The Research on Islamic-Based Educational Leadership since 1990: An International Review of Empirical Evidence and a Future Research Agenda

Abstract

The aim of the present article was to systematically review international evidence about Islamic-based (a new term we suggest) educational leadership models published in peer-reviewed journals between 1990 and 2021. We conducted a systematic review of the literature by following the steps identified by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). These steps were data source identification, search, data collection, eligibility criteria selection, data selection, and data analysis. They were aimed at enabling us to answer the following research inquiries: (1) What are the existing developments in research on Islamic-based educational leadership and policy? and (2) What are the main themes presented in these studies? Here, the results are presented first in a macro-outlook elucidating the main trends of this research (topical areas, geographical areas, approaches, and methods). The main themes that emerge from the analysis are: (a) policy, reforms, and stakeholders; second, educational leadership models and styles; and third, gender, feminism, and social justice. We share theoretical and methodological conclusions and outlines of some possible future research directions to contribute to inter-faith, equity, and diversity.

1. Introduction

Despite all the educational opportunities provided by Muslim and Arab scholars in early Islamic times especially during the Golden Ages (Arar and Haj-Yehia 2018), there is a scarcity of studies that view educational theories and strategies through an Islamic lens. However, many researchers highlight that, 20 years after 9/11, there has been a proliferation of studies related to what is called Islamic education, as such studies are shifting from being associated with hate and terrorism to enlightening Western societies (Brooks and Ezzani 2021; Arar et al. 2019b). Nevertheless, with the rise of Muslim immigration, engendered racism, and Islamophobia, anti-migrant political parties have arisen throughout Europe. At the end of 2018, there were 25.8 million Muslims in Europe, who accounted for 4.9% of the continent’s population (Arar et al. 2019a). Subsequently, the Western world has witnessed an increased interest in providing educational opportunities to Muslim learners in schools and universities (Clauss et al. 2013; Shakeel 2018; Striepe et al. 2014).

Having said this, it is important to clarify that Islam promotes education and gaining knowledge that develops the highest values and helps in knowing God (Allah) and His worship (Al-Kaylani 1981). In addition, Muslim scholars have tried to interpret the Quran and the Prophet’s Hadith, which has led to different school of thought such as Sunni and Sufism. Therefore, we argue that any study attempting to suggest an educational theory/framework should not be labeled as “Islamic” unless all Muslim scholars agree on it. In this study, and a book we are working on, we introduce the new term, Islamic-based education, as there is no clear definition of Islamic education and there is no Islamic pedagogy in contemporary practices. Islamic-based education is an umbrella term that includes all educational opportunities offered to Muslim and non-Muslim learners that draw on Islamic principles.

Al-Kaylani (1981, 1985) has shown how educational theories evolved during Islamic centuries and provided a model to describe how education should help humankind to build their relationships with Allah the creator, other humans, the universe, life, and the afterlife. Although Islam prepares individuals for life and the afterlife, there is dearth of studies that mention the afterlife and how education enhances learners’ spirituality in Islamic-based education.

Spiritual leadership is being acknowledged as a new leadership style, especially in schools (Reave 2005). Many educators are exploring spiritual leadership in faith-based schools, including schools that teach Muslims (Brooks and Ezzani 2021; Hammad and Shah 2019; Shah 2016; Usman et al. 2021). However, scholars are also exploring new educational leadership trends in Islamic-based education, such as emotional leadership, instructional leadership, and Rabbani leadership (Hammad and Shah 2019). In addition, a few scholars have highlighted the need to reintroduce what Muslim scholars have provided to educational leadership since Islam’s early history (Arar and Haj-Yehia 2018; Saada and Magadlah 2020).

Given that this is the case, it might be important to discover what has been published so far in the fields of educational leadership and policies about Islamic-based educational leadership in different global contexts in order to pave the way for researchers and practitioners. To do so, we reviewed and thematically analyzed literature published in the last three decades, while seeking to identify the main trends of the reviewed studies (time frame, country, and journals outlet); the types of studies; their methodologies; and their topical focus on Islamic-based school leadership and policy. The following research questions guided our analysis: (1) What are the general trends of publications on Islamic-based educational leadership and policy? (2) What are the main themes presented in these studies?

The following section provides an overview of the relevant literature. Our methodology and analysis are then discussed and followed by an explanation of the main themes extracted from our analysis of the literature published between 1990 and 2021 regarding education and Islamic leadership and policy. This explanation is intended to demonstrate the literature’s topical focus and overall trends. This study concludes with theoretical and methodological inferences regarding current research, while offering outlines for future research and policies of greater recognition of diversified schools.

2. Literature Review

Many adjectives have been added to leadership to describe new trends, including “distributed”, “shared”, “servant”, “charismatic”, “community-engaged”, “culturally relevant” and “spiritual leadership” (Arar and Haj-Yehia 2018; Oplatka and Arar 2017; Bush and Glover 2014). Each term has been given different definitions by scholars.

Interestingly, as many leadership approaches emerged—including charismatic leadership, transformational leadership, servant leadership, systematic leadership, and authentic leadership (Bush and Glover 2014; Shah 2016)—scholars have tried to explore these approaches from an Islamic perspectives (Brooks and Mutohar 2018; Ezzani and Brooks 2019; Hammad and Shah 2019). While previous studies have mentioned that Islamic spiritual leadership focuses on doing good deeds and considering work as worship, there is a dearth of studies that link Islamic-based education to preparing individuals for the afterlife.

In addition, current efforts to define educational leadership through an Islamic lens (Brooks and Mutohar 2018) are still in the theoretical stage. Many scholars assert that educational leadership from the Islamic perspective is informed by diverse cultural and faith traditions, such as Sunni, Shi’a, Ahmadiyya, and Sufi (Brooks and Mutohar 2018; Shah 2016). Saada and Magadlah (2020) highlight that:

Islamisation has become part of the religious education discourse in postcolonial countries during 1940s–1990s and the debate about this ideology is still going on. Note that Islamisation should not be viewed as a unified or agreed concept because different and competing Islamic traditions (Shi’a, Sunni, or Sufi) may have their own definitions of Islamisation and the implications of Islamisation in the field of education (p. 2).

