Balanced leadership from an Islamic perspective: Between philosophy and practice

Abstract

Research about balanced leadership has received increasing attention among academics and practitioners in an attempt to guide the practice of effective leadership. However, the concept of balanced leadership from an Islamic perspective has not been examined yet. While we concede that research about leadership should transcend cultures and contexts, we believe that an Islamic perspective to balanced leadership can make valuable contributions to the theory and practice of leadership in different contexts. We propose a conceptual framework for balanced leadership grounded in the concept of balance in Islam. Evidence from Quran and Sunna (ahadith) are used to define the main characteristics of balanced leadership from an Islamic perspective. We illustrate how the characteristics of balanced leaders, as proposed by our framework, are embraced and enacted by one of the most revered leaders in Islamic history Umar Ibn Al-Khattab. We conclude by highlighting the managerial implications of our framework and stressing the need to test and extend the proposed framework to inspire more balanced contemporary leadership styles and practices. 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston. All rights reserved.