In recent decades there has been an increasing attempt by Muslim intellectuals to reflect on the provision of social welfare in Muslim societies in Africa. One reason for this is the few, if not non-existent, possibilities of the states to provide for the basic needs of their subjects, a situation that has become painfully evident in most African states not only the Muslim ones.

However, public as well as private provision of social welfare is not a new phenomenon in the Muslim world. Whereas government and public involvement in the provision of social welfare has been haphazard, despite various attempts at direct state involvement especially in the post-colonial world, private and what might be labelled semi-official activities, such as the establishment of pious foundations and the activities of the Sufi orders, have a solid foundation in local Muslim societies in Africa.

This book attempts to emphasise the variety of both agents and ways to provide social welfare in Muslim societies in Africa. In addition, social welfare, as such, is both reflected upon and debated by Muslim intellectuals. The aim of this book has therefore been to capture both the theoretical as well as the actual dimension of social welfare.