Islamic sustainable social development : a proposed model for Sudan

Abstract

In the conventional economics discourse, the focus of the concept of development has varied from material development in the fifties to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of recent. The focus on development has largely ignored the significance of social development. Nevertheless, few Muslim and conventional researchers of social development have realized the importance of social development in sustainable development and made substantial efforts to integrate them, yet the discussions on a clear operational definition and what constitutes social development, the idea of developing and empirically validating a model for social development from an Islamic perspective especially for Sudan, remained challenging. This study has developed an Islamic Sustainable Social Development (ISSD) model that represent a holistic and inclusive concept of social development, integrating the material, moral and spiritual dimensions of human beings and society. The study has used mixed method (interview and quantitative survey) to answer its research questions. Accordingly, six experts in the areas of sustainable development and social development from an Islamic perspective were interviewed, and over 480 respondents from the Sudanese public were surveyed. The interview was conducted to validate the ISSD model in terms of its feasibility, viability, and application. The findings from interview data reveal that the experts have positive perceptions and attitudes towards the proposed ISSD model. Furthermore, the experts opine that the ISSD model is feasible in Sudan and has several potentials of enhancing economic development in the country. Similarly, the results from survey show that the ISSD model is acceptable. The high score [four out of five] of the respondents reflect the attitudes and intention of the Sudanese public towards the viability of the proposed model in promoting the wellbeing of the society. Moreover, factor analysis results reveal that uboodiyah, tazkiyah, akhlaq, adl and falah are the most important human factors that would motivate the Sudanese public towards promoting the wellbeing of the society. Overall, the ISSD model has largely represented social development and societal well-being from Islamic perspective, hence the model is expected to provide academics, students, and policymakers in Muslim countries with future direction for an alternative of social development.