According to Islam, leaders, like any individuals, are expected to meet their commitments to God, as well as to serve with the best for others (Khan 2007). Al-Kaylani (1981) highlighted that educators in Islam should help learners to develop their will to know and love God, either in schools or other educational contexts. As one of its main features, spiritual leadership evaluates attitudes and behaviors based on love (Altman 2010).

Scholars have highlighted the importance of spiritual leaders in schools and their impact on students, teachers, parents, and school culture (Karadağ et al. 2020). Despite the growing literature on spiritual leadership, no agreed-upon definition of spiritual leadership exists (Brooks and Ezzani 2021; Brooks et al. 2020; Dent et al. 2005; Reave 2005). Many researchers differentiate between religion and spirituality. Reave (2005) noted that “one study of 305 individuals from various professional and religious backgrounds found that 74% identified themselves as both spiritual and religious.” (p. 656). In the same study, she mentioned Enblem’s definition of spirituality (1992) as “a personal life principle which animates a transcendent quality of relationship to God.” (p. 656).

In the same vein, Goertzen and Barbuto (2001) argued that individual spirituality could be addressed through several paradigms, such as purpose and meaning in life, health and wellness, and leadership. However, Sholikhah et al. (2019) argued that spiritual leadership encompasses efforts to link individuals’ religious values to organizational citizenship behavior, while significant spirituality practice at work encourages and enhances teachers’ performance, and that, therefore, spirituality contributes to school process and staff and students’ growth (p. 239). As there is no consensus on defining leadership and other terms like spirituality, we stress the need to clarify these concepts, especially when exploring spirituality in Islam (Brooks and Mutohar 2018).

Spiritual leadership could be considered an emerging aspect of leadership research, particularly in education. Many studies focus on spirituality and the workplace, discussing it from a business or organizational standpoint (Dent et al. 2005; Sholikhah et al. 2019). Such a leadership style enables individuals to discover the purpose in their lives (Fry et al. 2005). Although Brooks and Ezzani’s suggested framework of critical spirituality in school leadership practice (2021) is based on Islamic practices, the framework does not mention the afterlife or the importance of considering how Islam accepts leaders’ positive practices as part of worshiping Allah.

It is expected that leaders who emphasize spirituality can transform their workplace and integrate spiritual practices in their day-to-day lives (Dent et al. 2005). As Islamic-based education is inseparable from understanding monotheism, spirituality is connected to learning more about the creator Allah, the affirmation of creativity in work, and the strengthening of human potential as part of good deeds and worship.

However, providing educational opportunities for Muslims in a Muslim community differs from leading and managing educational opportunities in secular societies (Shakeel 2018; Merry and Driessen 2005). Muslim parents choose to raise their children according to Islamic values in what are called Islamic schools, as instruction in those values might not be provided in public schools even in Muslim countries. Having said this, we admit that there is no agreement on how to define Islamic schools, Islamic education, or Islamic educational leadership. Therefore, this study aimed to explore what had been studied between 1990 and 2021 related to Islamic-based K-12 leadership and policies, and by then to contribute to our understanding of faith-based and inter-faith educational leadership for further recognition and representation of diversity in education, community, and wider society.

3. Methods

In this systematic review study, we explored peer-reviewed studies on Islamic educational policy and leadership published between 1990 and 2021, following the steps identified in the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines (Moher et al. 2010). The review was guided by our research questions, as presented in the introduction. The research questions were addressed thorough our analysis and synthesis of findings from peer-reviewed published papers on Islamic-based educational leadership and policy in the last three decades (1990–2021). This corpus of knowledge includes scholarly publications that have examined the topic in different global contexts.

To conduct a comprehensive search of publications in peer-reviewed journals, we performed an electronic search in the ISI Web of Science and Sco-pus databases. Researchers have mentioned that Scopus presents more advanced and high-quality content in both specific and general (Falagas et al. 2008; Mongeon and Paul-Hus 2016) fields of educational leadership (Hallinger and Kovačević 2019). In contrast to ISI Web of Science, Scopus includes almost all the basic and general international educational leadership and management journals. Since our early research demonstrated Scopus’ greater coverage, we decided to use it to determine related documents to include in our review. However, despite its comprehensive coverage, Scopus still lacks some of the principal resources in the field. Additionally, it is a fact that most international databases, such as Scopus, include scientific papers written in English that mostly deal with Western countries. These limitations were considered in the data analysis process. In our research, we used the search parameters “Islamic education”, “Muslim schooling”, “Islamic educational leader”, and “Islamic educational leadership” and restricted the search to peer-reviewed journals published in English. Our search of the period between 1990 and July 2021 yielded 1070 results.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

We identified and approved specific inclusion and exclusion standards. In a first step, we each read all the articles’ abstracts. We then reduced the corpus, excluding articles that explored Islamic curriculum, higher education, Islamic education theory, and students. Focusing on K-12 education and using leadership or policy as one of the main concepts helped us limit the parameters of the study.

Then the corpus was reduced once again through our application of the following criteria for the articles. Articles had to: (a) have been published in English; (b) have been published in peer-reviewed journals included in both Scopus and ISI Web of Science; (c) use common quantitative, qualitative, or mixed research methods, or be theoretical and conceptual papers, especially as we were dealing with both leadership and policy foci; and (d) address K-12 settings. Some studies were excluded for the following reasons: (a) they were irrelevant to the topic under investigation (articles focusing on Islamic education outside K-12 systems); (b) they offered inadequate explanation of the theoretical construct or methods definitions, instrument, or contents were inadequately described; see (Arar 2021). As seen in Figure 1, 960 studies were initially systematically reviewed. We used an Excel workbook to delete all duplicates. We then checked for compliance with all eligibility criteria and deleted the studies that did not meet these criteria. Next, we reviewed the studies by reading the full text. If the article aligned with our search criteria, we downloaded a soft copy. This method resulted in a total of 36 articles that met our inclusion criteria being included in our study over an eight-month period.

4. Results

Our results are presented here in two parts: first, a macro-outlook portrait will be shown, and, second, the main themes and subcategories linked to the re-search aim of the reviewed studies will be employed and structured in order to answer the main research questions.

The analysis investigated heterogeneity descriptively rather than statistically and was appropriate for use with outcomes from different kinds of empirical, conceptual, and theoretical systemic studies (Booth et al. 2012, p. 91). The first two authors, who have published comprehensively on the selected topic, reviewed each article and compared patterns, themes, and sub-themes that would provide macro and micro understanding. The identified articles were coded based on the various topic areas (Arar 2021, p. 9).

