A Critical Evaluation of Pica S Article on the Selective Impact of Classroom Instruction

International Workshop “Diversity of Islamic NGOs” (October 10-11, 2009)

Diversity of Islamic NGOs

NEJIMASusumu[*]

Abstract

This introduction depicts how Nejima encountered Aga Khan Development Network in Pakistan, and then proceeded to study Islamic NGOsin the variousMuslim societies. After examining the concepts of “Islamic” and “NGO”, “Generative Model of Islamic ideals related to Contemporary NGO activities” is submitted for further discussion.

PART I

1. Aga Khan Development Network

It was the activities of Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) in the Northern Areas of Pakistan that impressed me in 1993-1995. As one of the villagers half jokingly said, they had “the second government” which was more efficient than the first one (the Government of Pakistan). AKDN NGOs were active and supporting village life in almost all the fields. Aga Khan Rural Support Programme encourages the villagers to organize their own VOs (Village Organisations for men, and WO or Women Organisaions for women) for helping themselves in such activities as irrigation, road construction, agriculture, livestock, forestry, and food supply. Aga Khan Education Services is in charge of education, and managing Schools. Aga Khan Health Services maintains clinics and organizes women volunteers for safe childbirth. When the clinics and schools are built, it is a turn of Aga KhanBuilding and Planning Services.With the instruction from the AKBPS, Villagers offer their own resources and labor.

From the beginning of research, the activities of AKDN looked quite efficient and devoted. The impression did not change until the end of my stay. Although the initial research purpose was on the agro-pastoral way of life in the high mountains of Karakorum-Hinduksh, I simply could not ignore the presence of AKDN NGOs and voluntarism they extract from the villagers. NGOs became absolutely necessary for the villagers’ life by the early 1990s. It was also impressive how Islam works in development. “Aga Khan” is none other than the honorific title used by the last four Ismaili Imams. Present Aga Khan IV is the 49th Imam of the Ismailis who are the majority of the field locale. The villagers are spiritual children of the Aga Khan IV, and follow the social messages of the religious leader conveyed through NGOs.

Thus, the office of Imam (imamat), the most important concept of the Shia Islam, was the key to understand what I had seen in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. This is my first encounter with an Islamic NGO.

2. Hamdard Foundation

After completing the dissertation about the Ismaili community and AKDN (NEJIMA 2002a), I came to think of the issue in the context of Pakistan as a whole. And it was again AKDN that provided valuable material entitled “Philanthropy in Pakistan: A Report of The Initiative on Indigenous Philanthropy” (AKDN 2000). From Quranic contexts of charitable giving, the profiles of indigenous NGOs, and individual and corporate giving, the volume contains various important studies by many researchers. Pakistani individuals gave an estimated Rs. 41 billion in cash and goods in 1998. The volunteering component is with 58 percent participation rate that is more than twice the global average (AKDN 2000:44). In addition to these interesting figures, profiles of NGOs such as Anjuman-i-Himayat-I Islam, Edhi Welfare Trust, and Hamdard gave me a broader perspective.

Anjuman-i-Himayat-I Islam was founded in 1884 in Lahore to support widows and orphans. In 1901, the Anjuman founded the first IslamiaCollege. By the middle of the twentieth century, the Anjuman had established a chain of educational institutions and mosques. Although the nationalization of educational institutions in 1972 placed its schools and colleges in government hands, the Anjuman has been able to renew its efforts. Today, the Anjuman operates some fifteen organizations, including schools, degrees colleges, vocational institutions, a college for indigenous medicine, and orphanages. While the Anjuman does not receive any official zakat, it accepts voluntary zakat. “…even today there is a great deal of generosity from the public. By the grace of Allah, we have never been short of funds and have faced no difficulty” (AKDN 2000: 23-25).

