The Islamic Welfare State (original) (raw)

The Islamic Welfare State explains the relationship between government legitimacy, everyday security, and Islam as lived in a major Muslim-majority country. Islam is a compelling, community-strengthening faith that motivates people to provide essential services to the needy, to foster moral sentiments that build social solidarity, and thereby to challenge the legitimacy of government when they are focused on 'protecting Islam' and promoting 'national security' rather than protecting or enhancing the lives of ordinary people. The focus is on ground realities, on the activities of welfare workers and beneficiaries, mostly patients and students from low-income families, through four kinds of Islamic charity, traditional, professional, partisan, and state.