4.1. Macro Outlook Results

Volume and Geographic Distribution

Results showed that no studies on Islamic education leadership were published between 1990 and 2003. The first study reviewed was published in 2003. Remarkably, selected studies’ authors mentioned that the number of studies had increased dramatically in the last decade in response to the 9/11 at-tacks on the World Trade Center and the growing interest in Islam, given the increase in Islamophobia in different Western countries (Brooks and Mutohar 2018).

Increased Muslim immigration in the last 10 years due to political unrest in the Middle East, North Africa, and other countries in the Global South influenced the rise of Islamic schools in Western nation-states (Arar et al. 2019a). Consequently, as seen in Figure 2, there is an evident upward trend in re-search investigating Islamic-based educational leadership and policy from 2015. Figure 2 shows that most of the studies were conducted in non-Muslim countries, mainly in Global North contexts including the US, Australia, the UK, and other European countries. This is unsurprising due to both the increased public interest in the Islamic community in the West, and due to the established systems of academic rankings and hegemony in publication, with English as the lingua franca (Arar 2021, p. 9).

Yet, the other publications of studies came from Muslim-majority countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Turkey. Figure 3 shows the countries that published the highest number of articles on Islamic education leadership. Interestingly, none of these were Arab countries. They were, however, among the most productive non-Anglo-American countries in the field of educational leadership and management (Hallinger and Kovačević 2019; Mertkan et al. 2017).

Additionally, we concluded that cross-cultural studies on Islamic-based educational leadership are still very rare, with little international collaboration.

Table 1. The most popular journals for related studies.

Journal Name	Number of Articles
Religions	3
British Journal of Religious Education	3
Educational Management, Administration and Leadership	3
Journal of Education Administration and History	2
Race, Ethnicity and Education	2

presents the research design methods of the papers reviewed in this study, detailing the main topical areas that they discuss, the journals in which they were published, and their countries of origin. Results showed that the selected studies were published in 30 journals. The most popular journal was Religions, followed by British Journal of Religious Education and Race Ethnicity and Education (Table 1).

We investigated the types of paper and the methods used. As shown in Figure 4, the majority of the studies were empirical (N = 29). Results showed that most of the empirical studies were based on qualitative research (N = 28) in general, and case study research in particular (N = 6). These studies primarily relied on interviews or case studies, while some also used document analysis of policy or literature synthesis for designing a conceptual model (N = 7) (e.g., Brooks and Mutohar 2018; Shakeel 2018). Only two quantitative research studies and six mixed-methods designs were identified in the reviewed papers. Many studies in this review concerned small scale inquiries with a small number of participants, given the nature of cases identified. There was also variation in the epistemologies and methodologies of those studies that adopted qualitative, interpretative paradigms.

4.2. Micro Outlook Results

Themes Identified

The first set of topics led to the reviewed documents being categorized under two main themes: policy and leadership. Ten of the reviewed papers discussed policy and reform, including policy implementation to include curriculum, professional development, and principals’ appointments expressed how Islamic values shaped the education system. A further 26 explored different models of leadership. For the policy-oriented studies, we selected those that introduced main opportunities and challenges related to Islamic educational leadership through the context of the researchers’ countries, such as Indonesia, Turkey, and Russia. The systematic review identified two main subthemes under leadership: school leadership models; and gender, feminism, and social justice leadership. Another analysis was conducted using NVivo 12 to show the most frequent words and searches for specific types of leadership, such as spiritual leadership (see Figure 5).

We tried, through NVivo, to identify the number of times the word “spiritual” was mentioned in each of the analyzed studies in

Table 2. Number of times “spiritual” was mentioned in each study.

Study	Number of Times Mentioned
The role of spiritual leadership in fostering discretionary behaviors	136
Administrative stressors and Islamic coping strategies among Muslim primary principals in Malaysia: A mixed method study	10
Islamic schooling in the cultural west: A systematic review of the issues concerning school choice	7
Islamic crash course as a leadership strategy of school principals in strengthening school organizational culture	6
Leading faith schools in a secular society: Challenges facing head teachers of Muslim schools in the United Kingdom	6
Madrasa education in South Asia and Southeast Asia: Current issues and debates	6
The rise of Islamic schools in the United States	6
Muslim schools and madrasahs in new tendency on the basis of Islam culture in bukey horde reformed	3
This is us: Islamic feminist school leadership	3
Culturally relevant leadership advancing critical consciousness in American Muslim students	2
Islamic school leadership: A conceptual framework	1
A model for Islamic education from Turkey: The Imam-Hatip schools	1

.

The next section will clarify the three main themes that emerged from the meta-analysis of the reviewed papers about Islamic-based educational leadership: (a) policy, reforms, and stakeholders; (b) educational leadership models and styles; and (c) gender, feminism, and social justice. We made a brief theoretical overview for each theme, followed by several sub-themes emerged from the empirical findings reviewed.

Table 3. Presents the characteristics of the reviewed papers.

