Simon Sinek wrote a New York Times bestseller titled \u2018Leaders Eat\nLast\u2019, which outlines principles and the art of leadership. During a\ncompany or organisation\u2019s struggle, the leader is the first to face\ndanger, setting aside personal interests to protect the team. A leader\nreadily sacrifices their own possessions to save the team\u2019s, and will\nnever sacrifice the team to save themselves. When the company or\norganisation achieves success, the leader is the last to enjoy it. They\nensure the team experiences well-being first, before partaking\nthemselves. In other words, the leader eats last.<\/p>\n
I do not know if Simon Sinek ever read the Sirah Nabawiyah (Prophetic\nBiography). Probably not. However, what Simon wrote in his book was\ntaught and exemplified by the Prophet Muhammad fourteen centuries ago.\nIt is we who are short-sighted in reading the Sirah Nabawiyah. We merely\nread without contemplating and taking lessons. We do not understand the\nframework for reading history. The Qur\u2019an explains this in Surah Yusuf\nverse 111: we read history to extract lessons (ibrah). The word chosen\nby the Qur\u2019an is ibrah, whose derivative in the form of a noun of place\nis ma\u2019bar, meaning a bridge. We understand the function of a bridge is\nto connect a starting point to an end point. Similarly, history is like\na bridge connecting the present to the past. The past, present, and\nfuture are not separate units of time; they are like a connected time\ntunnel building the trajectory of life. We can look into the past\nthrough history to take lessons, understand patterns of life, and use\nthem as tools to read the present and engineer the future. This is the\nframework for reading and learning from history.<\/p>\n
Returning to Simon Sinek\u2019s book, \u2018Leaders Eat Last\u2019, if you are an\nintelligent reader of the Sirah Nabawiyah, you will find that the\nleadership principle written by Simon was already taught and exemplified\nby the Prophet. Here is the story: In the fifth year of the Hijrah, the\nstate of Medina faced a serious threat with the coalition of the Quraysh\ninfidels and other tribes around Medina. They conspired to besiege and\ndestroy Medina. Facing this serious threat, the Prophet, as the head of\nstate, gathered his companions to deliberate on a strategy to face the\nsiege of the allied forces (Ahzab). The proposal from Salman al-Farisi\nwas agreed upon: the Muslims would dig a trench around the southern part\nof Medina. This would prevent the allied forces from the south from\nmoving north into Medina\u2019s territory.<\/p>\n
Digging a trench in Medina\u2019s sandy and rocky terrain was not easy.\nAnalysis determined the trench needed to be 5.5 kilometres long, 4.6\nmetres wide, and 3.3 metres deep. At this width, the enemy\u2019s horses\ncould not jump across, and if they tried, they would fall into the\ntrench. The depth would prevent them from climbing out, leaving them\nvulnerable to Muslim archers. The Prophet organised shifts for the\ndiggers so that work continued non-stop to meet the deadline before the\nallied forces approached Medina\u2019s territory. As the supreme leader, did\nthe Prophet merely give directions and instructions without going into\nthe field? No.\u00a0The Prophet went down and dug the trench alongside his\ncompanions. In fact, whenever the digging was obstructed by hard rocks\nthat the companions could not break, it was the Prophet who struck them\nrepeatedly with his pickaxe until they shattered.<\/p>\n
One of the challenges during the digging process was the winter\nseason and limited food logistics, as it was not harvest season. The\nProphet and his companions were very frugal to maintain sufficient\nsupplies, and the companions often endured hunger. One day, some hungry\ncompanions intended to complain to the Prophet to ask for food. However,\nupon seeing the Prophet\u2019s belt padded with three stones, they refrained.\nThey realised the Prophet had been enduring hunger for even longer; they\nonly padded their belts with one stone, while the Prophet used\nthree.<\/p>\n
In this situation, Jabir bin Abdullah felt pity for the Prophet. He\nasked permission to go home briefly. Upon arriving, Jabir asked his wife\nif there was any leftover food that could be cooked for the Prophet. \u2018We\nstill have a young female goat and one sha\u2019 of wheat,\u2019 his wife\nexplained. \u2018Cook it. I want to invite the Prophet and a few companions\nto eat,\u2019 Jabir said firmly. Jabir then invited the Prophet to his home\nfor a meal, suggesting he could bring a few companions. What happened\nnext? The Prophet brought all the companions working on the trench,\nnumbering three hundred (another narration says eight hundred), to\nJabir\u2019s house. Jabir was naturally panicked; how could the food possibly\nbe enough? The Prophet understood Jabir\u2019s expression, approached him,\nand calmed him down, as if providing a guarantee for Jabir\u2019s\nworries.<\/p>\n
The Prophet entered first, followed by Jabir. The Prophet instructed\nthat only he would open the cooking pot. The companions sat in circles\nof seven or eight people. The Prophet himself distributed the bread and\ngoat meat to each group of companions, and then gave Jabir and his\nfamily their share. Only after all the companions and Jabir\u2019s family had\nreceived their food did the Prophet eat. He was the last person to enjoy\nthe meal.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-leader-eats-last-1785419630", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }