Research theme
The Islamic social vision A roadmap for the well-being of individuals and communities
For the next two years, until 2028, the research theme seeks to show how Islam offers a complete social vision for humanity.
This vision is grounded in who human beings are, and how they live. It applies to our everyday life as much as to our afterlife and understanding of our ultimate end. Because, in Islam, the human being originates from God (mabdaʾ) and returns to Him (maʿād), our wellbeing, completion, as well as felicity in this world and the next depend on living in alignment with this arc.
Theme objectives
The current theme has conceptual as well as methodological implications for those interested in applying to our research grants or participating in our Jadal Summit. Conceptually, it requires researchers to examine the purpose of individuals, communities, and institutions as deeply connected by a shared vision, rather than separate and distinct in their function.
Methodologically, it demands an approach to questions about how human beings thrive, individually and collectively, that is not only philosophical, but also legal, ethical, theological, anthropological, and psychological.
With this focus, researchers are invited to explore questions concerning the human soul, human communities, and the wellbeing and felicity of both. They are expected to address these questions by creatively integrating approaches from classical Islamic sciences, such as Qurʾanic exegesis (tafsīr) and theology (kalām), and contemporary social sciences, such as psychology and anthropology.
Our hope with this theme is to bring more coherence and depth in discussions and debates taking place across academia today.
Theme pillars
To assist researchers with exploring the research theme, we have identified three pillars that clarify and unpack the idea of the Islamic social vision:
• The human self
• Nested communities
• The wellbeing of both individuals and communities
Applicants to our research grants and Jadal Summit can choose to explore any of the three pillars from a variety of perspectives, including historical, theological, and contemporary.
The human self: its origin and telos
This pillar shows how classical Islamic thought offers a distinct holistic anthropology in which the human being is a complete being with a spiritual core and rational and practical faculties to live and prosper in the created worlds.
Historical and theological perspectives
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Qur'anic anthropology: the concepts of vicegerency, trust (amana), and innate disposition (fitra) as foundational categories.
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The different typologies of the self: the normative map of moral and spiritual development from its starting point to its telos.
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The teleological structure of Islamic anthropology, and how to live in alignment with this arc.
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The reception of Aristotelian, Galenic, and Neoplatonic accounts of the soul in the early Islamic world.
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The development of 'ilm al-nafs as a distinct intellectual discipline.
The hikma tradition and its integrative model of human health. -
The hikma tradition and its integrative model of human health.
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The transmission of Islamic concepts about the soul into medieval and early modern Europe.
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The relationship between feeling, knowledge, and truth, and the Islamic tradition's conception of subjective and objective moral realities.
Contemporary perspectives
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Islamic accounts of the soul in critical engagement with modern models of the psyche.
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Youth development and the challenges and possibilities of bringing about coherent Islamic models that suit their needs.
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Islamic pastoral care and counselling: models for supporting individuals in self-knowledge and moral formation.
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Child development: Islamic frameworks for the cultivation of the self and its faculties from early life.
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How Islamic understandings of the soul and its ultimate purpose can reshape the way we think about digital tools.
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Islamic theological and psychological resources for suffering, trauma, and conflict.
Nested communities (familial, institutional and communal relations)
This pillar highlights the complex and layered experiences of Muslims today, where one belongs to multiple communities that may and may not connect or cohere with one another.
Historical and theological perspectives
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How could relationships orient us towards a shared pursuit of well-being and felicity.
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The concept of communal witness (shahada), and what it means for a community to bear witness to truth before humanity.
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Companionship (suhba), mentorship (tarbiya), and scholarly discipline (ta’līm) in the classical tradition.
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The Islamic traditions of productive arts as necessary skills and crafts that cultivate human stewardship.
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The development of the concept of wilaya and mu’amala across the classical legal schools.
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The development and institution of the guilds as moral and economic communities serving families and societies.
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The successful models and typologies of ‘institutions’ in our Muslim history and how they were run and sustained.
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The development of the waqf, the madrasa, and the mosque as institutions that embodied accounts of authority, trust, and communal obligation.
Contemporary perspectives
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The role of structured religious and intellectual institutions: the mosque, the circle of learning (halaqa), and the gathering (majlis).
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Human relations that promote flourishing via Islamic pastoral care and counselling.
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How do we thrive collectively? What are Islamically grounded models of unity through complementary roles?
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Cognitive dissonance, value conflict, and identity fragmentation in the experience of Muslims.
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What Islamic principles of communal life imply for rebuilding communal structures.
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The politics of communal identity, and what forms of political belonging can Islamic principles endorse, or constructively reform.
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Digital communities and virtual belonging and their impact on Muslim identity, communal spaces, and the perception of the self.
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Zakat and Sadaqa as social responsibilities, and how to use them to deal with contemporary challenges such as unemployment.
Well-being of individuals and communities
This pillar captures the destiny of human beings as originating in God and oriented towards Him as their ultimate destination, such that the wellbeing, completeness, and felicity of their communities depend upon living in alignment with this arc.
Historical and theological perspectives
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The prophetic concept of 'afiya in the hadith corpus and prophetic medicine.
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The concept of completeness ‘kamal’ in Islamic virtue ethics.
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Muslim scholars’ integration of ʿāfiya, kamāl, and saʿāda within a single framework.
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The relationship between ʿāfiya, kamāl, and saʿāda according to different schools.
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The maqāṣid al-sharīʿa as a theory of communal and individual wellbeing.
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The concept of fiṭra (primordial human nature) as a grounding for Islamic. wellbeing theory.
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Classical debates on women's rational and spiritual capacities, and resources in the tradition for a more equitable account of human flourishing.
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The systematic approaches to the body–soul nexus and the Islamic models for holistic health.
Contemporary perspectives
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The relationship between the tradition’s integrative view of Āfiya and contemporary clinical models.
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Evaluating current models of Islamic wellbeing institutions, and what the tradition still demands.
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Exploring how the Islamic account of ultimate felicity responds to modern experiences of meaninglessness.
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Assessing how algorithmic environments and attention economies disrupt embodied, relational conceptions of ʿāfiya.
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Investigating the possibilities and limits of developing indicators rooted in ʿāfiya, kamāl, and saʿāda.
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Analyzing how poverty, discrimination, and social fragmentation undermine wellbeing.
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Defining the competencies required for Muslim chaplains, counsellors, and spiritual caregivers within a framework rooted in tradition.
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Understanding environmental degradation as a threat to human wellbeing through concepts such as ḥimā and isrāf.
