{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.0218921032056294, 'fraction_numerical': 0.001563721657544957, 'mean_word_length': 5.956521739130435, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
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.