This study aims to explore theoretical work on Islamic leadership based on Qalb with references to original texts of Islam, the Qur’an and the hadith. These are to complement the existing theories of leadership. The study consists of Interpretative Content Analysis (ICA) procedure conducted in four categories of literature (1) al-Qur’ān (2) al-Aḥādīth (3) Classical Islamic literature and (4) Contemporary Islamic literature to identify key concepts within these texts, concerning the nature of Qalb guided leadership. This is the first use of content analysis to discuss Qalb guided leadership and its concepts embedded in the Qur’an and the hadith, and thus to analyze the importance of Qalb for the leaders as has been shown by Prophet Muhammad as a referent leader. Perhaps, this presentation of Qalb practices could also be significantly beneficial for leadership training, component assessment and leadership performance measurement.