This book examines social policy in Muslim countries across the world and the status and role of Islamic teachings in such policies. It fills a gap in the literature by reviewing and comparing the experience of several Muslim countries from across the world. The existing social policy literature lacks a comprehensive appraisal of the social policy scene in Muslim societies, especially from a comparative perspective. This book will be of interest to a wide audience in the academic and policy forums related to and interested in Muslim societies and communities.

At a time when more nuanced understandings of Muslim countries and their legal and social practices are urgently needed in the West, the appearance of this collection is especially welcome. In these illuminating and accessible essays, the contributors explain how Islam sees itself in terms of social policy, how it treats women, and how it encourages charity, education, and general social welfare. The essays encompass many regional cultures and draw on court records and legal debates, field work on government ministries, and an extensive reading of Islamic law. In his overview of waqf (similar to the Western idea of a foundation, in which an endowment is set aside in perpetuity for specified purposes), Ahmad Dallal explains how charity, a central organizing principle in Islam, is itself organized and how waqf, traditionally a source of revenue for charitable purposes, can also become a source of tension and conflict. Donna Lee Bowen, in her essay on the position of women in Islamic law, points out the crucial differences between the Islamic principles of family equity and the Western notion of individual equality. In a subsequent essay, Bowen addresses the problems surrounding family planning and the dilemmas that have arisen within the Muslim world over differing ideas about birth control. The two final essays look at specific instances of how the modern state has treated Islamic social policy. Gail Richardson examines zakat, an Islamic tax used to assist the poor, and its administration in Pakistan. Carol Underwood, meanwhile, explores public health policy in Iran, both before and after the Islamic revolution that deposed the Shah. Addressing some of the most profound misunderstandings between Islamic and Western societies, Islam and Social Policy will be of vital interest not only to scholars and policymakers but to anyone concerned with Islam's critical place in the modern world.

This is a new examination of how Shari’a law affects public policy both theoretically and in practice, across a wide range of public policy areas, including for example human rights and family law. The process by which public policy is decided - through elections, debates, political processes, and political discourse - has an additional dimension in the Islamic world. This is because Shari'a (divine law) has a great deal to say on many mundane matters of everyday life and must be taken into account in matters of public policy. In addition, matters are complicated further by the fact that there are differing interpretations of the Shari'a and how it should be applied to contemporary social issues. Written by leading experts in their field, this is the first comprehensive single volume analysis of Islam and public policy in the English language and offers further understanding of Islam and its wider social and political implications.

This book looks at two aspects of Islamic activity in the Middle East and North Africa, the development of social capital and the provision of welfare services, within the context of economic liberalisation programmes to see whether the retrenchment of the state under liberalisation has created a space for Islamic-based activities.

This book presents a state of the art in the developing field of social policy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. It offers an up-to-date conceptual analysis of social policy programmes and discourses in the MENA region by critically reviewing the range of social insurance and social assistance schemes that are currently in existence there. It also analyses and offers suggestions on which of these policies can positively impact the region’s advancement in terms of human development and in addressing social and economic inequalities and exclusion.

This edited collection explores contemporary developments in social and welfare policy in Islamic countries from an indigenous and academic perspective, rather than through the hegemonic lens of Western social policy frameworks. The importance of this book lies in the diversity of insights and case studies drawn from a wide range of societies in the Islamic world, demonstrating how local services are responding to changing needs under the impact of globalisation, socio-religio-political developments, and often significant levels of civil conflict. This is the thrid in the new series 'Critical Studies in Socio-cultural Diversity'.