Abstract
Historically, the idea of the welfare state is rooted in the Confucius and Greek thoughts before Christ era but actually this was only an idea and practical welfare state was not found anywhere before Islam. Practically, the beloved Prophet Muhammad SAWW was the first in the recorded human history who successfully established an Islamic welfare state more than fourteen hundred years ago. Keeping in view, Islam is not merely a religion but a complete code and system of life. It addresses all individual and collective issues of life including state, government and politics. Therefore we find solid principles for Islamic welfare state and society in the Islamic teachings. The divine guidelines of Allah and Nobel teachings of the Prophet SAWW teach us all fundamental principles about Islamic welfare state and also these principles were implemented in the state of Madῑnah under supervision of the Prophet SAWW .After kind Prophet’s SAWW era the successors of the prophet the righteous caliphs implemented these principles in Islamic state and society. It means the Islamic welfare state has some fundamental principles and features. As well as, these principles contained all those basic laws which are necessary part of the contemporary and modern welfare states in all over the world. It is also noticed that the Islamic welfare state not only protects the worldly affairs of the public but also the human values and hereafter of a person because it is an ideological state. This thing differentiates it from the modern secular states in the West. Then question rises what is the Islamic welfare state and what are its basic principles and how it differ from the modern Western states. In this paper I would elaborate these fundamental principles of Islamic welfare state and its key differences from the secular welfare states in the light of Islamic teachings.