Promoting Islamic Philanthropy: The Case of Sultan Qaboos Award for Voluntary Work in Oman

Abstract

In Islamic societies, the idea of philanthropy is considered to be a backbone of the Islamic commitment towards personal and social responsibility. In order to increase people desire to promote the welfare of others and to participate effectively in voluntary work which is one of the philanthropy type of work, within this social responsibility vision, the Sultan Qaboos Award for Voluntary Work (SQAVW) was created in Oman since 2011 as one of national awards for promoting individuals, groups and institutions voluntary work. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of the Sultan Qaboos Award for Voluntary Work in promoting philanthropy in social development related to education. The study analyzes quantitative and qualitative data collected through closed and open-ended questionnaires from 17 participants. All participants are winners of the Sultan Qaboos Award between 2011 and 2014, and their voluntary projects are still active. The findings revealed that the Award had a vital role in motivating the respondents to participate in voluntary work (mean=4.28). The participants also stated that the winning projects were those that were creative and had a social impact and contributed to the economy. The results also pointed out that the projects had an added social value that varied according to different areas and that those related to education contributed to easing the burden of the ministry of education through the establishment of kindergartens, raising cultural and technological awareness, and enhancing the knowledge and skills of rural women and many other activities.