Edhi Welfare Trust is one of the most popular NGOs in Pakistan. Its headquarters is located in Karachi, the biggest commercial center in the country. When one visits the city, he or she can not miss the name of Edhi. In fact, the Trust holds more than 400 ambulances to save the lives of citizens. Activities of the Trust are including the sectors of health, emergency services, poverty relief, shelter homes, refugee and prisoners’ aid, and animal welfare. The charismatic leader of the Trust, Abdul Sattar Edhi himself stresses the concept of the amin, the person trusted with money for the administration of charitable works, and “…the trust continues to contextualize its function within traditional Islamic notions of individual giving, and the personal relationship between donor and receiver” (AKDN 2000: 27, NEJIMA 2002b).

These NGOs receive zakat as donation and use it for the welfare activities. They act for the benefit of others without demanding adequate payments from the recipients of its services. Though zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam, and is often juxtaposed to prayer (salat) in the Qur’an, it has not been given due description (Singer 2008: 24). This workshop will be a good opportunity to shed light on zakat and sadaqa (translated as charity, philanthropy, or beneficence by Singer ) in the NGO contexts.

Waqf is another important means of Islamic giving. Hadith tells that the waqf as the advice of the Prophet Muhammad.

It is narrated by Ibn Umar that Caliph Umar was given a parcel of land at Khybar by way of war booty. He told the Prophet (PBUH) that he never possessed a land more valuable than this, and asked him the best way of appropriating it. The Prophet (PBUH) said that he could give its usufruct (thamarāt) as sadaqa (charity) and retain the asl (corpus) in such a way that it could never be sold, gifted or inherited. According to Ibn Umar, Caliph Umar compiled with the advice given by the Prophet (PBUH) and dedicated that land on the condition that it could never be alienated in any way, and its profit will be always spent for the needy, poor, guests, and wayfarer and for setting free slaves and maintenance of poor relatives. Its caretaker could personally use that much of profit which might reasonably be needed for his own maintenance and that of his dependent, but he should never make it a source of his personal income and never treat it as his personal property (Qasmi 2002: 6, also see AKDN 2000:15).

The earliest recorded waqf in the subcontinent dated from the last years of the twelfth century A.D. Muhammad ibn-Sam, one of the Ghurid sultans, set aside the revenue of a single village to support a mosque in the city of Multan(Kozlowski 1985:22). Kozlowski continues that almost every ruler had a favorite shrine and these received support in the form of awqaf. The Mughal emperor Akbar established generous endowments for Shaikh Salim’s shrine (Kozlowski 1985:23).

A few waqifs offered civic patronage of the sort familiar to India’s British rulers. Sayyed Mehrban Ali spent Rs.60000 on building an iron bridge in Galaothi. He gave further Rs.3000 to construct a dispensary there. In addition to the Rs.65000 they distributed annually among the poor, the Nawabs of Dacca provided the city of Dacca with its electrical and water systems. They served to increase the donor’s prestige (Kozlowski 1985:68).

Hamdard Foundation is a representative of modern waqf. Hamdard originates from a small drugstore named Hamdard Dawakhana in Delhi. The Dawakhana (dawa=drug, khana=store in Urdu) was opened in 1906 by Hakim Abdul Majeed. His title “Hakim” means that his occupation is to compound traditional medicines according to Islamic Medicine. While the contemporary Hakims were content with their family business and held the traditional knowledge exclusively, Hakim Abdul Majeed dreamed of promotion of Islamic medicine into modern industry. When he passed away in 1922, his two sons were left to succeed the father’s ideal. In India, Hakim Abdul Hameed enlarged his father’s business. In Pakistan, younger brother Hakim Muhammad Saeed (also spelled as Hakim Mohammed Said) cultivated the new market. Hamdard India and Pakistan have grown as leading Islamic pharmaceutical company in the both countries.

