Islamic Charities and Social Activism: Welfare, Dakwah and Politics in Indonesia

This study examines how the notions of benevolent acts, welfare issues and social justice are conceived by Indonesian Muslims, and investigates the multiplicity of roles played by Islamic charitable associations. Such associations, which have multiplied rapidly in the past two decades, were typically established by members of the affluent middle class and carried out widespread welfare-oriented activities in both urban and rural areas. By relating three main issues (welfare, dakwah and politics), this study also discusses whether charity activism can generate social mobility among low income households as the targeted beneficiaries, and whether Islamic charitable associations are able to promote collective social change instead of simply strengthening middle class networks or serving certain religious denominations. Using social the intellectual and socio-historical development of the NGO sector at large as an approach, this research proposes the following conclusions. First, there have been contending views among Indonesian Muslims about how the perceived problems, such as welfare, poverty, and social injustice, should be resolved. Islamic charities, with their wide-spread engagement with social enterprises in the communities, tend to confine their activities to short-term relief actions, and reluctantly penetrate the political sphere in order to empower the underprivileged to claim back their social, economic, and political rights, and to restore their self-reliance to reach their social and economic goals. Islamic charities flourishing in post New Order Indonesia have emerged as a new popular pattern of social activism, the vey antithesis, both discursively and practically, of development and advocacy NGOs at large, which primarily promote collective and structural change. Second, religious and cultural proximities remain essential to the formation of Islamic social enterprises and the types of beneficiaries. Most Islamic charities have originated from dakwah (religious dissemination) movements or from a wide range of politically-oriented Islamic solidarity groups. This origin has shaped not only the types of discourse and activities within Islamic charitable associations, but also has determined the categories of beneficiaries to be served. This research found that while under the framework of dakwah, Islamic charities have been able to reformulate notions of brotherhood, solidarity, mutual help, and even social justice, as a means of strengthening the welfare of the Islamic community, they still tend to restrict their work to narrowly defined deserving beneficiaries belonging to the same religion or even denomination within their religion. Therefore, Islamic charities are now challenged how to make their social services beneficial to a wider range of stakeholders in Indonesia, as a culturally and religiously diverse country. Finally, the interplay between religion and politics has influenced the nature of Islamic charities in Indonesia and shaped the relations of Islamic charities among themselves and with others (non-Muslim charities or secular NGOs). This research suggests that sharing similar religious values and having similar identities do not always result in cooperation, partly because the fragmented political orientations have put the existing associations to compete with each other instead of establishing strategic partnerships for long-term welfare project