Muslim Philanthropists Discuss Ways to Raise Profile of Islamic Giving

Muslims around the globe contribute billions of dollars a year to humanitarian causes, but their efforts are often poorly organized and not well known to the world, said participants at the inaugural meeting here of a group of Islamic charities and philanthropists.

The new organization, the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists, estimates that Muslim foundations award at least $20-billion annually, while a speaker at the two-day conference said that total giving by Muslims worldwide is probably 10 times that amount.

“If you look at the Muslim world and the generosity of the 1.3 billion Muslims, I am absolutely certain they give over $200-billion a year to charity collectively,” said Hamza Yusuf, founder of the Zaytuna Institute, an Islamic think tank in Berkeley, Calif.

But “much of that charity goes unnoted because we do not have the infrastructure to regulate it and to show that charity given on the books,” he said.

Shared Interests

The event’s 200 or so participants represented a broad cross-section of the Islamic world, with people coming from Libya, Malaysia, Qatar, Pakistan, and 27 other countries. The site, Istanbul, a predominantly Muslim city that straddles Europe and Asia, was chosen as a symbol for the congress’s goal of bridging cultures.

The event is the latest sign that the Muslim world is taking a greater interest in modern philanthropy; in January, the ruler of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates brought together Arab donors to discuss how they can improve their collective efforts (The Chronicle, February 7).

During the event here, many of the speakers spoke passionately about the long tradition of Islamic charitable giving.

“Our ears hear the cries of others and this makes us human beings,” said Ali Bardakoglu, president of the Turkish government’s Directorate of Religious Affairs. He said that like Jesus and Moses, the Islamic prophet Muhammad emphasized that good deeds are a religious obligation.

“The more we share, the more we become human,” he said in Turkish through an interpreter.

Endowment Funds

But wealthy Islamic donors often fail to coordinate their work or study how their giving could make long-term educational and social improvements, said many people at the meeting.

Muslim philanthropy can be a “powerhouse for lasting change,” but today it is still like a “toddler learning to walk,” said Sheikha Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani, a member of the royal family of Qatar.

The Arabic princess is chairwoman of Reach Out to Asia, a charity that has raised more than $28-million since 2005 for primary education in Asian nations.

She urged donors to strengthen charities in the Muslim world by giving them money for endowments so they don’t have to constantly search for funds.

“Capacity building is largely ignored by Islamic giving,” she said.

Indeed, in Turkey, most people prefer not to donate to nonprofit groups, said Ali Carkoglu, a researcher at Istanbul’s Sabanci University who has studied giving trends.

In a recent survey of Turkish households, Mr. Carkoglu said almost 87 percent said they prefer to give money directly to needy people, such as down-on-their-luck relatives or neighbors, rather than to an institution.

“There’s not much here about helping people beyond your neighborhood,” he said. He added that the trend is mirrored in other Muslim nations.

The scholar said that while there are relatively few Turkish fund raisers, they need to do a better job of reversing this “parochial view” of giving.

“It takes two to tango,” he said.

Low-Profile Giving

Another challenge to Muslim philanthropy is the guidelines for alms set out by the Koran.

Islam’s version of tithing, known as zakat, is one of the faith’s five main holy principles and requires Muslims to purify their wealth by providing 2.5 percent of their assets a year to mosques and poor people.

But the Koran says such gifts are more sacred when they are given quietly, in part to make sure not to shame the recipients.

“Philanthropy is not visible among Muslims because we believe in the secrecy of it,” said Ebrahim Rasool, a Muslim South African and premier of the country’s Western Cape province. “Muslims give, but they hide it.”

What’s more, strict interpretations of zakat say beneficiaries must fit into eight categories of people, such as freed slaves, debtors, travelers who are unable to return to their homelands, and potential converts to Islam.

But some Muslim religious leaders are issuing fatwas, or Islamic rulings, to expand the categories, said Barbara Ibrahim, director of the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement, in Cairo.

For example, an Egyptian scholar recently proclaimed that supporting the building of a cancer-treatment center qualified as zakat, while another one said giving to refugees of all faiths fell under the category of helping travelers.

In a similar move, Mr. Rasool urged Muslims to support modern causes they traditionally have not, such as protecting the environment and preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The disease, he said, is associated for some with sexual promiscuity and the gay lifestyle, which are “anathema to Islam.” But the needs of the 22.5 million AIDS victims in sub-Saharan Africa are too great to ignore, he said.

The World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists is the brainchild of Tariq H. Cheema, a Pakistani doctor who lives in Illinois. After assisting victims of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake, Dr. Cheema said he saw the need to bring together the world’s Islamic donors.

“Muslims, who are almost one-fourth of this whole globe, had to be more proactive to finding solutions,” he said in an interview. “We share risks with everyone on this planet.”

However, a few participants at the event said they were concerned with the sectarian nature of the group, that it had the potential to isolate Muslim donors from Jews, Christians, and others.

Dr. Cheema stressed that the meeting is open to anyone, pointing out that an Israeli philanthropy scholar attended it, and that helping the less fortunate is a universal desire. “If we associate ourselves with a faith, it is simply to underline our responsibility; we want to reach out to people regardless of their race or faith,” he said.

In the years ahead, Dr. Cheema said he wants the congress to create a network to research, coordinate, and discuss Muslim giving, with offices most likely to be set up in America and Turkey.

As part of its work, the congress plans to create a Web site, SecureGiving, to rank charities in Muslim countries based on as-yet-undecided criteria of governance and management standards.

Dr. Cheema said the rating system would help donors make sure their money is not supporting terrorists posing as Islamic charities, a concern that has grown since the September 11, 2001, attacks.

“We don’t believe in paranoia. But we believe there is an issue and we need to find a system to correct that,” he said.

While Dr. Cheema said he did not start the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists to improve the Western world’s image of Islam, he and other participants said raising the profile of Muslim humanitarians could indirectly change the perception by some that the religion preaches violence.

By giving food, building schools, and undertaking other charitable work, said Mr. Rasool, Muslims can show that their faith is not a “backward, intolerant monolith.”