1. Dr (Ms) Darshini Anna De Zoysa, ‘Muslim Refugees, Islamic Conceptions of
Philanthropy (zakat, sadaqa) and International Aid: Cases of Palestine and Sri Lanka
Abstract). da.dezoysa@outlook.com
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62% of all Muslims in the world are in Asia and the pacific, and 20% of all Muslims are
living in the Middle East and Africa. My research on Palestinian refugees and humanitarian
aid in Gaza was conducted in conjunction with the Department of Sociology at the
University of Birzeit in the West Bank, and in Sri Lanka involved Tamil speaking Muslims
refugees/IDPs that live in UNHCR encampments in the Government controlled Western
Province.
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At the international level ‘Islamic Studies are subsumed ‘Arabic’ Studies, so that with the
exclusion of the Middle East, societies and cultures in which Muslims are an ‘ethnic’ minority
are, by definition, excluded from analysis. Yet at a global level Muslims have been ‘refugees’
or migrants for many centuries. Prophet Mohammed and his followers fled Mecca to
Medina, and Mohammed's house provided hospitality and refuge to travellers and fleeing
migrants. According to Muslim Law (shar'ia) along with Islamic banking principles which
reject usury and interest, the notion of distributive justice or charity (sadaqa) has particular
relevance in the refugee context, as the legal alms or poor-tax (zakat) is targeted towards the
destitute and needy [Abu-Sahlieh, 1996; Asad, 1986; Reinhart, 1996]. Indeed, even near-kin
are excluded as their care is compulsory regardless of whether or not it is prescribed in the
Qur’an. Significantly, even poor tax was initially a form of tithe aimed at providing relief to
the needy at a time when Islam was under persecution. The practice began in Mecca, and
was made compulsory to assist immigrants and meet the necessities of the state. Meanwhile,
Zakat is obligatory in the case of livestock, grain, fruits, currency, merchandise and minerals;
although the size of the share set aside for the needy differs. Payment is invariably made
after the fast of ramadan, and prescriptions as to who is eligible to receive charity clearly
demarcate between the needy (faqir) and the destitute (miskin). Poor dues are not usually
given to close kin, as preference is to assist relatives whose maintenance is not obligatory.
Zakat is a central concept in the understanding people's dual identities as Muslims and
refugees who must collectively rely on a range of coping strategies, and depend on external
humanitarian assistance. Given the killing of (mainly) men at the hands of the hands of the
majority, the central place given to non-Muslim majority views in the Qur’an is actively
reproduced within the refugee context. The mosque provides in important support network
for the least powerful (primarily female) refugees. Yet at a mundane level, international
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2. relief agencies have disregarded Muslim culture and practices through the provision of
public toilets and services that do not adhere to the Qur’an’s proscriptions surrounding
pollution and dirt (najees) and segregation of the sexes (purdah).
The literature on refugee development has drawn on Drèze and Sen's concept of
’entitlements’ that has been further fine-tuned, and also adapted to the refugee context
[Drèze and Sen, 1999; Harrell-Bond, et al 1992]. A person's entitlements are historically and
culturally specific, so that what may be included in the ’basket of commodities’ may differ
from one social context to the next. Thus for instance, whereas fresh fruit, vegetables and
meat may be regarded as daily necessities for the average consumer, given the lower
standard of living in the refugee context the ration consists entirely of non-perishable dry
food and necessities, though in recent years there has been a greater emphasis on cash relief
by UNHCR (Sri Lanka) and UNRWA (Gaza). The shortage and limited diversity in food
intake has resulted in inadequate energy, hunger and a lack of social security which is
further reinforced by the emotional and physical insecurity that pervades the camps.
However hunger is not solely a biological fact but additionally has cultural expression in the
destruction of interpersonal relationships. Hunger ’circulates‘ through the refugee camps in
the opposite way that women and food do in the context of marriage and gift exchange [De
Boek, 1994]. Food shortage does not originate external to the refugee community but grows
from within, so that in the absence of support networks the community may ’rot’ owing to
hoarding and incipient class formation. The monthly ration is invariably devalued as ’not
food’, and only items which are received in gift or purchased for cash are regarded as real
food’. In general, however, owing to the labour enshrined in cookery, cooked food is highly
valued, so that on Fridays when beef is partaken as a treat, women are highly revered as
nurturers.
