Competence and Authority — An Essential Harmony

✒️ Mufti Muhammad Tasleemuddin Al-Mahmoodi

Countless people in the world develop extraordinary abilities through their hard work, experience, and knowledge. But the reality is that mere competence does not guarantee success. Unless someone has full authority to utilize their knowledge and skills, the talk of their ability remains limited to paper.

If an expert's hands are tied or their freedom to make decisions is taken away, then their knowledge and experience become like a treasure locked in a prison—valuable, but useless. This is why the relationship between competence and authority is just like that of the body and the soul; the body is a lifeless structure without the soul, and the soul cannot manifest itself without the body. Similarly, competence without authority and authority without competence are both incomplete and ineffective.

Real progress and influence arise only when a person not only has knowledge and skills but also has complete freedom to use them. Where authority and capability go hand in hand, the journey of true success begins.