Perceptions of educational leadership in medieval Islamic thought: a contribution to multicultural contexts

ABSTRACT

This article identifies main characteristics of Educational Leadership in Islam (ELI), described by four Muslim scholars (in Arabic: ‘ulama’), who discussed educational issues and educational leadership during Islam's Golden Age (GA). It uses hermeneutic content analysis of four scholars’ Arabic texts to identify the contribution of these texts to ELI and compare them with modern EL theory. The analysis indicates that during Islam's¹ GA, these scholars identified leadership characteristics evident in early Islam and constructed a conceptual infrastructure to guide educational leadership (EL), while also establishing educational institutions. The findings depict the religious sources and actual behaviour of Muslim educational leaders supported by professional-pedagogical conceptualizations prevalent in the period of the GA of Islam. The article enhances understanding of EL in this cultural context and could form a basis for greater cooperation between educational leaders in Muslim and non-Muslim² communities and perhaps contribute thought to modern EL theory in general and to pedagogical theory in particular in multi-cultural non-Muslim states.

KEYWORDS:

• Educational leadership
• islam
• culture
• multi-faith

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Khalid Arar (PhD) is Associate Professor of Educational Leadership & Higher Education at the Kibbutzim College. His studies focus on issues of diversity, equity and ethnicity in educational leadership and higher education. He has published extensively in the last years in issues of educational leadership and higher education in scholarly journals, his most recent books include, Life Stories of Arab Women in Leadership and Management: Challenges and Changes (with Tamar Shapira, 2015, in Hebrew); Arab women in management and leadership (2013, Palgrave, with Tamar Shapira; Faisal Azaiza and Rachel Hertz Lazarowitz); Higher Education among the Palestinian Minority in Israel (2016, Palgrave, with Kussai Haj-Yehia).

Kussai Haj Yehia (PhD) is a senior lecturer and head of the Master Degree Program in Education and Arab Culture at The Beit Berl Academic College, Israel. His research deals with internationalization of higher education, Palestinian Arab student's mobility, and migration for studies abroad and Palestinian Arab graduates from Israel. In addition, he specializes in the fields of social and cultural heritage among the Arab Palestinian minority in Israel. He has published many books and articles in Arabic, Hebrew and other languages on these topics. His books include ‘The Internationalization of Higher Education: Student's Mobility among Arabs in Israel' with Khalid Arar, published by Alayyam 2014 and ‘The Higher Education and the Palestinian Arab Minority in Israel' with Khalid Arar, published by Palgrave Macmillan, USA.

Notes

1. The expression ‘Islam’ refers broadly to Islamic culture not only to the Islamic religion.

2. The term ‘non-Muslim’ is used to refer to other world cultures, religious or secular, who have contributed to EL scholarship.