Religious and cultural literacy are essential to designing programs/services that resonate with the affected populations and lessening apprehension and misunderstandings about Muslim humanitarian actors.
There are nearly 80 million displaced individuals today, a number which has doubled in the past decade. Forced displacement has serious consequences for all involved stakeholders – forced migrants, countries of first asylum and destination, and countries of origin. Muslim majority countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan and Syria are amongst the countries that assume the largest numbers of forced migrants.
In fact, according to a report by Islamic Relief, Muslim majority states and Muslim communities play a central role in hosting approximately 50% of the global refugee population. These Muslim humanitarian organizations are on the ground providing aid to forced migrants and others experiencing crises. They are driven by Islamic teachings and values which provide a wealth of evidence to support a protection framework. Additionally, a significant number of forced migrants identify as Muslim. In 2016, Pew Research Center reported that almost half of the forced migrants entering the United States identified as Muslim.
Muslims, however, are not a monolith. Along with a variety of different understandings and practices of the faith, each country and region has its own culture, language and customs. Therefore, understanding the needs and norms of the impacted population plays a vital role in helping in the management of forced migrant and other crises resulting in protection and dignity previously not understood by mainstream humanitarian agencies.
About Islam & Muslims
Fact Sheets & Toolkits
If you are working with a Muslim population, community, or individual check out these resources that will help you engage with them in an appropriate manner at a time that meets their needs without causing further trauma.
American Muslims 101: Resources for Interfaith Leaders, Community Educators + Allies – Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU)
In today’s climate of division, the work of outreach educators who inform the public about American Muslims is vital to unity and pluralism in the United States. This toolkit offers those of all faiths and no faith working to educate their communities about Americans who are Muslim resources to strengthen their work. On this page, you’ll find educational handouts and videos, relevant research, and useful reports and articles to empower you to take what you learn and share that knowledge with those who need it most.
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions About Islam and Muslims – Islamic Networks Group (ING)
ING has been delivering educational presentations about Muslims and their faith for over two decades. They have shared answers to some of the most common questions that ING and its affiliates across the country have encountered during that time.
FEMA Religious and Cultural Literacy and Competency Tip Sheet: Muslim Leaders – Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
Engagement guidelines for aid workers in faith communities. These tip sheets were developed for the Emergency Management Institute (EMI) through a collaborative training partnership between FEMA’s Center for Faith-based & Neighborhood Partnerships, DHS Science & Technology Resilient Systems Division, DHS’ National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) at the University of Southern California (USC), the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture (CCRC), and the National Disaster Interfaiths Network (NDIN)
Competency Guidelines: Sheltering & Mass Care for Muslims – National Disaster Interfaiths Network (NDIN)
These tip sheets offer government, non-profits or other faith-based organizations all-hazards best practices and resource links about disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery – this set specifically addresses religious literacy and competency guidelines for Sheltering and Mass Care. A free resource, the guidelines within the Tip Sheets are provided to inform religious literacy, cultural competency and reasonable religious accommodation mandates for U.S. Mass Care providers, and to assist staff and volunteers in competently meeting the needs of minority faith communities during disaster response or recovery operations—whether at a government or private shelter, or a shelter in house of worship or other religious facility.
Islam – The Pluralism Project, Harvard University
An ongoing research effort, the Pluralism Project studies and interprets religious diversity and interfaith relations in the United States. This page on Islam contains essays, images, news, publications and a map of Muslim institutions in the Boston area.
American Muslim Philanthropy: A Data-Driven Comparative Profile – Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU)
Description: ISPU’s American Muslim Poll of 2018: Pride and Prejudice included a broad range of survey questions aimed at uncovering American Muslims’ philanthropic practices and motivations. Given the centrality of giving among Muslim communities and the important role religious giving plays in philanthropy more broadly, in this report we take a deep dive into how and why American Muslims give.
About Muslim Philanthropy
When engaging with Muslim humanitarian organizations, it is important to understand charity and giving in the Islamic context. See below for important definitions and a reading list to help build your awareness about the subject.
Definitions
UNICEF estimates global Zakat contributions alone at $600 Billion. But what is Zakat and what are other relevant terms and concepts you need to know? Here are a few key ones from The Muslim Humanitarian Sector A Review for Policy Makers and NGO Practitioners.
Zakat
Zakat is an obligatory religious tax intended to be used for social welfare and is comparable to Christian traditions of tithing. Organizations in the Muslim humanitarian sector rely heavily on Zakat donations to finance their operations. In most schools of Islamic law and ethics, the zakat amounts to about 2.5% of “cash, crops, and cattle.”
Zakat al-Fitr: A special, obligatory, financial donation equivalent to the cost of one meal that is given on at the end of Ramadan, the obligatory month of fasting.
Sadaqa
Sadaqa is the concept of voluntary charity, including but not limited to monetary donations. Unlike Zakat, it does not have a preset amount. Sadaqa is an important redistributive institution in Islam and is regularly utilized by Muslim aid organizations to mobilize in-kind services and donations.
Sacrificial Offering
The voluntary financial donation or slaughter of an animal, typically a lamb or goat, performed at the end of the period of Hajj pilgrimage. Meat from this offering is distributed locally and globally by pious networks and local organizations. This act of charity is referred to as Qurbani in South Asia and Udhiyya in the Arab speaking world.
