Faith‐based aid, globalisation and the humanitarian frontline: an analysis of Western‐based Muslim aid organisations

Abstract

This paper focuses on the emergence and modus operandi of Muslim faith-based aid organisations from the West, particularly those from the United Kingdom. Through case studies of Islamic Relief Worldwide and Muslim Hands, it examines the actual and potential added value generated by these humanitarian players in Muslim-majority contexts at times when aid actors from or associated with the West are being perceived by some as instrumental to the political agendas of Western powers, or are being confronted with the consequences thereof. The study analyses Muslim faith-based aid organisations' transnational networks, their implementing partnerships with local faith-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and their security position within and their access to insecure contexts, drawing on field examples and opinion from Central Asia, Iraq and Pakistan. It thereby argues that there is ground for an expansion of the role of Muslim aid actors, because of the existence of social and political realities in the field that cannot be always effectively tackled by the dominant international development approaches.

On the Thin Line Between Good Intentions and Creating Tensions: A View on Gender Programmes in Muslim Contexts and the (Potential) Position of Islamic Aid Organisations

“…Second, these elite groups tend to view development priorities differently than their supposed beneficiaries (see also Roy, , 2005. The social gaps, and resulting differences in mental frameworks and everyday lived experiences between certain local staff members and cadres employed by international NGOs and UN organisations, and the local communities being intervened in, or even wider society, sometimes form a substantial problem for the coherent implementation of gender -and sometimes other -development activities, especially when these have an inherently cultural dimension (De Cordier, 2008, 2009a.…”

Is religion a force for good? Reformulating the discourse on religion and international development

“…Projects managed by secular organisations must take the significance of religion in global society into account. These ideas have been suggested by others (Clarke 2006;Orrnert 2006;Marshall and van Saanen 2007;De Cordier 2009;Bradley 2010;Hipple and Duff 2010;Lipsky 2011), but have not yet gained wide acceptance in the field.…”

“…However, without clear understanding of how such issues fit into the religious beliefs and practices of a region, it will be extremely difficult to begin to develop solutions. If, however, development organisations strive to educate their workers about religion in the region and honour at least some of the religious values and customs in their initiatives, they are likely to gain the support and appreciation of those being served (De Cordier 2009;Phillips 2010).…”

Transnational Islamic charity as everyday rituals

“…Some authors have explicitly connected it with humanitarian engagement in times of crisis (Benthall 2008;De Cordier 2009). We engage with this literature, and seek to expand existing work by adopting a perspective on 'lived religion' and 'everyday practices'.…”

“…Transnational Islamic charity has been studied in the context of development, mainly as part of emergent work on the connections between religion and development (De Cordier 2009;Deneulin and Rakodi 2011;Orji 2011), including studies of © 2016 The Author(s) transnational Muslim NGOs (Ozkan 2012;Petersen 2012aPetersen , 2012bRosenow-Williams and Sezgin 2014). Some authors have explicitly connected it with humanitarian engagement in times of crisis (Benthall 2008;De Cordier 2009).…”