first year student. I still can remember how kak Zizi would have waited and trained for me when I rejected her offer. I told her that I’m not the one that should be chosen due to my weaknesses. Though she wouldn’t accept my excuse and reluctant to let me go. So I felt guilty to reject the decision made by syura.

However, what i believe now is that Allah will not place a burden greater than what we can bear. Even though, sometimes it’s hard for me to get through. I just trust in Him The Al-Mighty. Surah Al-Baqarah: 286 states that:
Allah burdens not a person beyond his scope. He gets reward for that (good) which he earned and he is punished for that (evil) which he has earned. “Our Lord! Punish us not if we forget or fall into error, our Lord! Lay not on us a burden like that which You did lay on those before us; our Lord! Put not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Pardon us and grant forgiveness. Have mercy on us. You are our Maula (Patron, Supporter and Protecter) and give us victory over the disbelieving people.”



Responsibility is part of Allah’s teaching. It’s not how many responsibilities you have, but how many responsibilities you didn’t fulfil it yet. Since I have my responsibility towards Allah, myself, my family, my academic and my society it is important for me to have time management. Life is short. It is shorter than what we would think. So it is very crucial not to abandon the time we have.

Glory be to You O Allah and all praise is due to You.
I seek forgiveness from You and i seek repentance from You.