Khums
Historically, Khums was a voluntary tax in which Muslims contribute one fifth of their surplus wealth (20%) in order to fulfill certain obligations to the Sultan or Caliph. Today, Khums is practiced by Shiite groups who direct their funds to the clerical establishment, which in turn redistributes them through its various charitable networks.
Waqf
A Waqf is a legal trust established when a donor endows a stream of income from a property or business and directs it to a charitable purpose in perpetuity. Historically, the Waqf is the instrument that underwrites the financing of mosques, seminaries, and social welfare programs. Today, the Islamic legal provisions administering awqaf (plural form of Waqf) have been maintained, developed, and expanded in various contexts. They have also been integrated into contemporary legal and financial systems in Muslim majority countries.
Islamic Finance
Islamic law and theology have historically prohibited usury and interest. Instead, Islamic ethicists have favored equity distribution and shared profit and loss models as ideal means of facilitating business contracts and partnerships. In the modern world, the Islamic finance sector has created a parallel banking infrastructure that now is highly integrated into the global financial system. Muslim aid organizations participate heavily in the Islamic finance sector and incorporate ethical principles in their micro-business initiatives.
Hawala
Simply meaning transfer in Arabic, the Hawala “system” is the fee-based premodern, informal value transfer system used by individuals and businesses to deliver remittances and pay for goods and services in the greater MENA region and parts of Europe. Likened by experts to an informal hybrid between Bitcoin and Western Union, many Muslim aid organizations and their secular counterparts use the Hawala to finance operations in areas that lack a formal banking sector. The system is used to circumvent interest, exchange rates, and high service charges that accompany use of the formal banking sector. The system is feared by regulators to be a hotbed of money-laundering and terrorist finance, the Hawala is now seen by experts as a critical element in aid and development finance.
Recommended Readings
The following list of reading was developed by Dr. Shariq Siddiqui for the course on Muslim Philanthropy developed for the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI. Below you will find academic research, books, and articles related to both the history of philanthropy in the Muslim context and the practice of philanthropy by Muslims in both the United States and globally. This knowledge can help you better relate to the values that guide the work of Muslim humanitarian organizations and their funders.
Ernst, Carl W., Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World
(University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, 2003).
Singer, Amy., Charity in Islamic Societies (Cambridge University Press 2008).
Cambridge University Press.
Bonner, Michael, “Poverty and Charity in the Rise of Islam” In Bonner, M., Ener, M., & Singer, A
(Eds) (2003). Poverty and Charity in Middle Eastern Contexts. Page 31 – 51
Siddiqui, S. A. (2010). “Giving in the Way of God: Muslim Philanthropy in the United States.” In
H. Smith (Ed.), Religious Giving: For Love of God. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Adam Faraz and Lucy Bushill-Matthews, “Zakat in not just Charity: Unlocking the Transformative
Power of Islam’s Third Pillar” (Yaqeen Institute of Islamic Research, 2018)
Widmann Abraham, D. (2018). “Zakat as Practical Theodicy.” Journal of Muslim Philanthropy
& Civil Society, 2(1), 21.
Al-Qaradawi, Yusuf., Fiqh az-Zakat: The Rules, Regulations and Philosophy of Zakat in the
Light of the Qur’an and Sunna (Dar Al Taqwa, 1999) pp xliii – 40
Kuran, Timur, “Islamic Redistribution through Zakat: Historical Record and Modern Realities” In
Bonner, M., Ener, M., & Singer, A (Eds) (2003). Poverty and Charity in Middle Eastern Contexts.
Page 275 – 310
Nurzaman, Mohammad Soleh., “Evaluating the impact of zakat by indicator of disaggregated
Human Development Index: an empirical finding” in Handbook of Empirical Research on Islam
and Economic Life (Edward Elgar, 2017) pp. 93 – 108
Rashid, Mamunur & M. Kabir Hassan, How Shi Min and G M Wali Ullah, “Reporting of zakat
and charitable activities in Islamic banks: theory and practice” in Handbook of Empirical
Research on Islam and Economic Life (Edward Elgar, 2017) pp. 163 – 192
Singer, A. (2018). “The Politics of Philanthropy.” Journal of Muslim Philanthropy & Civil
Society, 2(1), 19.
Diouf, Sylviane., “’Sadaqa’ Among African Muslims Enslaved Muslims in the Americas”
Journal of Islamic Studies (January 1999 Vol 10 No 1)
Adam, T. (2020). “The Contribution of the Islamic Wakf to the Formation of the Modern and
Western Institution of the Foundation.” Journal of Muslim Philanthropy & Civil Society, 4(1).
Abdur-Rashid, Khalil (2019). “Financing Kindness as a Society: The Rise & Fall of Islamic
Philanthropic Institutions (Waqfs).” Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research
GhaneaBassiri, K. (2018). “U.S. Muslim Philanthropy After 9/11.” Journal of Muslim
Philanthropy & Civil Society, 1(1).
Siddiqui, S. A. (2013). “Myth vs. Reality: Muslim American Philanthropy since 9/11.” In T. J. Davis
(Ed.), Religion in Philanthropic Organizations: Family, Friend, Foe? Bloomington, IN, US