For far too long, the Islamic world has been dominated by one political method to the exclusion of all others – monarchy. Ever since the Caliphate was passed on from Muawiya (R) to his woefully under-qualified son, Muslims have turned almost every institution into a hereditary monarchy. In fact, it is one of the ironies of history that a faith that places so much emphasis on the equality of all human beings apart from their level of Taqwa (fear of Allah) has become most closely associated with Sultans, Pashas, Khedives, Emperors, Badshahs and Emirs.

The last century has seen a reaction against the notion that a leader would simply hand over his responsibilities to his children no matter how qualified (or indeed, how old) they were. Islamic organisations, including student organisations were no exception to these winds of change and suddenly you found elections springing up all over the place. True, there were a few Islamic societies that resolutely refused to let go of their hereditary system since it ensured that the ISoc would be run a particular way even if the vast majority of students did not agree with it or it was highly ineffective, but the overall trend was for electing people by popular vote.

The point I want to make is that popular elections are not a particularly good method for choosing a leader of a Muslim student organisation. Firstly, elections are essentially popularity contests. It is not a case of getting the best man or woman for the job, but instead getting the person with the most friends or, at best, the person with the best ability to convince you that they should be in charge. This leads to a warping of attitudes where the quiet, contemplative and modest individual never even becomes a candidate whereas the brash, ruthless and unprincipled political animal rules the roost. In fact, it runs directly counter to the Islamic ethos of not self-promoting yourself or seeking positions of leadership.

Furthermore, the popular election method does not encourage people from different sides of the divide to find common ground. Instead, the people from group X will try and put all their efforts into “packing out” the room when the vote occurs in an effort to win control and assert their views over everyone else. Machinations are the order of the day and a large part of the time in power is spent trying to ensure that you stay in power. Divisions become ingrained and entrenched eventually leading to tribal behaviour. People will vote for brother X not because he is the best person to fulfil the amanah of that job but because he belongs to their way of thinking or follows their methodology.

It is worth considering that the majority of multi-national corporations have never hired their CEO using the popular election method. Instead, people are vetted by the board of directors and have their CV’s analysed and their performance evaluated in interviews. Even parliamentary and presidential elections offer the public the choice between candidates who have been screened and approved by a particular party. Yet Muslim students are fed this imperfect and deeply flawed system as the panacea to all our problems – indeed were any to suggest a different method, they would be accused of being dictatorial or even un-Islamic.

For us Muslims, the gold standard has always been and always will be the Quran and Sunnah. As such, the following Hadiths should give those who believe that elections are the only way to do business some food for thought:

Narrated ‘Abdur-Rahman bin Samura: The Prophet said, “O ‘Abdur-Rahman bin Samura! Do not seek to be a ruler, because if you are given authority for it, then you will be held responsible for it, but if you are given it without asking for it, then you will be helped in it (by Allah)..” [Bukhari]

Those who believe that elections are the only way to choose a leader or appoint a person to a position should surely realise that there is no evidence to back up this exclusivity in our primary sources. In fact, throughout the life of the Prophet (SAW) and during the reign of the 4 rightly guided Caliphs, the system employed to the exclusion of all others was one of consultation and a meritocracy. This is not a rallying call against democracy but rather an alternative to the way it is practised. So the next time you need to appoint someone to a position, instead of holding an election, hold a shura. Consult the opinion of everyone on who would best fill the role and why. You may be pleasantly surprised by the end result.