Giving to God: Islamic Charity in Revolutionary Times
Author: Amira Mittermaier
Publisher: University of California Press
Print Length: 248 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction / Social Science, Anthropology
Area: Egypt
Topic: Muslim, Muslim World, Islam, Alms, Zakat, Charity, Giving, Religion, Ethics & Morality, Humanitarian Action & Humanitarianism, Organization, Social Impact, Social Justice, Social Movement, Social Work & Services, Social/Aid Workers, Volunteer & Volunteerism
Giving to God examines the everyday practices of Islamic giving in post-revolutionary Egypt. From foods prepared in Sufi soup kitchens, to meals distributed by pious volunteers in slums, to almsgiving, these acts are ultimately about giving to God by giving to the poor. Surprisingly, many who practice such giving say that they do not care about the poor, instead framing their actions within a unique non-compassionate ethics of giving. At first, this form of giving may appear deeply selfish, but further consideration reveals that it avoids many of the problems associated with the idea of “charity.” Using the Egyptian uprising in 2011 and its call for social justice as a backdrop, this beautifully crafted ethnography suggests that “giving a man a fish” might ultimately be more revolutionary than “teaching a man to fish.”
Table of Contents
Illustrations
Notes on Transliteration
Acknowledgments
Introduction
DURING THE REVOLUTION
1. Revolutions Don’t Stop Charity
GIVING
2. Divine Minimum Wage
3. Caravan to Paradise
RECEIVING
4. Performances of Poverty
5. All Thanks Belong to God
AFTER THE REVOLUTION
6. Tomorrow Is Better
Postscript
Amira Mittermaier is Professor in the Department for the Study of Religion and the Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto. Bringing together textual analysis and ethnographic fieldwork, her research to date has focused on modern Islam in Egypt. Her first book, Dreams that Matter: Egyptian Landscapes of the Imagination, explores Muslim practices of dream interpretation, as they are inflected by Islamic reformism, Western psychology, and mass mediation. Her more recent book, Giving to God: Islamic Charity in Revolutionary Times, describes a religious ethics of giving in which believers engage with God by way of giving to the poor. Building on these two projects and drawing on additional fieldwork in Egypt, Professor Mittermaier’s current research works toward what she calls an “ethnography of God.”
Source: https://www.religion.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/amira-mittermaier
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