Rethinking Curriculum Quality Assurance in Islamic Education: A Spiritual-Adaptive Control Model Inspired by Madrasah Babul Azaj

Abstract

The increasing digitalization of curriculum and quality assurance in Islamic educational institutions may intensify bureaucratic compliance, administrative fatigue, and value displacement when quality is defined predominantly through externally imposed and procedurally oriented mechanisms. This study addresses this problem by developing a Spiritual-Adaptive Control (SAC) framework that reconceptualizes quality assurance through amanah (divine trust and moral accountability before God) as an intrinsic basis for professional responsibility. Using a qualitative textual-conceptual design, the study draws on Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Jailani’s Al-Ghunyah and Futuh al-Ghaib, historical accounts of Madrasah Babul Azaj, and contemporary literature on quality management and educational quality assurance. Data were examined through critical comparative content analysis, contrasting principles of secular external control with transcendental and self-regulatory principles derived from the Qadiriyyah tradition. The analysis resulted in three interrelated quality-control instruments: (1) a Spiritual Scorecard, which operationalizes moral-spiritual commitments as quality indicators; (2) a Digital Self-Assessment Dashboard, which institutionalizes muhasabah (systematic self-reflection) as an internal quality-monitoring mechanism; and (3) Collaborative Peer Review, which incorporates mujahadah (sustained striving) as a basis for collective learning and corrective action. These instruments are integrated into a Spiritual Integration Cycle for Digital Education, incorporating Digital-Tasawwuf into instructional planning, digitally mediated spiritual mentoring (cyber-murabbi), reflective learning rubrics within learning management systems, and structured spiritual preparation preceding digital learning activities. The study contributes conceptually by connecting classical Sufi constructs of amanah, mujahadah, and riyadhah (inner discipline) with contemporary quality-management mechanisms, thereby extending quality assurance beyond compliance-oriented control toward an internally motivated and spiritually accountable model. The framework provides a theoretically grounded alternative for sustaining educational quality while preserving the religious and ethical identity of contemporary Islamic educational institutions.