Servant leadership is characterized by integrative principles that guide leaders in serving others in different capacities. The concept of servant leadership is applied across different religions, cultural context, and administrative positions among other capacities. The principles of servant leadership include listening, persuasion, stewardship, foresight, commitment, awareness, healing, community building, commitment to the growth of others, and conceptualization. Equally, many religions and cultures promote these values as their virtues and beliefs. Therefore, there is a direct link between servant leadership principles and the values promoted by many religions and cultures across the globe. This paper intended to look into how the principles of servant leadership are applied in the Bedouin-Arab culture and Bahia religious context.
Bedouin-Arab culture
The Arab culture is practiced by a large population of the Arab World in the Middle East and the Northern part of Africa. The population constitutes 414.5 million Arabs drawn from 22 principle states. Arab culture is based on the Arabic values, religion, and society. However, there were different groups and clans in the Arab cultural context that existed before the introduction of Islam. The Bedouins and Hadar were the main groups that formed the Arab community ( Sarayrah, 2004). The Bedouins originally lived in the desert regions herding livestock while the Hadar lived in urban and town areas trading and undertaking agricultural activities. Besides, the Bedouins lived independently in communal units which were based on blood relations and ancestry, governed by chiefs (shaykhs) ( Sarayrah, 2004). The Bedouin-Arab culture is often described by their acts of desert hospitality and social life centered on clans.
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Notably, the community leaders are inherited among clan members. The chiefs were mandated to arbitrate disputes, defend the community resources like livestock, wells, pastures, and allocate grazing lands accordingly to the community members. Most importantly, the chiefs were expected to be charismatic, generous, wise, and influential in the community and to the visitors and guests. Also, Sarayrah (2004) noted that the Bedouin values emphasized total loyalty to the tribe and clan as stipulated by the ancient code of honor for the survival of the Bedouin society. Therefore, servant leadership can be well illustrated by evaluating Omar Bin al-Khattab who was the first leader in Bedouin Arab.
Omar Bin al-Khattab
Omar leadership was mainly based on Qur’an and Islamic teachings. He simplified the teachings by developing simple operational meanings for every clause to link them to the problems the people faced ( Elphinston, 2015). Besides, Omar possessed impressive leadership and organizational skills that defined the values that the community was expected to uphold. His characteristics ranged from being courageous, powerful, merciful, honest, accountable, and generous among others. Still, his servant leadership skills are defined by his leadership characteristics and community values.
As a leader, Omar encouraged a culture of community dialogue and open communication. Omar ideally listened carefully to his subjects and accepted open criticism. Often, he allowed the people to present their views against his standing. For instance, Omar had once proposed the maximum dowry limit a man can pay is 40 dinars ( Sarayrah, 2004). However, his pronouncement was challenged by a woman who indicated it was against the Qur’an and Omar openly agreed. To date, the Bedouin-Arab culture is characterized by community dialogues where the people sit with the leaders and discuss the solutions for the issues affecting the society. Equally, while solving societal issues, the chiefs or Shaykh are mandated to listen carefully to the petitioners ( Sarayrah, 2004). Similarly, the petitioners are required to reveal their issues truthfully before the arbitrators for the problem to be solved.
Another distinct leadership characteristic of Omar was his empathy for the needy and everyone in the society. Omar encouraged the community to help the needy among them irrespective of their race, clan, or personality. He led as an example by helping a Jewish who was begging to raise money for tax. Similarly, the Bedouin community embraces self-ness by being hospitable and self-less ( Elphinston, 2015). Hence, the principle of servant leadership is entrenched on the Bedouin-Arab culture of hospitality and selfless which is also encouraged by the leaders. While grazing their livestock along the desert region, the Bedouin helps many travels and visitors with food and water. Undisputedly, they are considered as the most hospitable community in the world.
The Bedouin-Arab culture also emphasizes on the upholding of public and private morality ( Sarayrah, 2004). The community cherishes good morals that are based on Sharia principles. Thus, the community is expected to respect the Islamic laws strictly failure to which amount to punishment. In particular, Omar respected the Islamic sharia and consulted Muslims on different issues that affected the public. As a servant leader, Omar believed that a community that respects the sharia and Islamic principles will always live in peace and harmony.
Therefore, the principles of servant leadership are related to the values promoted by the Bedouin community and leaders. Omar bin al-Khattab leadership principles were drawn from the Bedouin-Arab culture. Thus, his humility, modesty, forgiveness, generosity, courage, power, honesty among other personal traits defines his servant leadership which was primarily based on the Bedouin-Arab culture.
Baha’i Religion
According to the article ‘A Case Study in Globalization, Mobility and the Routinization of Charisma’, Fozdar (2015) noted that Baha’i Faith is the fastest growing and wide-spreading region after Christianity across the globe. Based in Iran, Baha’i religion mainly belief in the unity of humanity, the oneness of God, and the essential harmony of religion. Baha’i religion was founded in 1844 by Addu’l-Baha who was the son of a minister and nobleman called Baha’u’llah. The name Baha’u’llah means ‘the Glory of God’ while Adbu’l-Baha means “the servant of Baha” ( Fozdar , 2015). Therefore, Abdu’l-Baha believed in the service to humanity as perpetuated by the Baha’i religion. He further encouraged the believers to live in unity and peace among themselves. Besides, the Baha’i teachings link the concept of science, gender equality, and religion as the basis of eliminating societal prejudices and racism.
Interestingly, the Baha’i religion has no defined leadership. Each individual in the society is believed to have the capacity to seek truth in themselves and live democratically. Thus, the Baha’i religion does not have any designated leaders, instead there are redefined administrative leaders elected annually under a very democratic process. The Baha’i election process is done every April where nine individuals are openly elected without campaigns by anyone about the age of 21 years ( Fozdar , 2015). The religion encourages community freedom in choosing the people they entrust to oversee community issues like educations, social events, marriages among others. Also, the leaders are in charge of supervising small-scale economic, educational, and environmental development projects at the national level.
Servant leadership is perceived as the first quality of leadership every leader and believer is expected to have according to Baha’i religion ( Williams, 2020) . Notably, the main teachings recommend that the human spirit lives forever and thus the believers should be kind, generous, truthful and humble, uphold the integrity and be selfless to others. Williams (2020) affirms that these virtues are perceived as the basis for promoting peace and tranquility. Thus, the leaders are expected to apply these cultural values in their leadership in order for good governance to be attained.
Lastly, the Baha’i community engages in community activities aimed at social transformation and uniting the community across different races, religions and backgrounds. The social interactions help the community to uphold the principles of unity of mankind across in all diversities. The leaders are also encouraged to the community diligently irrespective of their races, religions or backgrounds.
References
Elphinston, W. G. (2015). The Future of the Bedouin of Northern Arabia. International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944) , 21 (3), 370-375.
Fozdar, F. (2015). The Baha'i Faith: A Case Study in Globalization, Mobility and the Routinization of Charisma. Journal for the Academic Study of Religion , 28 (3).
Sarayrah, Y. K. (2004). Servant leadership in the Bedouin-Arab culture. Global Virtue Ethics Review , 5 (3-4), 58-80.
Williams, R. (2020). Bahá’í. In Rituals and Practices in World Religions (pp. 167-179). Springer, Cham.
