Islam and Development: Exploring the Invisible Aid Economy

The backwardness of many contemporary Muslim countries is blamed by some writers on various aspects of Islamic beliefs and behavioral injunctions. It is shown in this paper that many of these arguments are based on flimsy grounds. This issue of whether Islam is an obstacle to development is dealt with. An attempt is made to introduce a better explanation for underdevelopment of many Muslim countries (at least in the Middle East area). Historical-institutional factors are emphasized. A case is made that, given the unique institutional nature of Islam, foreign domination (by the Ottoman Empire and later by European colonialism) resulted in stunted institutional development in the former territories of the Ottoman Empire, which is a basic reason for the present backwardness.

To explain the level of difference between Muslim societies and the West, many refer to religious sources as if Christianity caused modern development; and Islam all present misfortunes. This paper challenges this common view of religious determinism arguing that rather than Christianity or Islam per se, it is the variation in social, historical, and ecological conditions that led to the persistence of integration of religion and state hence underdevelopment in many Muslim countries. Neither the realm of Islam was always behind nor was the land of Christianity always at the forefront. Major characteristics such as violence and sexism have been common in Islam and Christianity as well as other religions. That Islam emerged in violence and Christianity against state violence does not represent the entire history of these religions. Jihad in Islam and Crusade in Christianity justify massive violence in favor of their interests. Despite violent resistance of the church against modern reforms, Western societies succeeded in achieving a new civilization and forced the church into its domain of faith, rituals, and moral responsibilities, while Muslim societies have not succeeded yet in achieving similar developments needed to reform Islam. Consequently, unlike the West, religion in Muslim societies still continues to play its traditional roles, including exertion of political power that prevents structural and institutional changes and, most notably, the recognition of individuals' rights needed for modernity. Religious reforms, including separation from the state as a requirement for modern development and democracy in the Muslim world, must begin with multidimensional societal changes with the engagement of the global community.

Progress in Development Studies, 2017

This article examines the different roles religion can play when migrants organize for development. We focus on organizing for development, through transnational Islamic charity, formally and informally, and where religion takes on explicit or implicit roles. By taking Muslim religious practices as starting points, different forms of development engagements are revealed, than if starting with a focus on so-called 'faith-based organizations' (FBOs). Whereas religion is often seen instrumentally in development studies, we find that the roles of religion are not only functional, but also substantive and relational. The article draws on qualitative data collected in Norway, Pakistan and the UK.

Social Science Research Network, 2016

There is ongoing debate among scholars concerning the relation between Islam and development. The focus of the debate is particularly about the compatibility issue. Western and Muslim scholars have their own stance and argumentation. While the former have accused Islam as an obstacle to development, the latter have assured that Islam is essentially compatible to development. Based on the Qur'anic point of view, it is obvious that religion and development are essentially related in a positive, direct and causal manner.

International Journal of Business and Social Science, 2019

Development is one important issue facing most Muslim countries today. Although there are different stages of development, all of the Muslim countries at this time are considered as developing countries as per the United Nations (UN) country classification. However, it is important to note here that actually the discourses on development used to differentiate countries between developing and developed have been debated for a while. One critical discourse contends that even those countries considered developed are actually still developing, considering that all countries are basically reacting and evolving to cope with different challenges in their own respective economies. In view of the above, this paper attempts to assess discourses related to development in developed countries as well as developing ones (including Muslim countries). This paper will also review the present state of the Muslim World that is relatively lagging behind, and what should be done about that. The research methodology applied will be based on literature review related to discourses on development, and some empirical evidence related to those discourses. The paper shows that actually each and every country has its own unique approach to develop, and there will not be a one size fits all development discourse for many different countries in the world. Learning from the history, Islam, as a belief system, made a significant role in transforming the early Muslims from backward nations to the most developed ones at that time. In addition, there has been an endless quest in developed countries themselves for more social justice and for more meaning of life. Therefore, the paper argues that formulating Islamic-based development discourses will benefit not only the Muslim world (to make it better their present state of development) but also a global community (to make a more just and humane world).

