ABSTRACT
To portray the work of Muslim NGOs in Jordan as only instrumental to the political aims of the Islamist movement would be a severe injustice to the longstanding Islamic tradition of solidarity with and care for the underprivileged: the needy, orphaned, sick and widowed. Social practices pertaining to this tradition have for centuries been underpinned by numerous Qur'anic ’ayat and hadiths, according to which believers are to give generously and to help those in need. Indeed, according to religious sources, such practices are necessary in order for Muslims to win the favor of God and to enter paradise. In this chapter, we discuss the current Islamic discourse around the concepts of zakah and sadaqah, and the related notion that serving the poor is equal to serving God. This discourse is often central to the way in which Jordanian Muslim NGOs explain their own motivations and social ideals. In the subsequent three chapters, these motivations and ideals will be discussed in the case of three different categories of Muslim NGOs: The Muslim Brotherhood-dominated Islamists; current, politically unaffiliated conservative Muslim NGOs; and progressive Muslim NGOs. It must be noted that all data presented in this chapter was obtained from my interviews with the NGO's representatives. My interaction with them as a Western and non-Muslim researcher will necessarily have affected the nature of these data.
