The Islamic Basis of Social Work in the Modern World

Abstract

Historically, social work existed in communities for charity and philanthropic purposes. There is a congruence in the quality of social work in all cultures. More recently, scholars and practitioners have explored questions of diversity that question universal constructions of social work and social work ethics. Up until now, there is no conclusive evidence that the theoretical frameworks of social work vary in different societies or among religious groups. Some authors write about social work and Islam. Some writers have illustrated that social work values and principles differ with various cultures or religions. Broadly, social work values and principles are global. There is no conflict between social work and Islam or Arabic cultures. The article goes beyond the cultural considerations of social work practice. It tries to investigate the reasons behind writing social work from an Islamic point of view. The author will focus on ethics and values, analyzing perspectives from the social work literature. The conclusion formed at the end of the article is that, despite what some may view as antagonism, there is ultimately no conflict between the values of social work and the values of Islam. Keywords: Service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, competence