The Concept of Social Reform in the Perspective of the Quran

Abstract

Social reform refers to a deliberate and value-driven process of transforming society toward greater justice, moral coherence, and human well-being. As the primary source of Islamic teaching, the Quran offers foundational principles that can serve as normative bases for constructing socially oriented change. This study aims to analyze the concept of social reform as presented in the Quran and to identify the Quranic values that are relevant to the formation of a just and equitable social order. A qualitative approach was employed through library research methodology, using thematic Quranic interpretation (tafsir maudhu'i) as the analytical framework. Primary data consisted of Quranic verses related to social change, justice, commanding the good and forbidding the wrong (amar ma'ruf nahi munkar), fraternity, deliberation, and social responsibility. Secondary data were gathered from classical tafsir literature and relevant academic scholarship. The findings indicate that social reform in the Quran is not merely understood as the restructuring of social institutions, but rather as a comprehensive transformation of human values, moral consciousness, and communal behavior. The principal dimensions of Quranic social reform include justice (al-'adl), improvement (ishlah), universal human dignity, social solidarity, deliberative participation, and collective moral responsibility. The Quran thus positions social reform as an integrated endeavor to realize a society grounded in justice, morality, compassion, and shared human welfare.