International Affairs and Global Strategy www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-574X (Paper) ISSN 2224-8951 (Online) Vol.18, 2014 42 The West and Islam Perspective of Leadership Naji Zuhair AlSarhi 1*, Lailawati M Salleh 2 , Mohamed ZA 3 , Amini AA 4 1. Putra Business School, Universiti Putra M’sia, Serdang 43400 Selangor, M’sia 2. Faculty of Economics and Management, Universiti Putra M’sia, Serdang, 43400, Selangor, M’sia 3. Faculty of Economics and Muamalat, Universiti Sains Islam M’sia, Nilai, 71800, N.S, M’sia 4. Faculty of Human Ecology, Universiti Putra M’sia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, M’sia. Abstract The paper attempts to compare leadership as perceived from the conventional western approach with that of Islam’s. Although it is conceptual and on a viewpoint mode, it is critical in order to pacify some of the western media findings and opinion with regard to the political turmoil in many Islamic countries. Only ten leadership facets are discussed within this paper. Many leaders would adopt the conventional management leadership based on the available literature which was rationally derived through years of research and practices. Undeniably leaders of Muslim countries are guided by the same source. But pious Muslim leaders are also obliged to consider in parallel, guidelines and rules from the revealed sources, namely the Holy Book, Holy Prophet and His Caliphs. Thus leaders with different religion and countries can face the same issues and derive at decisions rationally but yet different. Keywords: leadership perspectives, rational sources, revealed sources 1. Introduction Studies on leadership have progressed far and diversified into handling issues involving multi disciplines. Issues on ethics, morality, soul and emotional intelligence have been incorporated in leadership studies (Coleman 2002). Leadership can also be perceived differently if viewed from different perspectives especially from regional, religious, cultural, political and economic development angles. This paper however intends to look and compare leadership with the perspective from the West (grouping together English language literatures from N. America, Europe and the Australian-NZ islands) and Islam. This is an attempt to shed light and perhaps supplement the understanding of the actions taken by current leaders in their respective Islamic world (Middle-East in focus). This understanding is then compared with the West because of the latter’s established and wide availability of various related literature in the leadership repository. This comparison can also provide additional rationalization required to understand the different decisions made and opinion expressed by the various leaders as reported in the traditional and digital electronic mass media now easily accessible world-wide. Leadership is one of the vital ingredient and enabler to assist management in ensuring continuous improvement of an organization (Mawdudi, 1984). The understanding of its concept is thus very important because it helps to test and analyze the related theories (Avolio & Gardner, 2005). It therefore needs to be clarified and deliberated first before they are looked at from the West and Islamic perspectives. The common view of leadership theories and the observed proof available in the literature are distinctly written from the West. These theories stress values that are peculiar, hedonistic and reasonable (Moten, 2011). Values that are highlighted in other cultures, especially those linked with religion, are often disregarded or given scant acknowledgment. The main components of the West leadership theories are that they divide individual and professional life. The main attributes of such leadership are experience, expertise and decision-making skills to achieve tasks, goals and ensure self-interest. Not much concentration is given to values and ethics for the character structure of the leader which is considered by many to be the background of modern leadership catastrophe (Abbasi, et al., 2010). This paper looks at leadership from two different perspectives; namely that as understood by the West (which have been researched, deliberated and documented quite extensively since the second world war), with that of the Islamic point of view mainly extracted from the Al Quran (601 after Christ) and hadith (recorded practices of Prophet Mohamed). Following Nisbett (2004), this paper juxtaposes the two perspectives to highlight how and why the West and Islam approach the subject from quite different directions. The intended comparison is significant for several reasons; it should help global leaders understand that cultural difference is not the only factor that influence the understanding of how leaders value diverse traits, perform differently and valued various measures (House, 1996). Such an understanding will dishearten the attraction of instilling norms and values of one group or sector over the other. Even the best-known Western scholars such as Steve Klein, Pam Geller and Robert Spencer (McRoy, 2001) who regularly write negatively about Muslim leaders argue against that especially after the September 11 incident of 2001. Scholars from the West, with lengthy write-ups on Islam have not being