Change Management in Islam

By Syed Kazim

If one has to learn ‘Change Management,’ he has to learn it from the life of Prophet Muhammad
(saws). During a short period of 23 years, he changed his society completely. From paganism
and idolatry the Arabs were sunk in, he changed them to being submissive before the one true
God; from tribal quarrels and wars to national solidarity and cohesion; from drunkenness and
anarchy to disciplined living; from utter bankruptcy to the highest standards of moral
excellence; from absolute backwardness and ignorance to becoming the epitome of knowledge,
science and civilization.
Change Management is an approach to transform individuals, teams, and organizations from a
current state to a desired future state. It is an organizational process aimed at helping change
the stakeholders to accept and embrace changes in their business environment. In some Project
Management contexts, Change Management refers to a Project Management process where
changes to a project are formally introduced and approved. Kotter defines Change Management
as the utilization of basic structures and tools to control any organizational change effort. The
goal of Change Management is to minimize the change impacts on workers and avoid
distractions. Today, Change Management has become one of the hot topics for discussion in
the corporate world. Let us see what type of Change Management Islam has to offer.
Islam talks about change at three different levels: the individual, social and political.
Individually, Islam talks about changing oneself, to shun bad habits and imbibe good habits
and character. At the social level, Islam talks about creating a society where everyone is given
justice and which eliminates all kinds of injustice prevailing in society. At the political level,
Islam talks about replacing man-made laws with the laws given by Allah (swt). From the
Qur’an, we learn that Ibrahim (asws) strove to bring change at three levels: within himself,
within his family and society and within the leader of the time.Allah (swt) talks about change
by placing before the people a specific condition for change. Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an
thus,

“Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they (first) change what is in
themselves.” (Qur’an 13: 11)

In this verse, Allah (swt) makes it clear that He will not change the condition of the people
unless and until the people first strive to change themselves. So, the first thing that we learn
with respect to change is this: if we need to witness change, it has to start from our own self.
On the one hand, the Qur’an commands people to forbid lying, backbiting, spying, suspicion,
fraud, extravagance, arrogance, hoarding, mischief, corruption, mockery, ridicule, hypocrisy,
interest, wine, gambling, adultery and theft and, on the other hand, the Qur’an commands the
individual to be dutiful to parents, give the due to needy, to show kindness to neighbours,
justice to relatives, help the orphans, exhibit cooperation, keep promises, to be honest, to be
truthful, to be tolerant, to be punctual, to be kind, to do justice, to be generous and to have a
forgiving nature. It is a process of changing the person which involves removing the bad habits
and inculcating the good ones.
The next objective of the Qur’an was to change the society. Indeed, the reason behind sending
Prophet Mohammed (saws) was again to change and bring in a positive social reform, so that
it could become a better place to live in. Not only Prophet Mohammed (saws), but all the
Prophets who were sent, were sent with the ultimate goal of changing the society which they
live in.Allah (swt) also says in the Qur’an,

“(This is) a Book which We have revealed to you, (O Muhammad), that you might bring
mankind out of darknesses into the light by permission of their Lord – to the path of the Exalted
in Might, the Praiseworthy.” (Qur’an, 14: 1)

This is a significant purpose for which the Qur’an was revealed, that is to bring people from
the darkness of wrong beliefs and actions into the light of faith and righteous deeds. The
responsibility of the Prophets was to put efforts to bring people to light through da’wah and
communication, through explanations and reminders, educating and counseling, and it is then
Allah (swt) Himself who guides people to accept this light.
In the world before Prophet Mohammed (saws), reading was generally the prerogative of the
royal family, and of the families of the nobles and aristocrats, and of the clerical and priestly
classes. Others were often discouraged or even prevented from learning to read and write. In
some instances, they were punished. This is how the world was before Prophet Mohammed
(saws). The situation changed completely after Prophet Mohammed (saws). When we analyse
the life of Prophet Mohammed (saws), the first commandment given to him by Allah (swt) was
not of prayer, da’wah, charity, or fasts, but the very first command given by Allah (swt) was to
read. ‘Iqra’ (Read!), said the Qur’an to the world in the middle of the seventh century, and the
world never looked back from there on. Today, in the twenty-first century, learning to read and
write is one of the most pressing and popular priorities throughout the world, no matter what
one’s race, religion, class, age or gender. The gift of universal male and female literacy, across
races and classes, is one of the most profound ways in which Prophet Mohammed (saws)
changed the world.
From the Qur’an, we also learn that whenever change is implemented, it should be
implemented in stages and not all of a sudden. In order to bring in change, the Qur’an has
adopted a natural process. Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an,

