As Muslims, we live in a difficult era. Although we live in technologically advanced age, we as a Ummah are in crisis socially and economically. We are being harmed internally from lack of personal development and externally from islamophobia and institutional racism. Our youths are torn between the old and the new. Social media has influenced their life so much that, they have become less social, lacking social skills and less interested in academic development. Evidence from research in UK by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), shows that Muslim youths are less likely to progress in education and careers. Muslim youths are lacking in confidence in taking on leadership roles and challenging discriminatory attitudes against them.
Further evidence shows that Muslims are facing challenges in workplaces. With Islamophobia and institutional racism on the rise, Muslims fair less well than their non-muslim counterparts. The government census indicates a lower percentage of Muslims per population filling mid to high managerial/executive roles. The peak of all crises is our leadership, lacking credibility and self accountability, easily influenced by toxic socioeconomic and negetive political influences.
Although we will not be able to solve all crises at once, mentoring is a method by which we can influence positive behaviour, inspire talent growth, support the youths, encourage career progression and motivate responsible leadership at grassroot level. There are plenty of evidence to show that mentoring do work in all setting, schools, colleges and workplaces. Producing enthusiastic and highly motivated individuals, who not only improve themself but go on to become mentors themself. These detailed evidences cannot be ignored.
Mentoring is the process by which we can support individuals who want to better themselves, develop in confidence, support their academic and career growth and support them in taking up active leadership roles. We can use mentoring to benefit ourselves, our children, our brothers and sisters, and the Muslim Ummah as a whole.
Above all, it is our duty as Muslims to help, support and develop our fellow Muslims. This is highlighted by the Ayat below:
The believing men and believing women are allies of one another. They enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and establish prayer and give zakah and obey Allah and His Messenger. Those - Allah will have mercy upon them. Indeed, Allah is Exalted in Might and Wise. Quran 9:71.
As mentors, we are charged with passing on our knowledge and wisdom to others. The hadith below highlights the importance of such action:
Narrated Ibn Mas`ud: “I heard the Prophet (ﷺ) saying, “There is no envy except in two: a person who God has given wealth and he spends it in the right way, and a person whom Allah has given wisdom and he gives His decisions accordingly and teaches it to the others. " — Sahih al-Bukhari 1409
Coaching and mentoring is a process where an individual takes an active role in the development of another. A mentor and a coach are not necessarily one who has greater knowledge but who knows how to encourage and guide the development of another individual. Coaching and mentoring are often carried out using a set of learned skills. Coaching and mentoring are the pinnacle of leadership development, especially for talented individuals. It is said that coaching and mentoring are the icing on the cake for any successful organisation looking to produce competent and charismatic leaders.
The presence of coaching or mentoring in an organisation shows that the organisation deeply cares about individual developments, the development of talents within the organisation and the development of successive managers/leaders. Studies have suggested that mentoring produces greater levels of career satisfaction, increases individuals earning potential and produces more competent leaders. In the past two decades, mentoring has been proactively used to inspire leaders in the NHS and social services. Moreover, mentoring and coaching methods have been successful in life coaching, sporting talents and career development and personal goal achievements.
Coaching and mentoring is an age-old process by which proteges are developed into leaders. Historically, this took the form of a master and student, or a muallim and talib. Mentoring remained a unique way of developing spiritual and military proteges, until recently. Mentoring is currently used by organisations and individuals for many aspects of development; personal, career, sports, education, managerial roles, leadership roles etc.
Organisations spend a staggering $50 billion-plus spent a year on leadership development. A large portion of this is spent on mentoring and coaching individuals. This is because mentoring and coaching produce significant results for these organisations. Currently, coaching and mentoring processes are being used in all aspects of human development, from educational development to physical development, from mental development to spiritual development.
Politically mentoring has a strong base. Mentoring is used by political parties in the development of charismatic leaders. In the VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and adverse) world, especially with complex relationships between leaders and followers, new budding leaders need all the support they can get from their more experienced peers. Therefore, mentoring can be a way to support, encourage and motivate honest and aspiring leaders.
There is strong evidence of mentoring in the Islamic tradition. There is no better example than our leader, our Prophet Muhammed PBUH, who was sent by Allah (SWT), as a guide and as a mentor to us. In His (PBUH) style of teaching and communication, we can see strong evidence of mentoring skills. He (PBUH) has mentored the Great Personalities of Islam: the Khulafa Rashiduns (RA) and great scholars such as Abu Hurairah (RA), Abdullah Ibn Umar (RA), Anas Ibn Malik (RA), the mother of the Believers Aisha (RA); unmatched military leaders (Kahlid Ibn Walid (RA), Abu Ubaidah (RA), Amar Ibn As (RA) and great nation builders, to name a few. Those who were mentored by the Prophet Muhammed (PBUH), went on to mentor strong proteges themself and showed great care and skills in developing their proteges. These skills are learned from none other than the Master Prophet Muhammed (PBUH).
At Muslim Mentoring Network our aim is to develop a highly effective mentoring programme, that is free and accessible to all Muslims, regardless of their needs, aspirations, social class, age, merit or sex. We have designed our courses to help mentors develop their skills in becoming more effective mentors. Our programme takes a humanistic, empathetic and holistic approach. It takes into consideration mentees' safety (safeguarding laws) and their mental well-being.
Our work takes inspiration from the Quran and Hadiths where possible. Our workshops provide mentors with all the necessary resources required to become successful mentors. At MMN, we have puts a structure to the mentoring framework, to make mentoring more effective. Studies have shown that successful mentoring programs, are well structured and work within a framework.
As a mentor, you will help a person who wants to succeed. Following the MMN course, you will have developed the skills needed to support them, engage their inner abilities and inspire them to do more. Through the mentoring process, you too as a mentor will have the opportunity to learn and grow. Mentoring is a two-way process, where both the mentor and the mentee have the opportunity to learn from the process and one another. This Muslim mentoring scheme is voluntary but extremely rewarding and can benefit your own skills development and career progression.
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