- Home
- Islam and Social Policy
Islam and Social Policy
Edited by Stephen P. Heyneman
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.
Stephen P. Heyneman is a professor of international education policy at Vanderbilt University. From 1976 to 1998, he helped design and implement education policies for the World Bank. He is the editor or author of a number of reports on international education, economic and social policy.
This is an important book that brings one side of Islam to the West that since 9/11 has shown a growing interest in Islam and Muslim societies. It is accessible to different levels of readers and as such succeeds in explaining some of the legal and social aspects of Islam and Muslims.
--Journal of Middle East Women's Studies