The Islamic Perspective of Quality

1.4 THE ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE OF QUALITY
In order to produce quality goods or services, every task at every level of the operation has to be performed in a manner that will ensure the achievement of a particular standard. The whole exercise entails the physical aspect of the whole process which can be achieved through the right habit that is accompanied by the proper intention of wanting to be a productivity or quality conscious person.

In inculcating the right habit, a character development is necessary because character is the state of the soul which initiates all physical actions. A good character will produce virtuous actions while a bad character will produce vices. Thus programme for the improvement of the work ethics, corporate culture, and the like, which obviously has direct relationships with values, attitudes of the employees etc are important. What is most important is the proper development of the soul which has direct concern with feelings, passion, attitude, likes and dislikes, dedication, commitment, love, hate, anger patience, etc.. (Syed Othman, Syed Omar, Nik
Mustapha and Aidit, 1998). This is the reason why religious beliefs play an important role through their direct influence on the soul to produce the morally upright and virtuous character.

Islamic approach to character building is basically two-fold; the obligatory duties for every individual muslim and supererogatory acts which are strongly encouraged to further purify the soul from all vices and beautify it with virtues.

Apart from performing the obligatory duties which is the five pillars of Islam, every
Muslim is enjoined to seek the necessary knowledge and wealth in order to ensure he could perform the obligatory duties. Since the duties are incumbent on every individual Muslim, it implies that Islam has provided the sufficient basics for every
Muslim to be of a noble character.

While the supererogatory acts are acts beyond the obligatory requirements. They are the additional devotional acts which can be performed in accordance with the practices of the Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah Be Upon Him).
The Islamic teachings also provide several practices which can specifically be applied to the improvement of quality and productivity (Syed Othman, Syed Omar, Nik
Mustapha and Aidit, 1998) :

• Every action (good deed) should be accompanied by clear intention (objective).

• Islam demands its adherents to do more than what is minimally required. A
Quranic verse enjoins thus : “Verily God demands that you establish justice and be efficient and proficient.”

• Islam demands that all its adherents should take His Messenger Muhammad
(Peace and Blessings of Allah Be Upon Him) as his role model.

• A Muslim is encouraged to undertake all tasks skillfully and diligently.

• A Muslim is enjoined to frequently (daily at least) evaluate his good and bad deeds (if any).

• A Muslim is enjoined to strive towards excellence all the time.

In Islamic perspective, quality is a total concept in which :

• It covers on the relationship among human and Allah SWT. E.g. quality of ibadah relates to the improvement in human relations and the universe.

• It begins with quality of insan --- slavery and caliph value --- harmoniously integrated --- concept of mujahadah.

• It combines sincerity and itqan (excellence) --- positive quality in Islam.

• It is important to the “Islam market factor”
- The expansion of muslim market.
- 1997 --- 1.13 million muslims around the world.
- Keep on growing at 2.9% annually.

• It is an inherent ethics of Islam
- Best practice of conduct since 14 centuries ago.
- Principles of government & management, and the conduct of business relationships; Al-Quran and As-Sunnah.
- Flourished throughout history, e.g. the Muslim nation under the Prophet
(PBUH) companions (Abu Bakar, Umar), the Persian empire, etc.

• It is an Islamic management culture.
- Al-Quran and As-Sunnah – as guidelines on good conduct of human affairs in Islam; progressiveness, fairness and ethicality.

• It is shortcomings of other management standards.
- Modern QIS focuses only on material and physical aspects.
- Organizations are treated as separate entity and not even close to the society.
- No emphasis on morality, attitude, values and beliefs.
- E.g. ISO 9000:2000 is ‘silent’ on ethical practice.