Kafāla: The Qur’anic-Prophetic Model of Orphan Care
Authors: Alwani Zainab 
Published: November 2020

This article seeks to outline a Qurʾanic-Prophetic model for orphan care by presenting and analyzing some of the Qurʾanic and Prophetic concepts related to this critical topic of kafāla.
By attempting to understand the Qurʾan on its own terms and tracing its words’ derivation(s), this essay proposes a Qurʾanic framework of orphan care, one that is strictly centered on kafāla and was exemplified by Prophet Muhammad throughout his life. Based on the Quranic framework of orphan care and the Pro-phetic example, which prioritize protecting the orphan’s interest, I argue that the responsibility of kafāla for orphaned and abandoned children falls on each and every one of us. This essay concludes with specific recommendations that Muslim communities can take on the community-level to fulfill our collective responsibility and alleviate the grievances of orphans.
This article applies the methodology of al-waḥda al-binā’iyya lil-Qur’ān (The Qurʾan’s Structural Unity), to analyze and discuss Islam’s approach to or-phan care. The holistic method reads the Qurʾan as a unified text through its linguistic, structural, and conceptual elements. In other words, the divine text, when read in its entirety, represents an integrated whole. In addition, this approach highlights how the meaning of a specific term changes, but never to the extent that its original meaning is violated. Tracing how the relevant terms are derived from their root leads to constructing the Islamic framework for orphan care.
As the Qurʾan refers to itself as al-Muṣaddiq (the confirmer or verifier of truth) and Muhaymin (overseer, protector, guardian, witness, and determiner of the truth), it, therefore, judges us by the truth. Consequently, we should seek its judgment when making a decision: “And We have revealed to you, [O Prophet], the Book in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the Scripture and as a cri-terion over it” (5:48). Therefore, applying a Muṣaddiq-Muhaymin methodology allows us to trace a term or a concept’s use, how it developed or changed over time, and how these changes impacted its implementation in a given society’s so-ciocultural, legal, socioeconomic, and sociopolitical spheres.
For this discussion, the terms analyzed are, in order of appearance: insān (hu-man being), khalīfa (representative on Earth), yatīm (orphan), al-waḥda al-binā’-iyya li-l-Qur’ān (The Qurʾan’s Structural Unity), ‘umrān (cultivating our planet’s balance, peace, justice, and sustainability), tazkiya (holistic purification), taqwā (Allah-consciousness), ‘ibāda (worship), iṣlāḥ (improve, reform, and rectify), fasad (corruption, mischief, ruin, and spoil), tughyān (to go beyond the ḥudūd [limits set by Allah]), ibtilā (test), karam (dignity, honor), karāma (honor), ta‘āruf (getting to know one another), ‘urf (local custom), ma‘rūf (doing what is right, just, and fair), ‘amr bi al-ma‘rūf wa nahiy ‘an al-munkar (enjoining the right/ honor-able and forbidding the wrong/dishonorable), laqīṭ (abandoned child), kāfil (legal guarantor), tabanni (adoption), da‘īy (to be claimed as sons), āwā (a holistic de-scription of an ideal shelter with a mission to improve a displaced person or or-phan’s life), nasab (original lineage), and farḍ kifāya (communal responsibility).
Reading the Qurʾan as a “unity” ensures that the divine text will remain rele-vant, for this approach enables scholars to continue developing its ability to pro-vide answers to difficult contemporary questions and challenges.