What makes them quite unique is that the companies are designated as waqf, and profits from the products are exclusively used for social welfare. In 1948, Hamdard Dawakhana (India) was converted into a Waqf. In 1953, Hamdard Dawakhana (Pakistan) was converted into a Waqf too. In Pakistan, Muhammad Hakim Saeed has vigorously established medical and soico-cultural institutions from the income of waqf; in 1958, Al-Majeed College of Eastern Medicine was established. In 1964 Hamdard Foundation was established. He started academic journals called Quarterly Hamdard Medicus and Hamdard Islamicus in 1977 and 78 respectively.Construction of Maidnat al-Hikmah which includesHamdardUniversity started in 1983 (NEJIMA 2005).

3 A Concept of Islamic NGO

Through the studies of AKDN and Hamdard, I came to know that these were not isolatedphenomenon. Dr. Nakamura Mitsuo, who had done fieldwork of Muhammadiyah in the 1970’s, demonstrates how deeply the social activities based on Islam are taken root into the Muslim life.

“When I started participatory observation of the local people’s ordinary life, I found that many people were engaged with the social service which is in their own word amal or good deed. Based on the firm religious belief that good deeds in this life (dunya) guarantee the salvation in the next world (akhira), they sincerely discipline themselves, save money, and pay obligatory zakat. Furthermore, they pay voluntary sadaqa, donate waqf and engaged with social service”. (NAKAMURA 2004:11)

Founded in 1912, Muhammadiyah is the second largest Islamic organization in Indonesia. Putting emphasis on education, Muhammadiyah has more than 5,000 schools in the country today. “The Islamic Voluntary Sector in Southeast Asia”offers more general picture of the issue in Southeast Asia. In this book, Muhammad Nejatullah Siddiqi(1991) provides a conceptual framework for the voluntary sector in Islam. He points out the five traditional expressions of voluntary actions: family support, zakat, gifts and grants, social service (such as planting trees and building a dam), and waqf. As many Muslim scholars do, Siddiqi cites Quran and hadith to emphasize the charitable nature of Muslims. Here is an example of citationfrom Hadith.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) once said, “Charity is obligatory on every Muslim.” Asked if one has nothing to give in charity? He replied “He should work with his hands, then enjoy the fruits of his labour and give [something out of] it in charity.” Asked if it is not possible him to work, or he does not work? He replied, “He should help a needy person in distress.” Asked again what if even this he does not do? The Prophet replied, “He should advise others to do good.” Asked what if he failed to do this also? The Prophet said, “He should refrain from doing harm to others for even this is a charity from him.” (Muhammad Nejatullah Siddiqi1991:7-8, originally from Bukhari)

More recently, Clark(2004) provides information on “Islamic Social Institutions” from the Middle East. While examining on the selected institutions such as Islamic medical clinics in Egypt, the Islamic Center Charity Society in Jordan, and the Islah Charitable Society in Yemen, she points out that these are just some of “many non governmental or private institutions aimed at addressing the socioeconomic needs of its society within, at least theoretically, a stated Islamic framework”(Clark 2004:2). In fact, the number of Islamic voluntary associations is 2,457 out of a total of 12,832 voluntary associations in Egypt(Clark 2004:12). Another study gives even higher proportion to the amount of NGOs in Egypt.Abd al-Ghaffar Shukr (2005:154) says that in the 1960s, Islamic NGOs accounted for 17.3 percent of the total NGOs, and by the end of the 1980s, they accounted for 34 percent.

As mentioned above, Islam is known to put emphasis on the equity and social justice in the believers’ community or ummah. Mutual aid and cooperation among Muslim brothers and sisters are repeatedly encouraged. The five pillars of Islam or essential duty for believers include zakat or almsgiving to the poor. Islamic history also demonstrates the importance of charitable endowment of waqf which maintained social welfare such as educational and medical services. With the emphasis on the voluntarism and philanthropy, the Islamic ideals can be quite relevant to, and overlapping with the ideals of the contemporary NGOs working in the field of the social development.