Author(s)	Year	Country	Purpose(s)	Theme’s	Tools and Participants	Methodology Data Analysis	Journal
Alfarisi, S. & Efendi, N.	2019	Indonesia	Investigates the teacher’s role in performing leadership, supporting factors in leadership, and how school principals deals challenges	Kiai leadership, Islamic schools	Observation, interview, documentary, and questionnaire methods	Mix method analysis	International Journal on Integrated Education
Arar, K. & Oplatka, I.	2014	Israel	Examines views of Muslim and Jewish teachers in Israel regarding the masculinity of male school principals, and how these perceptions influence relationship between principals and teachers	Masculinity, Muslim, Jews, Israeli teachers, educational leadership	Semi-structured interview with 38 Muslim teachers and 31 Jewish teachers	Qualitative analysis	Men and Masculinities
Arar, L. & Shapira, T.	2016	Israel	Argues decision of Muslim female principals with hijab	Culture, Arab education, Israel, educational leadership	Interview with seven Muslim female principals wearing hihab	Qualitative case study analysis	Gender of Education
Arifin, I., Juharyanto, Mustiningsih, & Taufiq, A.	2018	Indonesia	Examines Nyantri (Islamic crash course) program as a leadership strategy in schools	Islamic crash course, Islamic leadership, school organizational culture	Observation, documentation, and in-depth interviews with principals, teachers, educational officers, and direct supervisors	Qualitative multicase analysis approach via theoretical phenomenology	Sage Open
Aşlamacı, I. & Kaymakcan, R.	2017	Turkey	Discusses Imam-Hatip schools in Turkey and their characteristic as a model of Islamic education.	Imam hatip high schools, Islamic education, Turkish Islamic education model	Historical review	Qualitative analysis	British Journal of Religious Education
Ayagan, Y. S., Mediyeva, S. K., & Asetova, J. B.	2016	Kazakhstan	Examines the educational policy of Russia in Kazakhstan	Muslim schools, religious education, Kazakhstan	Documents analysis	Qualitative analysis	On line scientific and Educational Bulletin “Health and Education Millennium"
Bano, M.	2014	United Kingdom	Explores the impact of state support at Islamic modern education in Bangladesh	State-aid schools, Bangladesh, madrasa, Islamic education	Interviews with officials of Bangladesh Madrasa Education	Qualitative analysis	Modern Asian Studies
Brooks, M & Mutohar, A.	2018	Australia	Reviewed Islamic educational leadership literature and created conceptual framework based the Islamic values and beliefs.	Islamic values, Islamic leadership, school leadership	Documents analysis	Qualitative analysis	Journal of Educational Administration and History
Brooks, M.	2015	U.S.A.	Aims to understand how Thai government school leaders establish and sustain trust with community leaders during times of conflict	Conflict, school leadership, Northern Thailand	Semi-structured interviews with twenty school principals	Qualitative case study analysis	Educational Management Administration &Leadership
Brooks, M. C., Brooks, J. S., Mutohar, A., & Taufiq, I.	2020	Australia	Examines how socio-religious factors influence school leaders in Islamic schools.	Principals, Indonesia, Islamic schooling, socio-religious thinking	Observations and semi-structured interviews with school leaders	Mix-method analysis	Journal of Educational Administration
Clauss, K., Ahmed, S., & Salvaterra, M.	2013	U.S.A	Explores purpose and function of Islamic schools in U.S from the perspective of Muslim school leaders, teachers, parents, and graduates.	American Muslims, Islamic education, identity, second and third generation Muslim students	Interviews with 25 individuals from parents, teachers, school leaders, and graduates	Qualitative analysis	The Innovation Journal: The Public Sector Innovation Journal, Volume 18(1), 2013, article 4.
Dakir, F.	2020	Indonesia	Based on the ideal leadership model in Fatihah verses, reviews Islamic school leadership values and principles	Islamic leadership, Qur’anic based education	Library research	Qualitative analysis	Jurnal Pendidikan Islam (Islamic Education Journal)
Driessen, G., & Merry, M. S.	2006	The Netherlands	Investigates the function of the Islamic schools in The Netherlands such as their aim, performance, and the problems they face	Ethnic minorities, Muslims in The Netherlands, Islamic schools, Islamic education	Document analysis	Qualitative analysis	Interchange
Ezzani, M. & Brooks, M.	2019	U.S.A	Studies how principals of Islamic school in the United States perform culturally relevant leadership (CRL)	Culturally Relevant Leadership, Islamic school leadership, cultural syncretism	Interviews with teachers, students, and parents; classroom observations, and documents from institutions	Qualitative analysis	Educational Administration Quarterly
Hammad, W. & Shah, S.	2018	England	Aims to understand how the head teachers of Muslim schools experience leadership in the United Kingdom and what challenges they face	Leadership challenges, Muslim, religious schools	Semi-structured interviews with four head teachers of Muslim schools	Qualitative analysis	Educational Management Administration & Leadership
Hanafi, Y., Taufiq, A., Saefi, M., Ikhsan, M., Diyana, T., Thoriquttyas, T., Anam, F.	2020	Indonesia	Investigates the leadership practices of principals, school leaders, and teachers in Islamic boarding school (pesantren) regarding the new normal during the COVID-19 period	COVID-19, new normal, educational leadership, Pesantren education	Focus group interviews with teachers and principals	Content analysis	Heliyon
Humaisi, M., Arifin, I., Imron, A., & Sonhadji, A.	2019	Indonesia	Searches the charismatic leadership in Islamic education and how it affects the quality of educational outputs.	Charismatic Education, Islamic Education	In-depth interview, participant observation, and documentation	Qualitative case study analysis	Universal Journal of Educational Research
Khalil, D.& DeCuir, A.	2018	U.S.A	Investigates how Muslim female school leaders leading Islamic schools in America practice equity, community, and resistance	Islamic leadership, Islamic feminism, social justice, Islamic school	Interviews with 13 Muslim American women school leaders	Qualitative analysis	Journal of Educational Administration and History
Malla, H. A. B., Sapsuha, M. T., & Lobud	2020	Indonesia	Investigates principal leadership instruction for developing Islamic education of curriculum in Islamic senior high school	School leadership, Islamic education, curriculum	Principal, assistant principal, and students	Qualitative analysis	International Journal of Innovation, Creativity and Change
Maxcy, B. & Sungtong, E.	2010	Thailand	Explores the role of schools and school administrators within multiethnic society under Thailand’s neoliberal reform.	Islamic schooling, leadership, neoliberalism, Thailand	Interview with 12 principals	Qualitative analysis	Educational Policy
Maxcy, B. D., Sungtong, E., & Nguyên, T. S.	2010	Thailand	Discusses the challenges that principals face in public school of southern Thailand	Buddhist, Muslim, reform, school leadership, southern Thailand	Systematic review of interviews and government documents	Qualitative analysis	Educational Management Administration & Leadership
Merry, M. & Driessen, G.	2015	The Netherlands	Related to factors such as parental motivations, the teacher qualification, and school boards, performing of Islamic schools was investigated	Islamic schools in The Netherlands, primary education	National COOL cohort study	Quantitative analysis	Race Ethnicity and Education
Muslih, M.	2021	Indonesia	Discusses how well Islamic primary schools support their Muslim immigrant students both physically and mentally for integration into Dutch society	Islamic primary school, integration onto school environment, Muslims in Dutch	Document analysis	Qualitative analysis	British Journal of Religious Education
Park, J., & Niyozov, S	2008	Canada	Examines madrasa education and the challenges that Islamic schools face across South Asia and Southeast Asia	Islamic education, madrasa, Southeast Asia	Reviewed over 90 articles	Meta analysis	Asia Pasific Journal of Education
Prasetyo, M.	2021	Indonesia	Explores the effects of transformative leadership and organizational climate among teacher’s performance of Sholahuddin Gayo Lues Islamic Boarding School	Organizational climate, teacher’s performance, transformational leadership	Survey with 39 respondents	Quantitative analysis	Jurnal Manajemen, Kepemimpinan, dan Supervisi Pendidikan
Raihani	2017	Thailand	Analyzes leadership practices in different Islamic schools in Southern Thailand under the current ethno-political conflict between the Muslims and the Tai Buddhist government	Islamic school leadership, conflict area, strategic Leaders, Southern Thailand	Observation and interviews with six students and teachers	Multiple case study analysis	Indonesian Journal if Islamic Studies
Rissanen, I.	2019	Finland	Examines Finnish and Swedish principals’ diversity ideologies in Muslim students inclusion and how Finnish and Swedish principals’ differ in diversity ideologies	Culturally responsive education, diversity, Muslims, Finland, Sweden, leadership, inclusion	Interview with twenty principals and assistant principals	Qualitative analysis	Race Ethnicity and Education
Shah, S.	2005	United Kingdom	How learners from diverse backgrounds perceive educational leadership, receive education, and relate their learning experiences to the daily performance	Muslim women leaders, educational leadership, multi-ethnic society	Documentary review	Qualitative analysis	British Educational Research Journal
Shakeel, D.	2018	U.S.A.	Reviews the literature on Islamic schooling in Western countries based on the three issues; the purpose Islamic schooling, parental reason, the quality of school	Islamic schools, Muslim students in West, public and private schools	Systematic analysis	Mixed method analysis	Religions
Suddahazai, I.	2021	United Kingdom	Understands the relationship between the religiosity and the educational leadership styles of graduates of Muslim Institutes of Higher Education in the UK	Islamic education, religiosity, leadership style, Islamic boarding schools	Muslim Subjectivity Interview Schedule (MSIS), Semi- Structured Interviews (SSI), and Focus Group Discussions	Single case design	International Journal of Education and Learning
Sukowati, P., Zunaih, A. I., Jatmikowati, S. H., & Nelwan, V.	2019	Indonesia	Examines the role of Kiai leadership in Islamic boarding school	Kiai Leadership Style, Islamic schools	Interviews with school leaders, teachers, and students, observations, data analyses	Qualitative case study analysis	International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering
Syafiq Humaisi, M., Thoyib, M., Arifin, I., Imron, A., & Sonhadji, A.	2019	Indonesia	Aimed to explore and analyse the role of charismatic leadership in improving of the quality of Islamic education, the supervising quality, and the quality of educational outputs.	Charismatic Leadership, Islamic education	In-depth interview, participant observation, and documentation	Qualitative case study analysis	Universal Journal of Educational Research
Tahir, L. M., Khan, A., Musah, M. B., Ahmad, R., Daud, K., Al-Hudawi, S. H. V., Musta’Amal, A. H., & Talib, R.	2018	Malaysia	Investigates stress experiences and coping strategies of Muslim school principals	Muslim principals, Islamic coping strategies, stress experience	Survey and interview with 216 school administrates	Mix method analysis	Community Mental Health Journal
Tolchah, M.	2014	Indonesia	Explores educational policies in Indonesian Islamic Education within its political dynamics	Islamic education, educational policies, Indonesian Islamic education	Cultural analysis	Qualitative analysis	Journal of Indonesian Islam
Umar, A., Jamsari, E. A., Hassan, W. Z. W., Sulaiman, A., Muslim, N., & Mohamad, Z	2012	Malaysia	Examines the role of of principals in government-aided Islamic school (SABK)	Islamic education, government aided islamic schools	Document analysis and Interviews with officers	Mix-method	Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences
Walford, G.	2003	U.K.	Regarding the evaluation of policies, the study argues the differences in the implication of the educational policies of Muslim and Christian schools in England and The Netherlands	Religious schools, Muslim; Christian, England, The Netherlands	Documentary work, observation and interviews with school staffs and government officials	Mix method analysis	Research Papers in Education