Habilitation Treatise, University of Fribourg, 2022

Anthropological debates centred on aid, giving and solidarity have engendered the distinct and highly specialized fields of humanitarianism, development, charity and philanthropy. The emergent research has produced critiques of global inequality with a particular focus on humanitarian and development institutions of a European and North American pedigree. In this hierarchy of fields, Muslim institutions and practices possess an ambivalent status. The rise of political Islam has secured them a measure of attention, but their study has been undertaken largely through the perspective of charitable giving. The present habilitation treatise consists of a central framing text complemented by ten publications in which I re-evaluate the role of Muslims across different fields and research agendas relating to aid. To this end, I propose employing the broader notion of “doing good” to develop an analytical perspective that takes its point of departure in Muslim institutions and practices. The shorthand designation of “Muslim humanitarianism” draws together the specific social and political processes, relations of exchange, and material and economic conditions in which these institutions and practices are situated. This habilitation treatise is the outcome of over a decade of ethnographic and historical research on Muslim humanitarians who adhere to two forms of Shia Islam: Ismailis and Twelver Shias. These are people biographically and institutionally linked to areas in the High Asian borderlands of Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and Tajikistan. Starting from these particular social, political and religious spaces, I follow my interlocutors’ trajectories and trace their institutional connections across Asia and Europe. Drawing on this research, the central framing text highlights and discusses the theoretical foundations of four main perspectives that are necessary, as I argue, for a reassessment of Muslim engagements with the world of aid. It is thus essential to begin with the broader notion of doing good in order to refine the discussion and to capture the specificity of institutions and practices; to decentre established ideas of humanitarianism and development; to pay attention to the scale of Muslim humanitarianism; and to employ historical analysis, as well as to analyse different uses of the past in the present.

AJIS: Academic Journal of Islamic Studies

This study aims to map bibliometric information related to the topic of Islamic relations and development, critically classify topics related to Islam's position in development, and the instruments that Islam offers for the development agenda. To that end, the study used a bibliometric approach and analyzed 273 articles from the Scopus database. To top it off, the study also used a systematic literature review (SLR) method to classify issues in 54 articles related to Islam and development. The findings of this study confirm that the topic of Islam and development in international journals showed an increase in the period 2012-2016, and the studies of Timur Kuran and Hossein Askari showed a reasonably high impact on the development of studies related to Islam and development

The Muslim World, 2022

How might our understanding of humanitarianism and development be enriched if we centered Muslims, not only as the largest recipients of care but also as significant actors and donors? Despite critical histories and analyses of humanitarianism and development that demystify them as universal projects for “good,” logics of the global north persist in dominating the norms of a perceived “global order.” Centering Muslims in humanitarianism and development offers the opportunity to rethink universal and normative projects of improvement, rescue, and care. Centering Muslims calls our attention to the many ways that Muslims think, lead, engage, and practice aid and relief. In such an effort to center, neither Muslims nor the Islamic tradition should be taken exclusively as foils, or limited to the position of “speaking back” to secular or Christian powers. To be sure, Muslim practices may indeed decenter hegemonic norms and, at times, do so intentionally. Critical research on religion and international aid demonstrates how religious actors upend dominant logics. Yet, as contributors to this special issue demonstrate, Muslim undertakings may just as often present translations or adaptations of what they understand to be global or international norms. This special issue explores Muslim projects of aid, charity, and relief, not as idiosyncratic examples of a global project led by the global north but rather as telling illustrations of the variegated ways that people today address human need and suffering. Twenty-first century Muslim projects of humanitarianism and development—sometimes glossed as Islamic humanitarianism or Islamic development—offer a view not only of a type of humanitarianism—one adjusted by the adjective Muslim or Islamic—but rather new ways to understand human grappling with notions of justice, humanity, compassion, and responsibility.