PART II

3. Definition of Islamic NGO

Starting from AKDN and proceeding to Hamdard, I have obtained first-hand data of two Islamic NGOs.Then, I was fortunately allowed to form a study group of Islamic NGOs as a part of NIHU Islamic Area Studies. The group aims to understandthe Islamic NGOs as a significant social phenomenonper se. It is not necessarily a political tool for gaining popular support, not subordinated to the realization of Islamic state.

To demonstrate that the Islamic NGOs are wide spreading, a global phenomenon, first-hand data from different regions and different fields are required. The workshop is organized for this purpose.For further description of Islamic NGOs, however, elaboration of concepts of “Islamic” and “NGO” are essential.

Firstly, we shall define what NGO is. Non Governmental Organization can, in literally, include almost everything but government. Therefore, analysis of attributes of NGO is required. Six attributes are listed by Shigetomi who conducted comparative studies of NGOs in 15 Asian countries. Nejima was in charge of Pakistan in the study group, and shares the result of the survey (SHIGETOMI 2002:6,7).

(1)non-government: independent decision making from the wishes of the government.

(2)non-profit making: its activities must not be driven by profit-making motives. Whatever profits may arise from the activities, it must not be divided among its members.

(3)Voluntary: the only qualification for membership must be the desire of an individual to participate.

(4)of solid and continuing form: an NGO must be an ongoing entity with a solid organization form.

(5)Altruistic: to act for the benefit of others.

(6)Philanthropic: an NGO does not expectto receive adequate payments from the recipients of its services.

The first four are pointed out in other studies as well. The last two are added particularly for NGOs working in the developing countries. Any real NGO may not suffice all the attributes simultaneously. Even so, we can define NGO as an organization which shares the ideas and stands on (at least) some of the attributes. When the attributes are filled with the Islamic ideals or institutions, it can be called an “Islamic NGO”. In most cases, attributes of (5) altruistic and (6) philanthropic are crossing points of Islam and NGO, particularly institutionalized in the forms of zakat and waqf.

4. Islamic Ideals and Institutionsrelated to NGO

Then, what are the fundamental idealspromoting such philanthropicendeavors? Igarashi (2008) tries to categorize the motivations of waqfs arranged by Amir Qijmas(d892/1487), Governor of Damascus in the Mamluk period. Through the survey of archives preserved in Cairo, Igarashi listed 58 waqfs related to Qijimas. It seems that motivations of the Governor were various; maintenance of his property for his own family, preparation for further religious merit after his death, and promotion of public interest in his territory of governorship. These charitable endowments were, however, based on one common ideal; qurba for thwab, or pious deed for reward from God.

Today, the external forms of Islamic altruism and philanthropyoften take the shape of NGO. Meanwhile, the basic ideals remain same and are reinterpreted according to the given contexts. “Generative Model of Islamic ideals related to Contemporary NGO activities” is a hypothetical flow-chart to explain the process.

Out of qurba (act pleasing to God, pious deed) or maslaha (public interest), traditional institutions of zakat, sadaqa, and waqf were established. Articulation of zakat, sadaqa, and waqf with the contemporary social welfare services are found everywhere; Sunduq Zakat in Lebanon redistributes zakat collected from citizens to orphans and elders. Hamdard Foundations in India and Pakistan build schools and hospitals out of waqf income. Many people in Tehran donate sadaqa generously to the Kahrizak Charity Foundation. What are the cases in the relatively new fields of gender, environment, or inter-religious dialogue? It seems that Muslims had not established particular traditional institutions to tackle these issues. Then, which basic ideals are for reference to establish new ideas and practices? Adl (justice) for gender equity, himaya (protection) for environment protection, and tasamuh (tolerance, showing good will) for inter-religious dialogue? These are simply listed without concrete case-studies, but may evoke further discussion based on first-hand data. This workshop will be more meaningful if we explore the new dimension of the Islamic NGO activities and ideals promoting it.