presents the characteristics of the reviewed papers.

4.3. Theme 1: Educational Policy

This review revealed that 15 papers explored policy related to issues including national educational reforms, political and cultural terrain, and curriculum implementation. Ball (1998) observes educational strategies as systems of value; symbolic systems; and ways of representing, accounting for, and legitimating political decision-making. With this understanding, we found that more than half of the papers clustered under policy theme examined policy implementations that addressed curricula, professional development, and principals’ appointments. These implementations indicated how Islamic values shaped education systems. Principals’ enactments of their roles, based on required Islamic curricula, were among the topical foci (Maxcy et al. 2010). An investigation of the topical focus in policy-related papers identified the following main sub-themes: (a) curriculum reforms and (b) principals’ appointments.

Merry and Driessen (2016) identified the external policy pressure to improve 45 Islamic schools’ image and students’ achievements in The Netherlands, while combining different mechanisms of inspections and follow up of students’ cognitive outcomes. Clauss et al. (2013) analyzed the nature and growth of Islamic schools in the United States, investigating how different stakeholders and educators view the “good Islamic” school. The authors argued that despite the efforts to understand Muslims and Islam as a religious identity, precautious attitudes typically underlie efforts to understand Islamic schools in non-Islamic environments. Thus, the main efforts pointed to external policy impositions. However, Maxcy et al. (2010) examined how national educational re-forms were implemented in Muslim schools in Thailand, and how the implementation efforts expressed power relations and the challenges facing school leadership in southern Thailand in implementing these reforms in shifting social, political, and cultural terrain. The research offered an account of the variety of challenges reported by principals working in this difficult environment while trying to bridge the gap between central hegemonic colonial education policy and community needs. Moreover, Park and Niyozov (2008) examined the challenges faced by Madrasa educators in South Asia in implementing a globalized education policy in a knowledge economy. These educators were caught at the intersection of modernity and tradition, dealing with the confusion created by the new curriculum implementation, and facing the violence this domination by policy imposed on Sunni schools in South Asia. Interestingly, the paper suggested some implications for a dialogue between two contested projects, which offered promising glimpses and a sense of hope for religious-based education in Muslim communities. Overall, the selected studies introduced challenges and opportunities related to Islamic education and state policy landscape, as it provides Muslim communities with the opportunity to practice their rights to choose their children’s schools, including the development of faith-based schools in the West (Shakeel 2018).

