Servant Leadership in Malaysian Da’wah NGOs Western and Islamic Perspectives

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33102/abqari.vol26no1.446

The purpose of this paper is to explore the characteristics of servant leadership (SL) from Western and Islamic perspectives, and analyse those characteristics in Malaysian Daʿwah NGOs. Currently many Da’wah NGOs in Malaysia are said not to prioritize leadership characteristics in leading and serving the as well as the public interest. Characteristics are important to any organization, and they influence the way a leader leads its organization and staff by exercising specific leadership behaviour in response to a situation. Unlike other leadership styles that are organization-centric, this paper serves to explain the people or follower-centric characteristics of servant leadership through the combination of motivational approaches (MA) and voluntary actions (VA) in Malaysian Daʿwah NGOs – ABIM and IKRAM. The data from this qualitative research are collected from five main resources including media coverage, official reports, official websites, NGOs programs and public opinion. The data are analysed thematically based on the similarities and differences characteristics of SL between Western and Islamic perspectives. The findings revealed that servant leadership from Western and Islamic perspectives share some similar dimensions of characteristics in practice; however, Western SL characteristic does not draw attention to the religious perspective as underlined in Islam.