Constructing Civil Society: An Islamic Cultural Perspective

Since civil society has been widely recognised as the rich social network of recreational and political organizations, the study is almost viewed within political and social approach. There has been lack of scholarly attention to explore the historical and cultural approach into what kind of significant reflection should be taken into consideration for theoretical and practical aspect in our society. This study aims to critically explore civil society, which deals with the certain ideals based on the Islamic world. Critical literature review was conducted to investigate using a historical-cultural perspective to deal with civil society from lexicographical sense with the character of urban society. This study reveals that there is some core significant enlightenment for the formal structure of civil society. In particular, this study demonstrates that although the term of ‘civil society’ might have not yet been invented in the classical Islam and rather used in adab (civilised) and peradaban (civilisation), in practical level the core values criteria of civil society were already discussed, exercised and practiced by the proponents of Islamic culture long before the Western scholars invented the term ‘civil society.’ This is expected to contribute a better awareness and a more informed citizenry. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n1s1p126