For Humanity or for the Umma?

Description

In the wake of 9/11 and the ‘War on Terror’, transnational Muslim NGOs have too often been perceived as illegitimate fronts for global militant networks such as al-Qaeda or as backers of national political parties and resistance groups in Palestine, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Yet clearly there is more to transnational Muslim NGOs. Most are legitimate providers of aid to the world’s poor, although their assistance may sometimes differ substantially from that of secular NGOs in the West.

Seeking to broaden our understanding of these organisations, Marie Juul Petersen explores how Muslim NGOs conceptualise their provision of aid and the role Islam plays in this. Her book not only offers insights into a new kind of NGO in the global field of aid provision; it also contributes more broadly to understanding ‘public Islam’ as something more and other than political Islam.

The book is based on empirical case studies of four of the biggest transnational Muslim NGOs, and draws on extensive research in Britain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan and Bangladesh, and more than 100 interviews with those involved in such organisations.

Reviews

‘For Humanity or for the Umma? is a path-breaking study of Muslim NGOs. Avoiding the hype and following the theory and the evidence, Petersen produces a richly textured and nuanced appreciation of how these religious NGOs navigate the worlds in which they are embedded.  At once careful and creative, hers is a study that not only shines a light on the complexity of Muslim NGOs, but also points a way toward understanding religious NGOs in an age of emergency and the relief-development nexus.’ — Michael Barnett is University Professor of International Affairs and Political Science, George Washington University, and author of Empire of Humanity: A History of Humanitarianism

‘This book will consolidate Marie Juul Petersen’s already secure reputation as an important researcher. With the help of unique field material, from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as well from countries that are easier to study, she shows that contemporary Islamic charities are mixtures of professionalism and piety as heterogeneous as their Christian counterparts, with a cultural dimension too often overshadowed by political controversy.’ — Jonathan Benthall, Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology, University College London

‘This empirically detailed and theoretically astute study demonstrates Marie Juul Petersen’s standing as one of the leading scholars of Islamic NGOs in the world today.’ — Cecelia M. Lynch, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Irvine

Author(s)

Marie Juul Petersen is a researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights. She has researched and written extensively on religion, aid and NGOs, and her work has appeared in several scientific journals, including Development in Practice, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Third World Quarterly and Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Non-Profit Organizations.