The Story of Ihsan Agile AGILE

While writing about Scrum retrospectives for Muslim-led organizations in 2025, I began searching for frameworks that could bridge high-level Islamic values and daily Agile practice.

I began exploring whether this could be made systematic and teachable and searched for frameworks connecting Islamic principles specifically to Sprint Planning, Retrospectives, Definition of Done, events and practices where teams make daily decisions using the most common Agile methods in practice (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe).

Academic research had sometimes addressed Islamic ethics in HR practices (e.g. https://journal2.unfari.ac.id/index.php/karismapro/article/view/1436), and indeed some scholars have developed Islamic continuous improvement models (e.g. https://ejournal.usm.my/aamj/article/view/aamj_vol24-no1-2019_6). But I wasn't able to find anything that connected Islamic principles specifically and operationally to the most commonly used agile frameworks in practice (Scrum, Kanban, and SAFe).

Drawing on Islamic scholarship around stewardship (amānah), consultation (shūrā), excellence with God-consciousness (iḥsān ), and justice (ʿadl), combined with practical Agile coaching, charity and social enterprise experience, and the the product development and design influence of Islamic finance, I created Ihsan Agile, a framework that overlays Islamic principles onto existing Agile methods.

The framework provides Muslim-led Agile teams with practical overlays that make Islamic values visible and actionable in sprint work, without replacing existing Agile methods.

How Ihsan Agile Began

Dr. David Wallace-Hare is a charity-sector Agile practitioner, social entrepreneur, and scholar whose work bridges Islamic ethics, organisational delivery, and community impact.

As founder and director of Islamic Finance Options for Muslim Nonprofits (IFOMN) CIC—selected for Cambridge Social Ventures’ inaugural Peaceshaping and Climate incubator—he has addressed financial exclusion facing Muslim charities and social enterprises in the UK and abroad.

David holds a PhD in Classics (University of Toronto), an MSc in Charity Marketing & Fundraising (Bayes Business School), and has completed the Shariah strand of INCEIF’s Professional Certificate in Islamic Finance. He is certified as a Professional Scrum Master (PSM I), Kanban Management Professional (KMP), Scrum Kanban Practitioner (SKP), and Agile Coach (ICP-ACC). He serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Islamic Banking, Economics, and Policy and is an Associate Researcher with Na'rif (Network for the Advancement of Research in Islamic Finance in Europe).

Who Stewards Ihsan Agile