Today is the 12th Rabi-ul Awwal, the harbinger of defining development in the history of mankind. The day the world changed for all times to come. The inglorious era of ignorance, evils, and idol- worship ended and a new beginning was made toward light, peace, and mercy. This epoch-making day fondly commemorates the birth anniversary of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)-the founder of Islam. The commemoration of the blessed arrival of Prophet Muhammad is known as Milad-Un-Nabi in Arabic which falls on the twelfth day of Rabi-ul-Awwal, the third month in the Arabic lunar calendar. Nearly 1.7 billion Muslims across the globe celebrate this remarkable day to pay rich tributes to this noble character whose life was an embodiment of peace and mercy for all creatures who lived on the face of this earth. Like every year before, the Government of Pakistan has made special arrangements to commemorate the birth of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) with huge fanfare. He was born to a noble family of the powerful tribe-the Quraish-in the city of Makkah in the Arabian Peninsula, over 1,400 years ago in the year 570 AD. The people of the Quraish tribe were known to be successful merchants. Several trade routes were intersected by Quraish merchants which facilitated the expansion of their trade along the west coast of Arabia, north to Syria, and south to Yemen. His father Abdullah passed away a few days before his birth. His mother Aminah then brought him up with great love and devotion. When he was about six years, his mother also passed away. Thereafter, his grandfather Abdul Mutalib and later his uncle Abu Talib took him into their care. As a young boy, he was known as a person of impeccable integrity, blessed with high moral standards. Undoubtedly, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was known for his virtuous and noble conduct and stayed miles away from the immoral and corrupt practices of the society in which he lived. For Muslims, no one can ever even come close to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in having leadership skills and they consider him the greatest reformist and leader of all time. Practices such as idolatry, drinking intoxicants, oppression, and dishonesty were prevalent at the time, yet his upright and noble character was an open secret. That’s why the people of his time referred to him as ‘Al-Amin’, the one who is trustworthy, and as ‘Al-Sadiq’, the truthful one. Because of these rare qualities of head and heart, he was respected by everyone beyond race, color, gender, age, and religion. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)’s charismatic leadership enthralled people of all shades and grades. British management scholar, John Adair, touches upon the extraordinary leadership qualities of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in his book, The Leadership of Muhammad. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) showed exceptional qualities in both religious services as well as in handling secular issues by using his leadership skills. Today’s renowned scholars talk about the leadership qualities of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his powerful mission to keep the religion alive today and the decisions made by him in different circumstances to overcome critical issues. In this book, Professor Adair has taken examples from the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to highlight his extraordinary qualities as a leader. Professor Adair weaves the Prophet’s life together with aspects of the Bedouin culture and ancient proverbs to provide key points for leaders and aspiring leaders and has also taken examples of tribal leadership and essential attributes such as integrity, moral authority, and humility of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Further, he describes in this book how Prophet Muhammad’s understanding of the tribal norms of Arabia helped him become an inspirational and effective leader focusing on the qualities and personality traits that enabled him as an exceptional leader, political authority, and role model. George Bernard Shaw in his book, Genuine Islam, published in 1936 about the leadership of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) clearly asserted that if a man like Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) were to assume the powerful leadership of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring in much-needed peace and happiness. Thus, his personal charm and charisma attracted everyone around. He was a perfect example of an honest, just, merciful, compassionate, truthful, and brave person who epitomized peace and mercy for all. Likewise, his respect for the followers and leaders of other religions touched everyone irrespective of race, color, gender, religion, or faith. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) set up principles based on the Holy Quran to create order in social life. A few of these golden principles included the brotherhood of all Muslims, helping one another, and solidarity amongst people as well as speaking up against injustice. Indeed, he was a role model himself and encouraged all Muslims to treat people with respect regardless of color, religion, faith, gender, or tribe. As the Governor of Medina State, he placed an Islamic legislative system in place to benefit everyone, giving the nation true power, peace, stability, firmness, and progress. During the time of his rule, various faiths were present in his state. There were Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Polytheists, and others not affiliated with any religion. As minorities, they all were treated fairly and equally. When one looks into the life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), many examples portray the high level of tolerance shown by him to people of other faiths. When he established a constitutional system in the State of Medina, he confirmed that no one had the right to bully or annoy anyone else for their religious beliefs or rituals. Under his legislative system crime, bribery, harassment, and bullying were prohibited. All were treated as equal members and citizens of Medina regardless of religion, race, or ancestry. As the Governor, he protected the people of other faiths from harm as much as the Muslims. When he started as the ruler of Medina, there were provinces that followed their own system according to their tribes. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) gathered these different tribes under one system of governance equally treating them under one constitutional system. This offers a perfect example of inspirational leadership, worthy of emulation by today’s leaders. As an inspirational leader, there are some general characteristics that an individual must possess to become a successful leader such as confidence, honesty, communication skills, empathy, optimism, encouragement, intuition, and so on. For Muslims, no one can ever even come close to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in having leadership skills and they consider him the greatest reformist and leader of all time. According to modern scholars’ point of view, the leadership style shown by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is a good example of solving global issues to ensure much-needed peace. Prophet Muhammad’s simple and humble lifestyle is a good example for the entire mankind. He taught equality, humanity, and humility, and stood for the rights of women. As a role model, he showed his followers the value of humility in social life and simplicity in family life. His teachings to respect other faiths and communities are still relevant in today’s divisive society. His family and social life were strongly shaped around Islamic injunctions, ensuring peace and happiness. He simply showed how significantly peace and happiness contributed to happy family life. He particularly emphasized the rights of women by saying, “The best among you are those who behave best towards their wives. The best among you is the one who is the kindest to his wife and the worst among you is the one who treats his wife badly.” He himself was a perfect family man for all time. He raised four daughters. He educated them and married them to pious husbands. Even when his children were married, Prophet Muhammad still rushed to his daughters’ houses even after they became mothers to many children themselves, and he loved his grandchildren very much. Being a respectful husband and a loving father to his children and grandchildren, he showed a good example to his followers about the way of peaceful family life in the way of Islamic teaching. As a businessman, successful reformist, strategic leader, governor of the state, and brilliant administrator, he was an extraordinary individual in his social life. As a businessman, he used to give needy and deserving people whatever he earned. He was extremely generous and sociable himself. He encouraged his followers to help people in need. One of his companions asked the Prophet, which act in Islam was the best and the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) replied, “to feed the poor and needy people whether Muslim or non-Muslim and greet the people you know and those you do not regardless of religion or race.” All in all, he was the last and the best in the chain of prophets. His perfect role model and teachings not only can solve all the problems confronting humanity today but will continue to act as the beacon of light for the entire mankind till eternity. The writer is a civil servant by profession, a writer by choice and a motivational speaker by passion!