“We have revealed this Qur’an little by little so that you may recite it to people at intervals,
and We have revealed it gradually.” (Qur’an, 17: 106)

This step-by-step change has proved to be very effective and successful.

Drinking was a part of the lives of the people at the time of Prophet Muhammad (saws). When
alcohol was prohibited in Islam, it was not prohibited with just one command; it was, in fact,
prohibited in three stages. Imam Ahmad recorded that Abu Hurayrah said,
“There were three stages to prohibit Khamr (intoxicants). In the first state, Allah (swt) said in
the Qur’an, ‘They ask you about wine and gambling. Say, ‘In them is great sin and (yet, some)
benefits for people. But their sin is greater than their benefit’’ (Qur’an, 2: 219). The verse
commands people not to indulge in it as the sin is greater than its benefit. In the second stage,
Allah (swt) said in the Qur’an, ‘O you who have believed! Do not approach prayer while you
are intoxicated until you know what you are saying” (Qur’an, 4: 43). This verse commands
people not to approach prayer when they are intoxicated. And in the final stage, Allah (swt)
says in the Qur’an, ‘O you who have believed! Indeed, intoxication, gambling, (sacrificing on)
stone alters (to other than Allah), and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of
Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful’ (Qur’an, 5: 90). This verse finally commands
people to abstain from the consumption of Alcohol completely.”
Through these verses of the Qur’an, Allah (swt) mentally prepared them to go away from
alcohol and finally stop its consumption. After finally prohibiting alcohol, in the next verse
Allah (swt) also explains the reason why it was prohibited. Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an,

“Satan only wants to cause between you animosity and hatred through intoxicants and
gambling and to avert you from the remembrance of Allah and from prayer. So will you not
desist?” (Qur’an, 5: 91)

This verse also made it easy for people to stop to consumption of alcohol. From this we also
learn that, when we impose a change it is also necessary to explain the benefit for implementing
change so that it will make it easy for people to accept it and adopt it.
When we are speaking about Change Management, it is also important and relevant to speak
about the psychology of persuasion. Once, a research was conducted where the researchers
asked a few house-owners to place a huge signboard in front of their houses and which read
‘Drive Carefully’ and everyone refused. Later, the researchers visited another set of houses and
asked the people to place a small signboard which read ‘Drive Carefully’ and mostly everyone
agreed. Two weeks later, the researchers asked them to replace the small signboard with a
larger signboard and amazingly 76% of the people accepted. Psychologists call this the ‘Foot-
in-the-door effect.’ Thus a concept which was implemented 1430 years back was also proved
to be true according to the modern psychologist.
On one hand, when alcohol was prohibited in the United States, which is also known as the
‘The Noble Experiment,’ it miserably failed, as people did not have strong belief in God. On
the other hand, when alcohol was prohibited at the time of Prophet Muhammad (saws), people
threw it away in the streets as soon as they heard the command. It was also because of the
strong belief in God and the Hereafter. From this we also learn that if any positive change
should happen, it can only happen when a person has strong belief in Allah and the Hereafter.
Finally, Islam addressed the aspect of political change. A change that will bring justice, a
change that will bring Allah’s law, a change which will make Allah’s law superior, a change
that will establish Allah’s law and make it dominant over all the others ways of life. Allah (swt)
says in the Qur’an, “To establish the religion and not be divided therein” (Qur’an, 42: 13).
Allah (swt) also says that the very purpose of revealing the True Religion is “to make it prevail
over all other religions” (Qur’an, 48: 28).The objective of sending the messengers was also to
bring a change in the system. Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an, “It is He who sent His Messenger
with guidance and the religion of truth to manifest it over all religion” (Qur’an 9: 33 and 48:
28). This is the final and ultimate change which the Prophets looked forward to and this change
was anticipated with an objective to attain peace and justice.