The second-most studied topics pointed to the efforts of integration of Muslim students and communities in the West. Driessen and Merry (2006) investigated efforts to integrate the Muslim minority in primary schools in The Netherlands. Similarly, Ayagan et al. (2014) analyzed several policy documents dealing with teaching Russia’s curriculum to the Kazakhs, along with those addressing the formation of Muslim schools and madrasahs near the mosque. Suddahazai (2021) investigated the educational leadership’ styles of Muslim educators in United Kingdom. Meanwhile, Muslih (2019) examined both efforts at social integration practiced in Islamic schools in The Netherlands, and how these schools faced increasing criticism from Dutch society, which considered them breeding grounds for terrorism and organizations that fostered anti-integration. The author argued that teachers in The Netherlands support their students’ integration into Dutch society through Islamic primary schools, as their mission statements, outlined in policy analyses of different schools’ official documents, explicitly state. Therefore, the school’s mission is to educate pupils based on both the Islamic norms and values derived from the Qur’an and Sunnah, and on active citizenship and social integration. Similar findings stemmed from Walford’s (2003) research in the UK and The Netherlands.

Furthermore, the third common topic identified in policy-related documents in Muslim states was school improvement efforts following the implementation of reforms. Tolchah (2014) focused on how reform efforts in Indonesia positively affected institutional improvement. The paper examined policy initiatives related to Islamic curricular implementations and their effects on the formation of cultural identity, social cohesion, and emancipation through education. Similarly, Bano (2014) examined through histotrophic critical analysis how national curricular reform efforts in Bangladesh affected Islamic Madrasa education growth.

Another topic identified was principals’ appointments in Islamic schools and different stakeholders’ roles in principals’ recruitments. Focusing on district and federal efforts, Umar et al. (2012) analyzed through qualitative interviews and documentary analysis the process of principals’ appointments in religious schools in Malaysia and questioned the effects of vague selection criteria on the quality of principals. However, Walford (2003) compared Christian and Muslim state religious schools in the UK and The Netherlands and found that similar criteria for principals’ selection were adopted in these schools. Such criteria had similar effects, fostering social cohesion, future integration, and a sense of belonging to the majority society, while also preserving community belonging and faith practices.

4.4. Theme 2: Educational Leadership Models and Styles

Results showed that identified articles focused mainly on educational leadership models practiced in Muslim schools for promoting social cohesion, community engagement, and integration of Muslim students. Various models of leadership (e.g., charismatic, culturally responsive, transformational, and instructional) have been conceptualized to describe educational leaders’ practices in Muslim schools. Similarly, collaborative, responsive, and democratic approaches to educational leadership and practices of equity and social justice have been identified in linking the faith, the social, and the organizational structures of these educational systems in the Western world. Moreover, as leadership is highly contextualized, the studies are closely related to the schools’ structures, curricula, social and religious values, and communities (Bush and Glover 2014). Three sub-themes were developed as building blocks of educational leadership styles in Muslim schools, namely: (a) faith-based leadership, which includes both charismatic and spiritual leadership; (b) community-engaged leadership, which combines culturally relevant/responsive educational leadership and democratic leadership; (c) and strategic leadership.

Table 4. Models of leadership identified.

Sub-Theme	No. of Papers	Percentage
Faith-based leadership	4	40
Charismatic leadership (2)
Spiritual leadership (2)
Community engaged	4	40
Cultural relevant leadership (3)
Democratic leadership (1)
Strategic leadership	2	20
Sum	10	100

presents the characteristics of the reviewed papers.

Although results showed that studies referred to common school leadership models, especially faith-based leadership, charismatic leadership, and spiritual leadership (Arifin et al. 2018; Avolio and Gardner 2005; Syafiq Humaisi et al. 2019), they did not clarify how it was linked to Islam, and instead mentioned general Western theories. Notably, some studies discussed educational leadership under the Kiai leadership model (Sukowati et al. 2019), which refers to figures who are well known for their religious knowledge.

The first group of studies clustered under the theme of faith-based educational leadership to include two sub-themes: (a) charismatic leadership and (b) spiritual leadership. Through a qualitative case study, Syafiq Humaisi et al. (2019) analyzed the effect of the charismatic ethical monotheism leadership style and pedagogic supervision program on developing teachers’ competences. They found that these factors improved the quality of Islamic education processes and students’ outcomes in Indonesian faith-based schools based on the Quran and Hadeeth. Similarly, through quantitative research, Sholikhah et al. (2019) explored the role of spiritual leadership in fostering discretionary behaviors, as well as the mediating effects of organizational self-esteem and workplace spirituality in Indonesian private schools. The authors argued that spiritual leadership involves efforts to connect individuals’ religious values to organizational citizenship behavior, while significant spiritual practice at work encourages and enhances teachers’ performance. Thus, spirituality contributes to the school process and staff and students’ growth. The authors defined spiritual leadership and proposed that it shapes employees’ behavior, thereby attempting to set the theoretical foundations of spiritual leadership. Such leadership has a strong relationship with organizationally based self-esteem and citizenship behavior. Spiritual leadership supports individuals’ subjective wellbeing through creating a perspective that leads people to achieve their aims and offer service to society. Additionally, spiritual leadership encourages people to act and behave as good citizens and supports organization-based self-esteem in the workplace. Since employees with spiritual values are driven to focus on the sacred meaning of their jobs, they make strong contributions to their partners’ efforts and work hard to meet organizational aims. However, Sholikhah et al. (2019) did not mention the afterlife and Muslims’ relationship with afterlife. We found it interesting that the only study that focused on spiritual leadership concentrated on workplace and did not link spiritual practices to worship and the afterlife.

In the same vein, , Clauss et al.’s (2013) study was an attempt to understand the nature and the growth of Islamic schools from the perspective of Muslim administrators, teachers, parents, and graduates of Islamic schools in the United States. The researchers examined both the spiritual nature of Islamic schools and their practices in equipping their graduates for transition into both Islamic and non-Islamic environments. We linked leadership values to this theme, as some considered spiritual needs to be spiritual values (Ayagan et al. 2014).

