ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses Islamic NGOs transnational humanitarian actors. It establishes transnational Islamic charities of the Arab World. The chapter focuses on transnational Islamic NGOs from the Gulf region and their work in Africa. Specific attention is paid to these charities' interactions with other humanitarian actors, such as Western NGOs. These encounters can be labelled intercultural both in terms of cultural/religious background and in terms of working approaches. It underlines that intercultural encounters are also interpersonal encounters. Transnational Islamic NGOs is explained and legitimated with reference to Muslim traditions and concepts such as zakat, sadaqa and the hadiths, rather than the Millennium Development Goals, the Universal Human Rights Declaration or the Human Development Index'. Islamic NGOs erecting small mosques in villages all over southern Chad, the Catholic Church investing in a particularly large Church in the provincial capital. There is little direct confrontation between the Christian and Islamic organisations.