In my research in Gaza I also touch on discussions surrounding the anthropology of
’violence’, ‘wickedness’, ’suffering’ and ’emotions’ [Benn, 1985; Dams, 1992; Daniel, 1991,
Davis, 1992; Hardin, 1996; Krohn-Hansen, 1994; Leavitt, 1996]. At a theoretical level, the
plight of Muslim refugees calls for a new kind of anthropology that is concerned with social
disorganisation, breakdown and repair. This anthropology sits uneasily with the more
comfortable anthropology of social organisation and long term development aid that, by
focusing on regularities and patterns, has dominated the discipline from the onset. The
’normality’ of physical pain and experience of war is part and parcel of the social memory of
all people living in civil strife, so that refugees' suffering and their ways of dealing with it
are both normal and continuous. The loss of home, life and meaning moreover gives rise to
’cultural bereavement’ and grief, a raw emotion which is channeled through formal
procedures for mourning. Meanwhile, emotions involve a search for meaning and feeling.
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3. Here private ‘feeling-tones’ as well public meanings are conveyed. It necessitates that we
jettison the hitherto accepted belief that while cultural ideas can be translated, innate
emotions such as love and hate cannot be conveyed. This does not involve merely describing
the emotions of the Other, for ’thick description’ is often used as a substitute for in-depth
analysis in the context of refugee studies. But it does mean that the ethnographer must
continuously empathise with the refugee while questioning the hyper self-reflexivity of
anthropology under post-modernity. When truth-translations are involved, the importance
of living with refugees and working with the indigenous NGOs instead of simply relying
solely on first impressions by Northern donors cannot be over-emphasised.
Despite the tendency by donors and advocacy groups to perceive Muslim refugees as a
homogeneous category, Muslim refugees are differentiated between the host (usually
Muslim) community and amongst the refugees themselves. Whereas refugees living in
temporary camps are generally economically worse-off, Muslim refugees who reside in long
term ‘settlements’ such as those in Sri Lanka (since 1990) and Palestine (since 1948) are
internally differentiated. This has been exacerbated by the influx of donor aid and the village
of origin. The genesis of a very small minority of more enterprising ‘merchant refugees’ in a
settlement/camp that is variously mischievously referred to as ‘mini-Singapore’ by refugees
who are lucrative smugglers, is therefore relevant. These ‘pioneers’ have drawn on their
experience as migrants and traders, so that smuggling which occurs between uneasy
neighbourly states of Gaza and Israel, including the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt,
engulfs the region. Hence my central point is that the refugees I lived with embody multiple
identities as Muslim refugees who are culturally differentiated depending on whether their
region of origin is predominantly Muslim or Jewish. Unlike international refugees who may
enjoy statutory recognition as refugees who have crossed national b orders, ‘internal’
refugees straddle the uneasy label as Internally Displaced Persons. So despite the stigma of
being labeled a ‘refugee’ and some reluctance to leave their ‘new homes’, Muslim
representatives continue to canvass for refugee status and relocation to the village of origin,
hence regard long term development within the encampments with suspicion. All the same,
the fact that my ethnography refers to Muslim refugees who originate from culturally
different regions is crucial to our understanding of their identities as ’Muslim‘. The
disempowerment of Muslims who were displaced from mainly Jewish areas is attributed to
the fact that they are not regarded as ’authentic’ or ‘true’ Muslim. So while I do not accept
that the term ’refugee’ is an ’essentially contested concept’ in the Lukesian sense, I do
believe that it generates wider practical and theoretical disputes which must ultimately rest
on the refugees' own definitions of the ’refugee problem’. These self-definitions on becoming
and being a refugee differ according to language, so that in Sri Lanka the Tamil word ahadi
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4. corresponds to the Sinhala word anata, even though the term is often synonymous with
being orphaned.
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This discussion is located within the anthropological notion of the ’pure gift’ that is located
within the Islamic notion of ’charity’ (sadaqat). While the latter conception is based on
unmitigated selflessness and compassion towards the destitute and needy regardless of
one's faith, the former is nurtured by the implicit understanding that the gift must be
reciprocated at all costs. As depicted in the Qur’an, the poor-tax is based on selfless empathy
towards the Other that is embodied in the spirit of the gift, whereby the refugees acquire
their identities principally through gift-exchange. By contrast, the majority of writings
within the social science disciplines implicitly portray the actors as autonomous entities who
are driven by utilitarian self-interest, and are concerned with the exchange of equivalence
(e.g. rational choice theory). Drawing on Bourdieu's conception of ’symbolic violence’ I
therefore maintain that insofar as refugees are unable to reciprocate the hand-outs gifted by
donor agencies, they are compelled to acquiesce to the prevailing orthodoxy that dominates
the administration of refugee aid, including encampment and the counting of refugees
[Bourdieu, 1977; Harrell-Bond, et al., 1992]. Pioneering refugees' attempts to break the
mould though self-settlement and the sale of provisions are therefore rebuked by
international aid agencies, so that the ‘refugee ethos’ may be unwittingly perpetuated by the
very donors of aid.
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