Selected Concepts of Community Development and Operational Explanation from Islamic Context

Abstract

Community development is being discussed in relates with its own concepts such as empowerment, participation and community potential. The concepts are often emphasized by scholars in describing the reality of community development. Islam is an extraneous in community development’s discipline, but Islam actually has its own explanation in regards of those concepts. In fact, Islam gives a detailed description of how the concept should be practiced within community development. The describable concepts by Islamic context are actually more practicable with the guidance of operational based. To explore the reality, this paper is examining the verses of Quran, traditions of the Prophet and Islamic Civilization. This paper shows that Islam is a way of life and directly guides the community development regardless of differences among the community. This paper also shows that Islam has long been the principle and the practice of community development. No wonder, Islam is seen as a top way of life as compare to other systems.

Keywords: Selected concepts of community development, empowerment, community participation, community potential and operational explanation by Islamic context.