CONCEPTUALISING STATE BENEVOLENCE FROM AN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The advent of COVID-19 pandemic brought in its wake, the need for the state to show benevolence towards the vulnerable during crises. However, the term ‘state benevolence’ appears ambiguous in literature, and could either be referring to activities of the welfare state, or foreign aid donations by governments. This paper intends to resolve the ambiguity by propounding a state benevolence concept from an Islamic perspective. Based on content analysis of extant literature, the findings indicate the Islamic worldview considers government environmental protection endeavours, together with the activities of the welfare state and foreign aid donations by the government, as three main ways in which the state can exhibit benevolence to all creations of Allah. The inadequacy of literature on state benevolence, the lack of clarity from the Islamic worldview about the role of the state in providing benevolence, and the lack of information on the type of rewards expected to accrue to a benevolent state, are three main limitations of this study. By providing a holistic description of state benevolence using both conventional and Islamic economics literature, this paper is novel in the political economy literature. If adopted, the Islamic state benevolence concept will avail a country’s government in reducing poverty among its citizenry, contribute to reducing income inequality existing between rich and poor countries, and enhance the sustainable management of the environment.