AbstractThis study aims to explore the Malaysian Islamic secondary school (SMA) leaders’ leadership challenges. To respond to the study's aim, a qualitative method using interviews was applied to seven leaders of Islamic Secondary Schools. The informers were selected based on some criteria such as the length of service as a leader and leadership knowledge. The data that were analyzed using thematic analysis reported seven challenges of Malaysian Islamic secondary school leaders’ leadership, namely: (i) lack of knowledge, in particular, the field of school management such as finance, IT, asset, data, and information, (ii) lack of management skill to figure out conflicts regarding incentive differences among senior and novice teachers, (iii) lack of collaboration among stakeholders, (iv) need to allocate more finance for the competency development program such as enhancing novice teachers’ pedagogical skills, (v) Inadequate planning of valuable program for students residing in hostel, (vi).....