While spiritual leadership is lucid and less conceptualized, serious efforts were made by Brooks and Mutohar (2018) to identify the principals and main values shaping Islamic leadership across socio-religious and contextual boundaries. The authors conceptualized a framework of spiritual leadership by identifying four inner domains that influence the holistic values of Muslim leaders and how they influence those leaders’ practices, based on a systemic re-view of the literature of Islamic education leadership in the years after 11 September 2001. Brooks and Mutohar’s (2018) grounded research revealed initial leadership values such as nasiha (good council and sincere conduct), shura (consultation), and tafakkur (reflection). However, their framework does not include or represent spiritual leadership in Islamic lens.

Community-engaged leadership, which includes culturally relevant and democratic leadership, emerged as a theme in the selected studies. Brooks and Ezzani (2017) found a school’s administrators believed in the need to re-envision the American Muslim community as moderate in outlook, resonant with American values, participative with community, and supportive and welcoming of diversity. In doing so, the school delivered an anti-extremist education that promoted social integration, democratic values, and acceptance of diversity. Through rigorous, prolonged qualitative research and data collection, using interviews with school community leaders and students focus groups, classroom and school observation, and documentary analysis, Ezzani and Brooks (2019) explored how leaders in Islamic schools in the United States engaged in culturally relevant leadership professional development for teachers. Leaders’ methods were intended to develop students’ critical social consciousness, facilitate interfaith dialogue, and encourage cultural syncretism in developing Muslim identity.

Hammad and Shah (2019) investigated the perception of teachers regarding leadership experiences and challenges in the Muslim schools in UK. Their research findings stressed the powerful effect that societal culture and belief systems have on school leadership practices. Although leadership in faith schools is generally shaped by the specific nature and orientation of these schools, the researchers noted that those schools need religious values and beliefs based on a leadership system. Thus, from an Islamic perspective, leadership practices should be formed in line with the teachings of the Quran (Islam’s sacred book) and the Ahadith (actions and sayings of Prophet Muhammad) (Brooks and Mutohar 2018; Hammad and Shah 2019; Salamun and Shah 2012). However, the studies selected did not mention if educational leaders are formed based on Quran and Ahadith, and if so, how.

Inkeri Rissanen (2019) explored how school principals’ diversity ideologies foster the inclusion of Muslims students in Finland and Sweden. They argued that culturally responsive education supports inclusive recognition of diversity, and that color-blindness should be abandoned as an ineffective strategy. They concluded that reflexivity regarding the complex dynamics of recognizing individual vs. group identities in education as well as the understanding of the implications of religion-blindness is called for. Lastly, through qualitative case study research, Malla et al. (2020) examined the influence of school leadership on Islamic curricula, including the implementation of democratic processes through vision, organizational practices and staff commitment to promote Islamic curricula that include worship and faith. Based on their research findings, they argued that the integration of democratic leadership with Islamic values fosters school performance through perceived religious duties to support students’ learning, and functions to support the achievement of the vision and mission of the Islamic school that has been established (p. 320).

4.5. Theme 3: Gender, Feminism and Social Justice

The final theme that emerged in this study was gender and social justice. Our review showed that four of the selected studies addressed gender, social justice issues and Islamic feminism (Arar 2015; Arar and Oplatka 2014; Arar and Shapira 2016; Khalil and DeCuir 2018). For instance, Arar (2015) examined Muslim women’s adoption of the hijab in several stages of their principalship career. He argued for a third wave of Islamic feminism. In the US context, Khalil and DeCuir’s recent study (2018) examined Islamic feminism and social justice, describing how Muslim female school leaders prioritize equity, community, and resistance when leading American Islamic schools. Similar to prior critical feminist studies conducted in different Western contexts, this research centered female leaders’ agency as an emancipatory praxis of resistance to injustice and oppression, aligning with our core assumptions of Islamic feminism. Furthermore, they argued for Islamic feminist school leadership: (a) leading by modeling an equitable and just ethic; (b) leading by nurturing a communal culture, and (c) leading for transformational resistance. Similarly, Hammad and Shah (2019) highlighted the need of cultural understanding to deal with challenges such as gender and social injustice, especially when leading Islamic or Muslim schools in a secular society. However, principals’ femininity is a fluid social construct, varying according to cultural-ideological perception, and is contextually affected, especially when dealing with Muslim women leadership in wider secular contexts, which affects leaders’ perception and advocacy (Ezzani and Brooks 2019). Khalil and DeCuir’s recent study (2018) argued that women’s transformative principles of seeking knowledge, raising consciousness, and resisting injustice, can be considered as extension of third wave feminism, while we contend that Islam and feminism cannot be combined without clear definitions.

5. Discussion and Conclusions

This study reviewed the current foci of research in Islamic-based K-12 educational leadership and policy peer-reviewed papers published between 1990 and 2021, and critically analyzed 34 papers to elucidate the overall trends of the related studies in terms of context, type of study, methodology, and topical focus. The findings will be discussed based on the research questions posed in the introduction.

Our first research question was addressed by our descriptive findings, which revealed that more than half of the papers were published during the last five years, and there were barely any research papers before the 2000s in the databases we selected. Many researchers showed that there has been a proliferation in studies related to Islamic education since 9/11 due to heightened interest and global problematizing of both Islam in general and Muslims’ status in the West (Brooks and Mutohar 2018; Shah 2016). Our assumption was that educational researchers’ greater awareness of and interest in Islamic-based educational leadership and policy affected the trends in this research due to heightened political realities in different European countries, a phenomenon that has created several challenges for and had a huge impact on Muslim minorities in the West and on their education system as well (Arar et al. 2019a; Banks 2017; Brooks 2015). Moreover, the impact of social media and other media outlets on Islamophobia and xenophobia has led researchers to be more vocal on this regard.

Unsurprisingly, most publications came from Anglophone states (the USA, the UK, Australia, and Europe), while the rest were written in different Islamic states in Asia, especially Indonesia and Malaysia (Tahir et al. 2018). Furthermore, as the field of educational leadership was established as an academic discipline in the US and the UK, those countries take the lead in this area of study (Oplatka 2010), and English is their lingua franca. Although, Arab countries with Muslim majority were not represented in these studies. This finding is consistent with previous systemic reviews that pointed to the lack of studies related to educational leadership and policy in general that were conducted in Arab countries (Hallinger and Hammad 2019; Oplatka and Arar 2017).

