The purpose of this study is to analyze and prioritize Islamic jurisprudential factors influencing school principals’ success, based on the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) framework and in interaction with modern artificial intelligence approaches in educational management. Considering the growing use of intelligent technologies in decision‑making and performance assessment, this research integrates Islamic legal principles—such as justice, consultation (shura), responsibility, and the protection of rights of staff and students—with ISSPP managerial indicators and AI‑based tools to propose a localized model for enhancing school effectiveness in Urmia County.
The study adopts a mixed exploratory method. In the qualitative phase, semi‑structured interviews with successful principals and scholars in Islamic educational jurisprudence were conducted; in the quantitative phase, data were analyzed using Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and AI algorithms for variable ranking. The statistical population consisted of principals of elementary, lower secondary, and upper secondary schools in Urmia during the 2024–2025 academic year.
Findings revealed that jurisprudential factors such as justice in decision‑making, trustworthiness in resource utilization, consultative leadership based on Sharia, and ethical responsibility in religious education had the highest impact on managerial success. Moreover, the intelligent use of educational data and machine‑learning systems improved fairness and precision in performance evaluation and human resource planning.
Overall, the study concludes that synergy between the ISSPP framework, Islamic jurisprudential teachings, and AI capacities can form an efficient and ethically grounded managerial model for Iran’s educational system.