Management Lessons from Karbala

Karbala- Martyrdom to Management

 By Prof.Mazhar Naqvi

Karbala has traditionally been perceived as a rhyme of anguish and pain on the lips of time. This most tragic event of Islamic history still echoes fearless voice of Hazrat Imam Hussain, the grandson of prophet Hazrat Mohammad,  “ By Allah, I will never give you my hand like a man who has been humiliated, nor will I flee like a slave”. Karbala inspires for revolt against tyranny, stands as a symbol for revolutionaries and a cause for grief and wailing for all those who have hearts, conscience and emotions. Poets and scholars, generation after generation, have written incessantly about the martyrdom of Imam and unflinching loyalty of his followers for the cause of human values under the command of his magnetic leadership.

The globalize world is today characterized by intense competition, galloping materialism, overstressed people and poorly managed human relations. Every year during Moharram ceremonies, religious speakers exhort people to follow the teachings of Imam Hussain to overcome their psychological and socio- economic   problems. It is therefore quite surprising that why Karbala has so far remained out of the gaze of modern management Gurus.

Management is defined as a systematic way of carrying out activities in any field of human effort. It aims at making people capable of joint performance, to make their weaknesses irrelevant, to create harmony in working together i.e. equilibrium in thoughts and actions, goals and achievements, plans and performance, products and markets. It resolves situations of scarcity, be they in the physical, technical or human fields, through maximum utilization with the minimum available processes to achieve the goal.

Against the backdrop of these established principles of modern management one finds Karbala leading us towards a harmonious and blissful state of affairs in place of the conflict, tensions and poor productivity. At Karbala, Imam Hussain had scarce resources. He was aware of dire consequences. Yet he did not give allegiance of loyalty to Yazid. Rather, he flatly rejected the offer, for he was quick to realize that giving allegiance would jeopardize the survival of mankind and Islam. Imam and his supporters suffered unparalleled hardships and persecution for preferring to safeguard the tenets of Islam.  The forces of tyranny and injustice cut off the basic necessities to Husain’s camp, including access to water. The camp consisted of Imam Husain, his family, friends, and companions, all of whom stood fast and firmly with him at the cost of their lives. But nothing could dampen his spirit. Not even the slaughtering of his 6-month-old infant Ali Asghar after the brutal killing of his brothers, sons and friends. Hussain remained focused and offered sacrifice in totality with the sole objective of improving the basic thinking of man. He was of the view that improvement in the basic thinking of man would automatically enhance the quality of his actions.

 His creative thinking foiled the plan of Yazid and exposed the ugly designs of those who wanted to promote falsehood, oppression and disbelief under the garb of Islam forever. His sacrifice had far reaching effects. In a short span of time, Karbala proved to be a volcano that stirred the consciousness of ignorant and learned alike. The martyrdom of Hussain uprooted powerful Bani Umaiya dynasty and turned the momentary victory of Yazid into the humiliating defeat. The quality of his actions established forever as to how exemplary leadership coupled with careful planning and strategic thinking generates the maximum desired output with minimum resources.

However one must remember that Karbala enlightens about the concepts of excellence in efforts, decision-making, leadership, and motivation with a difference. While the modern management principles deal with problems at material, external and peripheral levels, philosophy of Hussain tackles these issues from the grass roots level of human thinking. Thus, Karbala deserves to be discussed at B- schools as a case study on forming a vision, planning the strategy, art of leadership, institutional excellence, building an innovative organization, developing human resources, team building, teamwork, delegation, motivation, communication, ethics and social responsibility etc. (Author is a Kanpur- based internationally acclaimed management teacher and trainer).