The model of good governance in Islam

Abstract

The world has reached a consensus that good governance is significant for human resource development in any society. In this context, the UNDP, IMF, World Bank, various NGOs and numerous studies suggest that good governance primarily relies on the institutional infrastructure. The literature further accepts that the quality of leadership is significant for good governance. However, the primary determinants of good governance are considered to be the infrastructure and organization’s design. The study identified that the existing literature on good governance consists of contributions of the mentioned organizations but it is not enriched with the description of good governance that Islam contributes for mankind. Therefore, the study compared the existing literature on good governance with the relevant examples narrated in the Holy Quran (that is the Divine’s last book revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, PBUH) for deriving and comparing the two models of good governance. Therefore, to assess the concept of good governance, this study adopted a pure speculative analytical approach catering the occasional real world news on socio-political evidences and the relevant examples cited in the Holy Quran. The study found that the Holy Quran guides that good governance is achievable by giving more weight to the charismatic leader’s personality and leadership skills in comparison with the institutional infrastructure. Key words: Good governance, Islam, divine leader, governance of apostle of God, non-democratic governor, unity of command, people oriented governance, welfare promising governance.