As-Sajdah · Makki · ayah 24 of 30

As-Sajdah 32:24

وَجَعَلْنَا مِنْهُمْ أَئِمَّةً يَهْدُونَ بِأَمْرِنَا لَمَّا صَبَرُوا۟ ۖ وَكَانُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِنَا يُوقِنُونَ

“And We made from among them leaders guiding by Our command when they were patient and [when] they were certain of Our signs.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Leadership that guides by Allah's command is not seized by talent; it is given to those who hold steady and are certain of His signs.

A reflection

The builder's line and the one who walks behind

Ask who becomes a leader, and most of us answer from experience. The confident, the gifted, the well-connected, the one who speaks first in the meeting. That assumption is so ordinary that we rarely notice we bring it to this ayah too. We read 'leaders' and picture the impressive.

The ayah names two qualities, and neither is a talent. Lammā ṣabarū: when they held steady. Wa-kānū bi-āyātinā yūqinūn: and they were certain of Our signs. The commentaries converge here. These people reached that rank because they bore Allah's commands, kept from what He forbade, and carried the cost of calling others to Him.

The word itself carries a surprise. Imām, in the lexicons, is the one in front whom others follow. But it was also the builder's line: a cord stretched taut so that each course of a wall runs straight. And the camel-driver is his herd's imām, the lexicons add, though he walks behind them, because he guides them.

On a five-day walk with a youth group, the teenagers soon sort out whom they follow. It is not the fittest instructor, striding ahead with his GPS watch. It is the quiet one at the back. He carries the slowest girl's water, never checks the time, and is still smiling on the third wet afternoon. By the last day, when he says 'this way', nobody argues.

Neither of those old images is about being impressive. A builder's line does nothing dramatic. It holds still under tension, and everything else is laid true against it. The camel-driver is barely visible. He is simply the one who does not panic, and does not wander.

One classical reflection draws the lesson out. Faith rests on two pillars, it says. Certainty shows a person the truth of the command and the promise. Patience lets him carry out the command and hold back from what is forbidden. Leadership in the religion is reached by both together, and by neither alone.

So anyone who leads a team, a family, a classroom or a prayer can drop one question. Am I impressive? Two better ones replace it. Am I steady? Am I sure of what I am pointing towards?

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.