Effective leadership in Islamic schools involves the incorporation of Islamic principles in the leadership behaviors and practices. With so much literature about the need of Islamic leadership in Islamic institutions in the United States, the problem addressed by the study was whether school principals in Islamic schools exhibited and led these schools according to the principles of Islamic leadership. The study described leadership approaches used by school principals in Islamic schools and how those leadership approaches were influenced by Islamic leadership principles, comparing the Islamic leadership principles derived from the literature with the leadership principles of principals of Islamic schools. A complete population of 12 Islamic school principals in the state of Michigan participated in the study. Data was obtained by individual, face-to-face interviews to get rich descriptive information about their leadership approaches, trait, styles, and principles.