2017

This thesis explores ideals and practices of Islamic charity and how these relate to notions of development and development aid (RQ1) in Pakistan and the Pakistani diaspora. The study includes a focus on gender (RQ2) and transnational dimensions (RQ3). 'Islamic charity' is understood in a broad sense to describe normative ideals and Muslim religious practices intended to help people in need and to contribute to development. Taking an actor-orientated approach, the study is not driven by theological analysis or by preconceived notions of what constitutes development. Rather, it examines how actors, as individuals and as organizational members, give meaning to what they do by reflecting on their religious practices, social activism and development engagements. The thesis draws on data produced through multi-sited, qualitative fieldwork conducted in Pakistani Punjab, Oslo, and London during the period 2012 to 2015. It incorporates 92 semi-structured interviews, as well as informal interviews, observation, and written material. Four articles form a major part of the thesis. The first article questions how ideals and practices of Islamic charity intersect with and motivate the ways migrants engage in development. It examines how migrants' everyday practices of Islamic charity relate to their development engagements in their country of origin and beyond. Article 2 explores the role of religion in the migration-development nexus by investigating how Islamic charity is organized transnationally. As opposed to studies focusing on faith-based organizations, the article unpacks what it means for something to be 'faith-based' and explores the different roles religion can take in both formal and informal modes of organizing. The intersection of religion, gender, and development is explicated in Article 3. Studying women activists in two religio-political aid organizations in Pakistan, it examines how religion influences the women's ideas and practices of development, and how the practices are gendered. The fourth article focuses on the 'NGOization' of Islamic charity in Pakistan. Attention is devoted to the normative dimension of organizational legitimacy by examining how actors make claims to legitimacy as providers of aid in changing institutional environments. Researching Islamic charity and development in multiple contexts sheds light on how religion influences conceptions of development and the ways people engage. The analysis reveals how actors relate to, and draw on, ideals and practices from the Islamic tradition, as well as from mainstream aid and development discourses. It finds significant gendered variations in how Islamic charity is organized in Pakistan and the diaspora, and that women play noteworthy roles as development actors in both contexts. It brings out how motivations for engaging in Islamic charity and development work combine worldly and transcendental dimensions. In relation to actors in the diaspora, this research points to the ways in which religious duties can overlap with familial and other social obligations, but can also intersect with what elsewhere is termed diaspora development. The study reveals how religion influences conceptions and practices of development, and that religion can be both explicit and implicit in different contexts. Moreover, including religion in analysis allows for a broader and more nuanced understanding of actors in development, and of what development is conceived to be by these different actors. This thesis concludes that many aspects of Islamic charity, and particularly where it has focused on activities to support longer-term social change, reflect a unique type of development in practice. This development practice is deeply embedded in cultural and religious norms and values, but is nevertheless influenced by globalized understandings of social, political, and economic development. At the end of this doctoral journey there are many people to whom I owe thanks. First of all, I thank the research participants, the women and men in Oslo, London and Punjab, who agreed to be part of his project, who welcomed me as a guest and shared with me their insights and reflections. This project would not have been possible without the trust you have bestowed upon me. You have been truly inspirational. While the final product is my responsibility alone, this project would not have been possible without the guidance, inspiration, and assistance of many wonderful colleagues, friends and family. My two brilliant supervisors, Ingrid Nyborg and Kristian Berg Harpviken, have been great sources of inspiration, guidance and constructive criticism. Thank you Ingrid, for always showing such clear-sightedness, enthusiasm and good humour, even when I had lost mine. Thank you Kristian, for sharing your sharp, analytical mind and incredible creativity, and for always being so positive and solution-orientated. I truly appreciate the confidence you both showed in me. A big thank you also goes to my dear friends, colleague and unofficial supervisor, Marta Bivand Erdal. Thank you for sharing, endlessly, of your experience, ideas and optimism. You are truly inspirational, and lots of fun! I am looking forward to more creative sessions in local coffee shops. Thank you to the Norwegian Research Council and PRIO for funding this project. Thank you to the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and Noragric for providing me with the opportunity to do this PhD at Ås. Thank you to Josie Teurlings for practical help and encouragement. Thank you to my PhD colleagues for peer review and good exchanges about PhD life. Thank you to all at PRIO who have made this PhD journey a rewarding, stimulating, and manageable experience. You are too many to mention and I would be too afraid of leaving anyone out, although a special thanks will go to Cathrine Bye for always being there for all the small and big things. I would also like to thank the project advisory board, Masooda Bano, Jonathan Benthall, Christopher Candland, Hafeez ur Rehman, Khalid ur Rahman, and Shoaib Sultan for stimulating discussions and advice at two important junctures in this project. Thank you also goes to the many colleagues who have offered constructive criticism at various stages of the thesis: Arne Strand, Bill Derman, Esben Leifsen, Kjersti Larsen, Randi Kaarhus and Øyvind Eggen. Thank you to Ana Roman and Anam Amjad for research assistance, and to Ruth Coetzee, Karina Hof and Georgina Berry for language editing of various parts of the thesis. Thank you to all the people who have made me know Pakistan the way I do. Thank you to the wonderful people at Orangi Pilot Project in Karachi who gave me insights into real life in Pakistan all those years ago, to my excellent colleagues from the years at UNDP Pakistan, and especially to Fayyaz Baqir for guidance and inspiration. Thank you to the Afzals, my Pakistani family, for opening your home and taking care of me, now as then, for letting me know Lahore the Lahoree way. Thank you Muhammad Razzaq, for guidance and contacts. Thank you Ali, for waiting casually outside Arrivals, for making Lahore manageable and fun, and for bringing the Bollywood canon. Thank you Zainab Qazilbash and Asif Hayat, for opening your homes and making me feel at home in Islamabad. vi Thank you Gina Lende and Frida Austvoll Nome, for being part of this journey, with all the ups and downs; you are the very best of travel companions! I don't know if I would have come this far without you. I know for sure it would have been much less fun without you. I look forward to our future journeys.