Muslim Faith-Based Organizations and Social Welfare in Africa

This book addresses the discourses, agendas and actions of Muslim faith-based organizations and activists to empower Muslim communities in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. The individual chapters discuss how traditional Muslim welfare and charity institutions, __zakat__ (obligatory or mandatory almsgiving), __sadaqa__ (voluntary almsgiving and donations) and __waqf__ (pious endowments), are used to improve social welfare, focusing on instrumentalization and institutionalization in the collection and distribution of zakat. The book includes case studies from West Africa (Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Senegal), the Horn of Africa (Somalia) and East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania), highlighting the role and interplay of local, national and international Sunni, Shia and Ahmadiyya Muslim faith-based organizations and NGOs. Chapters "Muslim NGOs, Zakat and the Provision of Social Welfare in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Introduction" and "Discourses on Zakat and Its Implementation in Contemporary Ghana" are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com. "The perfect book for leaders interested in integrating mindfulness and contemplative arts into the structure of their organizations. Dr. Rothouses experience as a musician and long-time meditator gives her approach a deeply authentic quality that can inspire cohesion and collaboration in teams."--Steven Pritzker, Co-Editor-in-Chief of The Encyclopedia of Creativity "This book is an essential addition to the rapidly growing field of organizational creativity. ... it will be immensely valuable to scholars and organizational leaders alike, enabling leaders, coaches, and facilitators to build a culture of collaboration and innovation within their teams." - Scott Barry Kaufman, author of Transcend: The New Science of Self-Actualization This book examines how contemplative arts practice and a mindful approach to creativity, can be used to offer new possibilities for facilitating team creativity and collaboration in organizational settings. The author employs a qualitative, action research paradigm, using arts-based and ethnographic methods, to explore the perceived effects of a contemplative arts workshop process on team creativity and collaboration within an organization. The book demonstrates how a contemplative arts workshop process may be used to facilitate mindfulness, trust, communication, collaboration, and creative insights among teams and working groups. It explores each of these themes in depth and develops a model based on those findings. The model includes five elements: 1. Individual-Level Mindfulness, 2. Trust and Authentic Communication, 3. Team Cohesion and Collaboration, 4. Creative Ideation and Insights, and 5. Leadership: Creating a Culture of Innovation. Combining theory and practice, the book offers a series of mindfulness and contemplative arts exercises that facilitators can use to address each of the five levels of the model. This book weaves together contemporary psychological research on mindfulness and organizational creativity al ong with practical applications and contemplative arts exercises for practitioners and scholars of workplace creativity, management and organisational and industrial psychology. Melinda J. Rothouse is a leadership and creativity coach, consultant, educator, and facilitator based in Texas, USA. She helps individuals and organizations tap into their innate creativity for greater insight, collaboration, and innovation. She is also a musician and photographer, and leads workshops and retreats on mindfulness and creativity This book addresses the discourses, agendas and actions of Muslim faith-based organizations and activists to empower Muslim communities in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. The individual chapters discuss how traditional Muslim welfare and charity institutions, zakat (obligatory or mandatory almsgiving), sadaqa (voluntary almsgiving and donations) and waqf (pious endowments), are used to improve social welfare, focusing on instrumentalization and institutionalization in the collection and distribution of zakat. The book includes case studies from West Africa (Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Senegal), the Horn of Africa (Somalia) and East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania), highlighting the role and interplay of local, national and international Sunni, Shia and Ahmadiyya Muslim faith-based organizations and NGOs. Chapters "Muslim NGOs, Zakat and the Provision of Social Welfare in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Introduction" and "Discourses on Zakat and Its Implementation in Contemporary Ghana" are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com. Holger Weiss is a Professor of General History at Åbo Akademi University, Finland, and ordinary member of the Finnish Society for Sciences and Letters. His research focuses on global and Atlantic history, West African environmental history, and Islamic studies, particularly Islam in Ghana. Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Muslim NGOs, Zakat and the Provision of Social Welfare in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Introduction (Holger Weiss)....Pages 1-38 Who Do FBOs Speak For? The Conundrum of Representation (Yonatan N. Gez)....Pages 39-59 Reflections on Trust and Trust Making in the Work of Islamic Charities from the Gulf Region in Africa (Mayke Kaag, Soumaya Sahla)....Pages 61-84 Charity, ONG-Ization and Emergent Ethics of Volunteerism: The Case of Islamic NGOs in Côte d’Ivoire (Marie Nathalie LeBlanc)....Pages 85-117 Islamic NGOs in Somalia and Their Role in the Somali State-Building Process (Valeria Saggiomo)....Pages 119-142 Between Charity and Financing ‘Terror’: The Dilemma of Muslim Charitable Organizations in Kenya (Suleiman Athuman Chembea)....Pages 143-168 ‘Enterprisation of Islamic FBOs’—Towards a New Typology of Islamic Non-governmental Organisations in Consideration of Their Multiple Relatedness (Sebastian Müller)....Pages 169-199 Transnational Networks and Global Shi‘i Islamic NGOs in Tanzania (Mara A. Leichtman)....Pages 201-245 Politics of Humanitarianism: The Ahmadiyya and the Provision of Social Welfare (Katrin Langewiesche)....Pages 247-272 Discourses on Zakat and Its Implementation in Contemporary Ghana (Holger Weiss)....Pages 273-303 Back Matter ....Pages 305-313