A Jurisprudential Study of How to Increase Social Capital in an Islamic Government

Social capital can be defined as being a set of elements such as integrity, and shared trust, norms and values which contribute to the increase in cooperation between individuals in a social milieu. In Islamic teachings, mentions are made of unique capacities and capabilities of which the Islamic government can make use in promoting social capital. Since an increas in social capital in a society will result in an increase in security and a decrease in many social harms, inattention to this may lead to possible crises in society for which people have to pay a heavy price. Through expolring Islamic texts, this research works seeks to identify the contributory factors in producing and reproducing social capital. Taking these factors and other indexes into consideration and making use of relevant proper strategies makes it possible for the Islamic government to attain desirable results. The research method in this article is qualitative based on the Grounded Theory. Islamic doctrines (teachings), when carefully regarded and applied in different individual and social realms, leads to the accumulation of social capital and its consistency. The findings of this research work suggest that one can find traces of the idea of social capital in many Islamic teachings, though of course in an implicit way. Thus, the Islamic government can make the best of that unique capacity and capability in creating the possibility of increasing social capital.