Research Notes 

Islamic Perspectives on 
Social Work Practice 

Social work pmtice in most Islamic and developing countries has 
followed the western model in the belief that professional practice is uni- 
versal. After fifty years of social work practice in these countries, how- 
ever, we find that this model has largely failed due to its exclusion of re- 
ligious values and spiritual aspects. During the last decade, westem pro- 
fessionals realized that the inefficacy of social work practice was due to 
its avoidance of spiritual and religious aspects in theory and methodology. 

The conceptional scientific method based on scientific materialism 
has not provided a comprehensive study of humanity and society, for its 
dependence on the senses as the sole source of knowledge meant that 
revelation-derived knowledge was seen as unimportant. Scientific method- 
ology must be reviewed and reoriented so that it depends on revelation 
and sense experience as sources of knowledge. As such, the Islamic re- 
orientation of both the social sciences and professions will be necessary 
during the process of establishing models for sciences based on scientific 
methodology with regard to revelation as a source of knowledge. 

The research problem deals with how to reorient social work practice 
from an Islamic viewpoint. To achieve this, the Islamic views on five 
main aspects must be considered: hum& nature; divine laws governing 
individual behavior and social organization; causes of individual and so- 
cial problems; social welfare systems; and practice theory. 

The Islamization of knowledge methodology of I s d i l  a1 FSrCiqi 
was used. It has three main elements: to a) review modem sciences, ana- 
lyze their background, and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses from 
the Islamic view; b) undetstand and study scholarly contributions based 
on Muslim scholars’ undemtanding of the Qur’an and Sunnah and c) join 
the Islamic view and modem science outputs into one integrated system. 

The methodology followed was: a) a verse-by-verse review of the 
Qur’an to identify key elements related to the research questions. Next, 
the interpretation of selected verses was located in authoritative tafsir 
texts; b) al BukhGri’s hadith compilation was reviewed in the same fash- 
ion. Explanations of selected hadiths were also sought in Ibn Hajar; c) 
classical and modem Islamic scholarly writings were reviewed to identify 
relevant contributions to the research d) a review of modem social 
science literabm was made for each research question. This was followed 
by a critical evaluation of modem theories and concepts from the Islamic 
view (generated in the previous phase of the study); e) based on the 
evaluation’s results, an attempt was made to integrate what was worth- 
while in modem scholarship with the broader parameters of the Islamic 



Al-Dabbagh: Islamic Perspectives on Social Work Practices 537 

view; and 9 the conclusions were subjected to evaluation by specialists 
in the Islamic sciences, with corrections duly made. 

The reseatch findings are as follows: 

1. 

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8. 

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10. 

The detrimental effects of secularized social sciences on social wel- 
fare programs and social work practice in Muslim countries were 
shown clearly. 

Spiritual and religious dimensions in research and practice should be 
reinstated as legitimate aspects of theory and intervention. 

The most important factor in understanding human behavior is one’s 
relationship with his/her Creator, which affects all aspects of life. 

To the extent that an individual holds to the correct belief system and 
takes it to heart, he/she will be less prone to personal problems. 

The basic function of Muslim society is to help preserve the purity 
of an individual’s jifitruh (nature). 

The social welfare system, like all other subsystems in Muslim so- 
ciety, has a mission to fulfdl: achieving the purposes of the Shari‘ah. 

Practice theory should be fully attuned to the needs of relevant Is- 
lamic views. Spiritual aspects should receive their due place in asses- 
sing clients’ problems. Intervention strategies should address clients’ 
worldly concerns and improve their spiritual life. 

The basic strategy of spiritual development aims at helping clients 
achieve better control over their lives and instincts. Prayers, good 
deeds, and remembrance of God may help achieve these goals. 

Such implications are far-reaching for theory, practice, research, and 
education. A new paradigm seems to be evolving. Social workers and 
social work educators must reorient their approaches and methods. 

Schools of social work have a great responsibility, for curricula must 
be reconstructed to reflect the Islamic view, textbooks expressing the 
new insights must be written, and teachers need to be retrained. 

Afaf Al-Dabbagh 
Women’s Faculty of Social Work 

Imam Muhammad ibn Saud University 
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia