Revamped Faith-Based Endowments in the Arab region: Characteristics and Challenges

• In Event: Faith-based organizations

Abstract

Islamic endowment (called “Wqaf” in Arabic) is a well-known religious–based charitable institution in the Arab region. The institution gets its financial resources from sadaqat, which is the voluntary element in the Islamic giving; donors are free to decide the amount of their charity, and beneficiaries. Endowments invest the gifts and spend their revenue according to the givers’ conditions and preferences. This provides an institutionalized and sustainable charitable form. Rooted in the local societies, the institution historically funded a wide range of activities including: the provision of social services; religious missionaries; women’s empowerment; and civil resistance against the foreign colonialism (Ghanem, 1998). During the last two centuries, endowments significantly deteriorated due to internal corruption and external pressure came earlier from foreign colonial authorities and later due to confiscation and legal restrictions imposed by the post-independence national governments.
By the early 21st century, several regional and global factors coincidently motivated a recent revival of the faith-based endowments in the Arab region. Globally, the flourishing of faith-based organizations with their unique incentives, structures, and goals in addition to the positive evaluation of their effectiveness and efficiency in local societies (Benthall & Bellion-Jourdan, 2009; Mansour & Ezzat, 2009). Regionally, capital inflow in the Gulf States happened simultaneous with austerity measurements at the rest of the region that recalled an active role of local endowments. Since then, Gulf States have tended to empower the non-profit sector and integrate it into the national strategic plans as one of their executive hands. Maghreb, Egyptian and Levantine countries have sought fund from endowments in the provision of social services to overcome budget cuts required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Structural Adjustment Policies. Thus, Arab governments slightly relaxed national restrictive laws and regulations to encourage the revival of faith-based endowments.
Neo-institutionalist argues that ecosystems laden with culture and history influence institutions’ external relevancy and internal rules and behaviors. The Historical Analysis school of Neo-institutionalism examines the development of institutions’ governance and their interactions with other societal actors in light of the ecosystem changes (Selznick, 1996). Therefore, I argue that revamped endowments differ from their old counterparts. Although sharing similar religious roots and financial sources, they considerably vary in terms of their governance, fiscal management, and addressed issues. Besides, endowments currently seek to secure a sustainable fund to modern Arab philanthropic foundations and civil society. Sub-regional differences could also be traced among new endowments reflecting their financial power and the historical significance of local charity. They also struggle various administrative and financial challenges in addition to deal with obstructed legal and market ecosystems.
In this paper, I investigate the main characteristics of the Arab revamped endowments in terms of their fundraising tools, administrative mechanisms, and focal issues; study the sub-regional differences among them; and highlight the challenging features of their internal governance as well as their legal and financial ecosystems.

References

Benthall, Jonathan, and Jerome Bellion-Jourdan. (2009). The Charitable Crescent: Politics of Aid in the Muslim World. 2nd edn. I. B. Tauris, London.
Ghanem, Ibrahim al-Bayoumi. (1998). al-Awqaf fi Misr (Endowments in Egypt). Cairo: Dar al-Shrouk Bookstore.
Mansour, Khaled, and Heba Raouf Ezzat. (2009). Faith-Based Action in Development and Humanitarian Work. (In) Ashwani Kumar, Jan Art Scholte, Mary Kaldor, Marlies Glasius, Hakan Seckinelgin, Helmut Anheier (eds.). Global Civil Society.
London: Sage. pp.118-145. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781446269275.n7
Selznick, P. (1996). Institutionalism “Old” and “New.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 41(2), 270–277. https://doi.org/10.2307/2393719

Author

• Riham Khafagy, Zayed University