Learning Planning Ideas from Islamic Teachings (Islamic Management Theory (IMT))

In the name of Allah, the glories, the compassionate, the fervent. He sent His messengers to guide humanity after creating it. Muhammad, the Prophet (ﷺ) of Islam, was the final one to make a concerted effort to spread the word of Allah SWT. The companions of the Prophet (ﷺ) took his message and spread it throughout the world. "There is no deity but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger," they declared to humanity. It is the declaration of accepting Islam as a way of life.
Management is a discipline which emerged with the birth of humanity; Allah SWT had created family as an organisation and appointed Adham (AS) as its head. It expanded quickly with the expansion of his progeny. Management literary means how to manage people or how to take work from people in organisational settings.
The starting point of managerial functions is Planning activities, projects, or processes. Since the author has been working about the science of Management since long and he has produced number of works so far. He published following books and articles about the topic.
• Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) as a Planning expert (Book)
• Planning Strategy of the Prophet (ﷺ) (Book)
• Learning managerial Ideas from Quran (Planning was a part of it) (Book)
• Planning in the Islamic Tradition: The Case of Hijrah Expedition (The research article)
• Project Management: An Islamic Perspective (Book)
The idea struck in my mind when I was examining a doctoral thesis as an external examiner that “Contribution to knowledge or originality” has many meanings or aspects. One of them is to synthesis already known material. Phillips & Pugh say “Originality refers to 'making a synthesis that hasn't been made before, using already known material but with a new interpretation, bringing new evidence to bear on an old issue … [and] adding to knowledge in a way that hasn't been done before'” Therefore, I have taken the material of the book from the above mentioned works for the benefit of the Ummah. Because my purpose is to bring out managerial aspects from Islamic teachings. The source of one of the above works was Quran (Learning managerial Ideas from Quran) and the biography of the Prophet was the source of the other work (Planning Strategy of the Prophet (ﷺ)). In addition, I have also investigated managerial implications of Five Pillars of Islam which includes Planning ideas. Thus, this book is a synthesis of these works.
The book has four parts and ten chapters. The purpose of dividing the book into parts was the sources of knowledge/material i.e., we have taken some material from Quran, some from the biography of the Prophet (ﷺ) and some from the Five Pillars of Islam. the final part is the closing elements of the book. The details of them are as follows.
Ch 1 THE PREMISES OF PLANNING
PART I
Ch 2 PLANNING IN QURANIC PERSPECTIVE
Ch 3 MAKING DECISIONS ABOUT PLANS
Ch 4 MANAGING INFORMATION FOR DECISION MAKING
PART II
Ch 5 EXAMPLES OF PLANNING IN MAKKAH
Ch 6 EXAMPLES OF PLANNING IN MADINAH
Ch 7 PLANNING IDEAS FROM PROJECTS
PART III
Ch 8 PLANNING IDEAS FROM FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
PART IV
Ch 9 CASE STUDY – THE HIJRAH JOURNEY
Ch 10 EPILOGUE
I pray to Allah, the Exalted, to accept the humble effort and make it a source of forgiveness for me and the entire ummah. May it be a source of guidance for readers. Ameen!