Sabah is the second largest state in Malaysia after Sarawak, consisting of 30 ethnic groups, each using its own language or dialect. The arrival of Islam in Sabah can be traced back to the Sulu Sultanate and Brunei Sultanate eras. Apart from the work of certain preachers, the role of the Bajau and Malay-Brunei ethnic populations also contributed to the spread of Islamic belief among the local communities. In Islam, parenting practices cannot be separated from religion. One Muslim scholar known for his Islamic parenting approach was Imam Al-Ghazali. He introduced the concept of holistic parenting, which includes five dimensions, namely Qudwah Hasanah (integrated role model), Al-Adah (habituation), Al-Mauidzah (effective advice), AlMulahadzah (fairness in care and control), and Uqubah-Wa Ujaroh (proportional consequences), all of which are rooted in Al-Quran and Al-Hadith. This study aims to analyse the awareness, knowledge, and implementation of Islamic parenting as advocated by Imam Al-Ghazali among Sabah civil staff. It involved 150 members from different offices located at Pusat Pentadbiran Negeri Sabah, Jalan Teluk Likas, Kota Kinabalu, and Wisma MUIS (Majlis Ugama Islam Sabah), Kota Kinabalu Sabah, Malaysia. Using quantitative method and questionnaires for data collection purposes, the study’s findings indicated that most of the civil servants are aware about Islamic parenting based on Imam Al-Ghazali’s model. For the questionnaires, four areas were targeted in line with Imam Al-Ghazali’s ideas while, at the same time, to suit the present lifestyle of the people of Sabah. They are, namely the importance of religious education for children, children’s environment, children and social media, and the level of knowledge and implementation of Islamic parenting based on Imam AlGhazali’s approach. In general, with the exception of a small number of civil staff, the majority conformed to the ideas of Imam Al-Ghazali in raising their children as they prefer to send their children to religious schools, are aware of the need to monitor their children when befriending others, and others. Finally, the study provided some recommendations to relevant agencies and stakeholders, particularly parents and teachers, in order to further spread the awareness regarding Imam Al-Ghazali’s Islamic parenting approach, which is still relevant in this modern period.

Sabah is the second largest state in Malaysia after Sarawak, consisting of 30 ethnic groups, each using its own language or dialect. The arrival of Islam in Sabah can be traced back to the Sulu Sultanate and Brunei Sultanate eras. Apart from the work of certain preachers, the role of the Bajau...