Social Capital and the Divine Providence

In the contemporary era, human has properly come to theoretically and practically apprehend the importance of the concepts such as society and community. Human community is not only an asset for the human to satisfy his needs, but from the viewpoint of the Islamic teachings, it is also the basis of the Divine Grace and Providence. In fact, God’s hand of providence is with the community. This theme has been frequently repeated in the Islamic traditions. Now, the question is that what is there in the community that attracts God’s grace and providence? In this article, the difference between the concepts of society and community is delineated. Besides, the article asserts that human community is given God’s grace and attention due to at least two very important issues. First, community is the moderation point that helps the human to avoid positive and negative extremes in his viewpoints and actions, be these extremisms collective or individual. Second, community can be the manifestation of unity, and unity is a crucial asset for the human in overcoming the collective and individual difficulties. Nonetheless, this assertion does not imply that the society and community never go awry and that accompanying a community in every manner will unquestionably guide human to bliss. A society does not go awry if it is under God’s providence, and according to the religious teachings, God’s providence is not absolute but is conditioned. A community can perform its important functions and receive God’s providence only if it is established based on religion and the divine teachings. The concept of social capital here regards the transcendental stage of the community, i.e. a stage in which humans have come together and have chosen the community, and each and every of them consider the community as their real homeland. If this condition is met, the manifestations of brotherhood, grace, love, and coexistence can be observed in the community. These then become habitual and finally lead to human bliss.