THE ISLAMIC APPROACH TO SOCIAL WELFARE IN MUSLIM SOCIETIES AND THE ROLE OF SOCIAL RELATIONS: CHALLENGES FOR MUSLIM SOCIETIES IN AFRICA

Abstract

The topic of Muslim social welfare is a neglected research area although recently becoming interesting especially in the social sciences and in the field of Islamic economics, but to Islam, it is as old as the religion. In fact, the major product of Muslim social welfare that is, zakât(obligatory alms-giving) and one of the five fundamental pillars of Islam andsadaqa (voluntary charity) had been the umbrella root catering for the welfare of the “needy” in the society. Charity in Islam is not restricted to material things but also includes moral charity. This paper examines the holistic nature of the Muslim social welfare and the role it plays in Muslim societies and how this has often lead toestablishing social relations among Muslims, which is expressed in their daily social interactions. Of recent, the world have identified social welfare with the United Nations and other western agencies in the developed countries, who directhumanitarian aid to especially the less privilege countries in Africa through the popular activity ofNon-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) that are catering for the distressed in the low income countriesin Africa and Asia. Through this effort, the West has been able to identify itself as the most compassionate, developed and caring human society,virtues that are today identified only with the twentieth-first century modern world. Rather than provision of social assistance from a distance, this paper argues that Islam introduces and encouragessocial welfare and charity in not only financial terms but also moral from within as basis of human social existence.