diff --git a/ci/docker/alpine-linux-3.22-r.dockerfile b/ci/docker/alpine-linux-3.22-r.dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..5a6206a2da2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ci/docker/alpine-linux-3.22-r.dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+# or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+# distributed with this work for additional information
+# regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+# to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+# "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+# with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+# software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+# KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+# specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+
+# Minimal Alpine Linux container with R for testing Arrow R package
+# on musl libc (CRAN runs checks on Alpine Linux 3.22)
+# Replicates CRAN's Alpine environment as closely as possible
+
+ARG arch=amd64
+FROM ${arch}/alpine:3.22
+
+# Install R and essential build tools
+# Note: bash is needed for Arrow CI scripts, even though CRAN's Alpine uses BusyBox
+RUN apk add \
+        R \
+        R-dev \
+        R-doc \
+        bash \
+        cmake \
+        curl-dev \
+        g++ \
+        gcc \
+        git \
+        make \
+        musl-locales \
+        openssl-dev \
+        pkgconfig \
+        zlib-dev && \
+    rm -rf /var/cache/apk/* && \
+    ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/UTC /etc/localtime && \
+    echo "Etc/UTC" > /etc/timezone
+
+# Set locale and timezone
+ENV LANG=C.UTF-8 \
+    LC_COLLATE=C \
+    MUSL_LOCPATH=/usr/share/i18n/locales/musl
+
+# Set CRAN repo
+RUN echo 'options(repos = c(CRAN = "https://cran.rstudio.com"))' >> /usr/lib/R/etc/Rprofile.site
+
+# Install pak for package management (following rhub pattern)
+RUN R -q -e 'install.packages("pak", repos = sprintf("https://r-lib.github.io/p/pak/%s/%s/%s/%s", "devel", .Platform$pkgType, R.Version()$os, R.Version()$arch))'
+
+# Enable automatic system requirements installation
+ENV PKG_SYSREQS=true \
+    R_PKG_SYSREQS2=true
+
+# Set up parallel compilation
+RUN echo "MAKEFLAGS=-j$(R -s -e 'cat(parallel::detectCores())')" >> /usr/lib/R/etc/Renviron.site
+
+# Configure image and install Arrow-specific tooling
+COPY ci/scripts/r_docker_configure.sh /arrow/ci/scripts/
+COPY ci/etc/rprofile /arrow/ci/etc/
+COPY ci/scripts/r_install_system_dependencies.sh /arrow/ci/scripts/
+COPY ci/scripts/install_minio.sh /arrow/ci/scripts/
+COPY ci/scripts/install_gcs_testbench.sh /arrow/ci/scripts/
+RUN /arrow/ci/scripts/r_docker_configure.sh
+
+# Install sccache
+COPY ci/scripts/install_sccache.sh /arrow/ci/scripts/
+RUN /arrow/ci/scripts/install_sccache.sh unknown-linux-musl /usr/local/bin
+
+# Install R package dependencies
+COPY ci/scripts/r_deps.sh /arrow/ci/scripts/
+COPY r/DESCRIPTION /arrow/r/
+RUN /arrow/ci/scripts/r_deps.sh /arrow
+
+# Verify R works and this is musl
+RUN R --version && ldd --version 2>&1 | grep -q musl
diff --git a/compose.yaml b/compose.yaml
index 5f32e4f9b3c..5c72d5449ea 100644
--- a/compose.yaml
+++ b/compose.yaml
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@ x-hierarchy:
   # service entry, so any new image/service must be listed here.
   - almalinux-verify-rc
   - alpine-linux-cpp
+  - alpine-linux-r
   - centos-cpp-static
   - conda:
     - conda-cpp:
@@ -246,6 +247,35 @@ services:
         /arrow/ci/scripts/cpp_build.sh /arrow /build &&
         /arrow/ci/scripts/cpp_test.sh /arrow /build"
 
+  alpine-linux-r:
+    # Usage:
+    #   docker compose build alpine-linux-r
+    #   docker compose run alpine-linux-r
+    # Tests R package installation on musl (Alpine Linux) for CRAN checks.
+    # R package builds C++ from source (bundled RE2 2023-03-01 supports musl).
+    # Parameters:
+    #   ALPINE_LINUX: 3.22
+    #   R: 4.5 (Alpine's R version)
+    #   ARCH: amd64, arm64v8, ...
+    image: ${REPO}:${ARCH}-alpine-linux-${ALPINE_LINUX}-r
+    build:
+      context: .
+      dockerfile: ci/docker/alpine-linux-${ALPINE_LINUX}-r.dockerfile
+      cache_from:
+        - ${REPO}:${ARCH}-alpine-linux-${ALPINE_LINUX}-r
+      args:
+        arch: ${ARCH}
+    shm_size: *shm-size
+    environment:
+      <<: [*common, *sccache]
+      LIBARROW_BINARY: "false"
+      ARROW_SOURCE_HOME: "/arrow"
+      ARROW_R_DEV: "TRUE"
+      ARROW_USE_PKG_CONFIG: "false"
+    volumes:
+      - .:/arrow:delegated
+    command: /arrow/ci/scripts/r_test.sh /arrow
+
   conda:
     # Base image for conda builds.
     #
diff --git a/dev/tasks/tasks.yml b/dev/tasks/tasks.yml
index 6cf11d66b9f..ada8808b52c 100644
--- a/dev/tasks/tasks.yml
+++ b/dev/tasks/tasks.yml
@@ -669,6 +669,12 @@ tasks:
     ci: github
     template: r/github.linux.cran.yml
 
+  test-r-alpine-linux:
+    ci: github
+    template: docker-tests/github.linux.yml
+    params:
+      image: alpine-linux-r
+
   test-r-macos-as-cran:
     ci: github
     template: r/github.macos.cran.yml