Third, the articles mainly included empirical research conducted in different host countries of Muslim minorities (e.g., the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, the Philippines, and Finland), while the others discussed Muslim countries in Asia (e.g., Indonesia, and Malaysia). Although author-ship patterns are likely to have some influence upon the reviewed articles, local researchers in autocratic regimes have to be careful in publishing findings that might be seen as critical of local political and policy discourse. This may account for the lack of positionality, epistemology, and critical debate in most of the reviewed papers coming from countries outside the West, or the tendency to pose unfamiliar research questions that are loosely connected to local context, except for some critical studies written by Muslim scholars in the West. As for the journals in which the papers we reviewed were published, Religions took the lead, followed by the Journal of Education Administration and History, which devoted a special issue edited by Brooks and Mutohar (2018). Although the majority of the publication outlets are US or UK-based journals due to both the global tendency of lingua franca publishing, as the regime of truth is constructed through the knowledge gatekeepers’ and their hegemony (see Baker et al. 2019). In contrast, the voice and experience of the Global South is less explored, and furthermore, the voices of Muslim students, their educators and community are less heard, except in a few research examples (e.g., Ezzani and Brooks 2019; Hammad and Shah 2019).

The papers on the topic mostly rely on empirical methods, while reviews and conceptual papers dealing with the foci are few in number (e.g., Brooks and Mutohar 2018; Shakeel 2018). This clearly shows the lack of rigor in the conceptualization of Islamic-based educational leadership and policy models. Moreover, the empirical papers predominantly rely on case studies and qualitative methodologies, while there is a lack of quantitative, mixed-methods and comparative research in this area. This means that the effect of Islamic-based or spiritual leadership and policy on pedagogical instruction, Islamic value practices, and graduates’ futures are less evident.

Three main themes were identified after we reviewed the selected studies: (1) policy, reforms, and stakeholders; (2) educational leadership models and styles; and (3) gender, feminism, and social justice. The most popular themes in the policy-related papers were curriculum reform and implementation of either Islamic education or national reforms imposing a central education curriculum aimed at integrating Muslim students in the West (e.g., Maxcy et al. 2010; Merry and Driessen 2016). Principals’ appointments criteria and recruitment policy and procedures were among the main sub-themes discussed, while professional development policy, and follow-up dynamics were among the themes elucidated. Thus, implicit and explicit forms of policy implementation, related challenges, and the dynamics of inspection, including different forces in policy design and implementation, especially in Islamic schools in Western contexts, were among the themes discussed (Shakeel 2018; Umar et al. 2012).

Various models of leadership were identified in the papers reviewed. These included charismatic and spiritual educational leadership. Papers focused mainly on the role of charismatic ethical monotheism leadership and pedagogic supervision programs in developing teachers’ competences and improving the quality of Islamic engaged education processes and students’ outcomes in faith-based schools (e.g., Clauss et al. 2013; Ayagan et al. 2014). These models have received greater attention for trying to utilize Islamic faith-based leadership practices and agency in implementing Islamic values. The common point of view across the majority of these studies is that a school leader is a role model and embraces Islamic values based on the Quran and the Hadith. The next sub-theme identified in this category was community-engaged leadership, which includes culturally relevant models, and democratic models arguing for culturally relevant leadership. Such leadership represents educators, students, and community voices, while developing critical social consciousness, Muslim identity, and inter-faith dialogue in non-Muslim contexts (e.g., Ezzani and Brooks 2019; Hammad and Shah 2019). The last sub-theme identified was gen-der and feminism, which stemmed from studies representing Muslim women’s leadership in the US, the UK, and other Western contexts. These women lead Islamic schools through empowerment, social justice, and transformational resistence (Khalil and DeCuir 2018; Hammad and Shah 2019; Ezzani and Brooks 2019). Conceptual and methodological clarity is still needed in these studies, especially concerning Islamic-based educational leadership approaches.

Therefore, from this systemic review, we identified some gaps in the scholarship focused on nonwestern approaches to leading schools (Shah 2016). The shortage of empirical mixed-methods and comparative research on Islamic-based educational leadership is still evident, and the current body of research still needs further conceptualization of spiritual and faith-based leadership in Islamic schools, given the heightened anti-Muslim sentiment in the Global North. Such conceptualization can benefit from previous studies and grounded conceptualizations in problematizing Islamic ways of knowing, and testing current conceptualizations (e.g., Brooks and Mutohar 2018; Brooks and Ezzani 2021; Hammad and Shah 2019; Shah 2016) in Western leadership scholarship. Thus, grounded epistemologies, positionalities and paradigms are encouraged in future research.

There are a few limitations to this review. First, it provides significant information regarding the current body of scholarship in Islamic-based educational leadership and policy based on the metadata and the language used. Future research focusing on publications from non-English speaking countries might be beneficial in terms of informing the international literature, given the Arabic language of the Quran and the Sunna. However, current studies are mostly important in shedding light on how Muslim schools are led in both non-Muslim and in Muslim contexts, bearing in mind different interpretations of Islam. We would highly recommend that researchers clarify their positionality and the Islamic sector to which they refer in order to clarify their terms and implications. Exploring current trends is vital, but Muslim scholars and scholars interested in exploring Islamic education need to review previous work on the topic, work which stretches back centuries (Arar and Haj-Yehia 2018). Scholars should bear in mind that they should not only list previous contributions, but actually dive into and digest their material, compare it with their existing knowledge, and work on future thinking, as Islam requires individuals to pre-pare for their lives and the afterlife. Overlap further research in this line contribute to interfaith dialogue and further recognition and celebration of diversity in community and wider global society.

In conclusion, this study encourages other researchers to re-explore and develop future research in terms of epistemology, and methodological approaches. More participatory, emancipatory, and critical approaches could be utilized for deeper analysis and rigor. This study has shown the need to reconnect to the Quran and Hadith in forming educational leaders and designing educational leadership frameworks through an Islamic lens. Moreover, there is a dearth of literature linking Islamic knowledge, Muslim scholars’ contributions, and policy design. Although more has been achieved in research, we urge re-searchers and practitioners to consider this study as a point of departure and not a destination.