The Charitable Crescent: Politics of Aid in the Muslim World

Author: Jonathan Benthall & Jerōme Bellion-Jourdan
Publisher: I.B. Tauris
Year of Publication: 2009 (New Edition)
Print Length: 216 pages
Genre: Non-Fiction / Social Science, Anthropology
Area: Sudan, The Balkans
Topic: Muslim, Muslim World, Islam, Alms, Waqf, Zakat, Charity, Humanitarian Action & Humanitarianism, Non-Profit Organization (NGO), Politics & Power, The Red Cross & Red Crescent, War on Terror
Since 9/11, Islamic charities have been in the firing line. Some portray the entire sector as a conduit for terrorist financing. In this new updated edition of their groundbreaking work, Jerome Bellion-Jourdan and Jonathan Benthall provide a radical new perspective on the whole issue of aid and Islamic finance. They explore the social and political history of zakat and waqf, and in so doing challenge Western assumptions about the nature of humanitarianism. The authors outline the impact of the ‘War on Terror’, and argue that obstacles set up against financial transfers in conflict zones can have the unintended result of driving terrorist financing further underground, as well as depriving victims of much needed assistance.
Islamic charities will continue to play a pivotal role in world politics as they respond to crises in the Middle East, Pakistan, Indonesia and elsewhere. This thoughtful and meticulously researched book is the one indispensable guide to the issues surrounding this complicated and misunderstood phenomenon.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Note on transliteration and translation
Preface to the paperback edition
Preface
Introduction
1. Financial Worship
2. Waqf and Islamic finance: two resources for charity
3. Red Crescent politics
4. Helping the ‘brothers’: the medic, the militant and the fighter
5. NGOs in the contemporary Muslim world
6. Western versus Islamic aid? International Muslim charities and humanitarian aid in Sudan
7. The Balkans case: transnational Islamic networks in Bosnia-Herzegovina
Conclusion
Abbreviations
Glossary of Islamic and Arabic terms
Notes
Postscript
Bibliography
Index

Jonathan Benthall is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology, University College London and former Director of the Royal Anthropological Institute, where he founded the journal Anthropology Today. His publications include The Best of Anthropology Today (editor, 2002), The Charitable Crescent: Politics of Aid in the Muslim world (with Jérôme Bellion-Jourdan, 2003, new edition 2009), Returning to Religion: Why a Secular Age is Haunted by Faith (2008) and Gulf Charities and Islamic Philanthropy in the ‘Age of Terror’ and Beyond (co-edited with Robert Lacey, 2014). He reviews regularly for the Times Literary Supplement. He has studied the relationship between contemporary Islam and humanitarian aid since 1993, and has published widely on the topic. More broadly, his interests extend on the one hand to the international aid system (including its relationship with modern media), and on the other to the growth of new quasi-religious movements and their interactions with traditional religions.
Source: https://www.e-ir.info/author/jonathan-benthall/ & https://www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology/people/honorary-staff/jonathan-benthall
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Jerōme Bellion-Jourdan holds a Ph.D in Political Science of Sciences Po. Paris and sits on the Board of Directors of Sciences Po. Grenoble. His expertise in negotiation draws from his experience as a diplomat and negotiator for the European Union at the multilateral level and notably in the United Nations Human Rights Council. For nearly 9 years, he has led negotiations on Business and Human Rights and on other thematic issues (impact of arms transfers on human rights, management of hazardous substances and wastes, right to development, sexual orientation and gender identity) as well as country situations. He was also called to support negotiation teams in other fora such as the World Health Assembly and the Group of Governmental Experts on Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems.
Source: https://www.global-negotiation.org/members-dyn/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-bellion-jourdan
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