Despite continuous public interest in leadership studies as well as the abundance of extant literature, the world continues to face leadership predicaments. Given the global crises mankind has been recently exposed to, which include the financial crisis of 2008 as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, further exploration of leadership concepts seems warranted.

This edited book aims at introducing the concept of Balanced Leadership from an Islamic perspective. Drawing on both leadership and Islamic studies, the book synchronizes between secular and religious knowledge domains whilst introducing the notion of balance to mainstream leadership literature.

The conceptualizations presented in the book serve to dissect the leadership literature, present historical and philosophical accounts of the balanced leadership concept and infuse that with Islamic theology. The book is useful for practitioners interested in leadership studies as well as scholars and researchers aiming at extending the leadership literature.

Noha El-Bassiouny is Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor and Head of Marketing at the Faculty of Management Technology, the German University in Cairo (GUC), Egypt. She has wide international exposure and has published her works in reputable journals including theJournal of Business Research, theInternational Journal of Consumer Studies, and theJournal of Cleaner Production, amongst others. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief ofManagement& Sustainability: An Arab Review (MSAR) as well as Associate Editor of theJournal of Islamic Marketing. She has also received many international awards including the prestigious Abdul Hameed Shoman Arab Researchers Award (2019) as well as several Emerald Outstanding Reviewer Awards and Highly Commended Paper awards.

Professor Ahmed Amin received his Ph.D. in organizational theory from the University of Mississippi in 1996. He served as a faculty member at several American and Egyptian universities. In 2006, he became a Fulbright scholar. He is currently Professor of Management and Director of the MBA program at the German University in Cairo, Egypt. His research interests include values, institutional theory and leadership.

Jonathan A. J. Wilson is a Professor of Brand Strategy& Culture at Regents University, London, UK. He has spent over 20 years in industry and academia as a practitioner with two doctorates specialising in what he calls the ABCDs of Business and Culture: Advertising, Branding, Communications, and Digital. He has published over 200 pieces of work, spoken at over 100 conferences across the globe, and featured in LinkedIns annual Top Voices awards list for 4 consecutive years. Professor Wilson has been Editor-in-Chief of theJournal of Islamic Marketing for over nine years and is author of the book,Halal Branding, which was covered in Forbes.

Prospective papers can take any of the following forms:

Theoretical and empirical studies that distinguish between different types of leadership from an Islamic perspective (e.g. authentic leadership, transformational leadership, etc) in relation to balanced leadership.

Theoretical studies that outline a theory for balanced leadership from an Islamic perspective. This theory may focus on the processes by which balance and influence takes place.

Studies on the construction and validation of measurements of balanced leadership.

Conceptual notes on the risks surrounding the lack of balanced leadership from an Islamic perspective.

Conceptual papers that present analogies between the notion of balanced leadership in the Islamic tradition and other traditions (e.g. Chinese).

Multilevel, empirical studies that test hypotheses on the relationships between the antecedents and consequences of balanced leadership.

Empirical researches that address balanced leadership in Muslim-majority or minority communities.

Empirical or conceptual papers that address balanced leadership in different settings; organizational or educational.

Historical and biographical notes on Islamic balanced leadership figures (e.g. of Prophet Muhammad).

We, therefore, envision an introductory chapter outlining the Islamic perspective on Balanced Leadership followed by more specific articles that address the aspects noted above.