Islamic education in Indonesia confronts challenges including social inequalities and critical thinking deficiencies among graduates. Traditional teacher-centered pedagogical approaches emphasizing memorization may limit students' capacity for critical inquiry and social transformation. This study investigates the integration of critical pedagogy within Islamic educational contexts while maintaining spiritual and cultural authenticity. Using grounded theory methodology, this research examined five Islamic educational institutions involving 67 participants. Data collection included observation, in-depth interviews, and document analysis, Seven major themes emerged: navigating epistemological tensions, transformation of authority relationships, cultural adaptation, student agency within Islamic values, technology integration, assessment transformation, and institutional variations. The study revealed that perceived conflicts between critical pedagogy and Islamic education often result from categorical misunderstandings rather than fundamental incompatibilities. A key innovation was developing 'double hermeneutics' - distinguishing between divine revelation and human interpretation - enabling critical engagement while maintaining religious reverence. The Critical-Integrative Pedagogy Model emerged, incorporating epistemological integration, pedagogical transformation, cultural contextualization, and social transformation components. Pilot implementations demonstrated significant improvements in critical thinking measures (p < 0.05), with 94% participant support and 89% increased student engagement while maintaining Islamic knowledge retention. This research demonstrates that critical pedagogy can successfully strengthen rather than compromise Islamic identity in educational contexts.
Karwadi et al. (2025) studied this question.