Prophet Muhammad (saws) also motivated people to change any wrong in society to which
they are witnesses. As he once said, “He among you, who sees something that is disapproved
(of by Allah), should change it with his hand. If he cannot do that, then let him change it with
his tongue. If he cannot do that, then let him change it within his heart (by always disliking
what is evil or harmful) and that (the last option) is the weakest (or lowest) of faith” (Sahih
Muslim).
Many people are resistant to change, but we have to understand that resisting change is in the
very nature of the human being. People will give many excuses when a new task is given to
them. When we see the life of Prophet Moosa (asws), when he was given the task by Allah
(swt), he gave excuses like, fear of getting killed, fear that the people may deny him and fear
that the people might punish him. (Qur’an, 28: 33; 26: 12 & 20: 45). From this, we understand
that resistance to change is in the nature of the human being.
Allah (swt) did not send down all the laws at one time. The Qur’an was sent down over a period
of 23 years. In the first thirteen years at Makkah, none of the social laws were sent down. As a
matter of fact, if you analyze the Makkan Surahs, they all talk about Tawheed, Shirk, Day of
Judgment, Hell and Heaven etc. This was done in order to first build up the faith of the
believers. It was only when the Prophet (saws) had settled down in Madinah that the social
laws were sent down.
The Qur’an came down according to the needs of, and problems faced by, the nascent Muslim
community. The verses were revealed according to the growth in ideological affinity of the
new adherents, according to the progress of the general social life, and according to new
challenges faced by the Muslim community in its day-to-day life. One verse, or a few verses,
would be revealed according to the special circumstances and events, and they would answer
questions which arose in the minds of the people, would explain the nature of a particular
situation, and would prescribe a way of dealing with it. These verses would correct their
mistakes, either of understanding or of practice, would bring them closer to Allah (swt), and
would explain to them the wisdom of the various aspects of the universe in the light of Allah’s
attributes. This teaches us that people change gradually and not overnight. This is the wisdom
which we should apply even today. That is, if there is a sinner who wishes to turn back to Allah
(swt), or a person who wishes to change himself, he may not be expected to conform to all the
laws and quit all the sins he does overnight, but rather, it takes time and the change is witnessed
gradually.
First, we need to change ourselves and then we should work towards the reconstruction of
society in the light of the Qur’an and Sunnah. If we are unable to change ourselves, then we
will never be able to change the society. We should not accept anything and everything as and
when it comes, but we need to question it before accepting. The life of Prophet Ibrahim (asws)
is the best example with regard to asking questions before accepting anything. The change
which is made should be from negative to positive, from darkness to light, falsehood to truth
and from bad to good. In the current society, if we make changes as per the Qur’an and Sunnah,
like imposing capital punishment over rapists, banning alcohol, banning pornography, etc., the
society would become more peaceful and prosperous.

If one has to learn ‘Change Management,’ he has to learn it from the life of Prophet Mohammed
(saws). During a short period of 23 years, he changed his society completely. From paganism
and idolatry to submission to one true God, from tribal quarrels and wars to national solidarity
and cohesion, from drunkenness and anarchy to disciplined living, from utter bankruptcy to the
highest standards of moral excellence, from absolute backwardness and ignorance to the
epitome of knowledge, science and civilisation. He preached a religion, founded a state, built
a nation, laid down a moral code, initiated numerous social and political reforms, and changed
human thought and behaviour for all times to come. Man’s history has never witnessed such a
complete change of a society or a place and, that too, all these unbelievable wonders transpired
within a short span of just 23 years.