Building a House in Heaven: Pious Neoliberalism and Islamic Charity in Egypt

by Mona Atia

Charity is an economic act. This premise underlies a societal transformation—the merging of religious and capitalist impulses that Mona Atia calls “pious neoliberalism.” Though the phenomenon spans religious lines, Atia makes the connection between Islam and capitalism to examine the surprising relations between charity and the economy, the state, and religion in the transition from Mubarak-era Egypt.

Mapping the landscape of charity and development in Egypt, Building a House in Heaven reveals the factors that changed the nature of Egyptian charitable practices—the state’s intervention in social care and religion, an Islamic revival, intensified economic pressures on the poor, and the subsequent emergence of the private sector as a critical actor in development. She shows how, when individuals from Egypt’s private sector felt it necessary to address poverty, they sought to make Islamic charities work as engines of development, a practice that changed the function of charity from distributing goods to empowering the poor. Drawing on interviews with key players, Atia explores the geography of Islamic charities through multiple neighborhoods, ideologies, sources of funding, projects, and wide social networks. Her work shifts between absorbing ethnographic stories of specific organizations and reflections on the patterns that appear across the sector.

An enlightening look at the simultaneous neoliberalization of Islamic charity work and Islamization of neoliberal development, the book also offers an insightful analysis of the political and socioeconomic movements leading up to the uprisings that ended Mubarak’s rule and that amplified the importance of not only the Muslim Brotherhood but also the broader forces of Islamic piety and charity.

Genres: Islam

280 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Hailey Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

***read for class***
this was fascinating, and i appreciated atia’s straightforward presentation.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and clearly presented, this original research provides a compelling rebuttal to the Orientalist assumption among many that Islam is not compatible with capitalism and the free market. Interestingly, it also supports the argument advanced by many Republicans that the private sector can fill the gap left by the government when services are not adequately provided. Whether that gap can be filled within an acceptable timeframe is, of course, a separate discussion.

[KM Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good overview of the interweaving of piety, charity and neoliberalism. Uses Egypt as a nice case study of this new blending of Islamist religiosity and western based banking ,as well as an emergence of a "prosperity gospel."

[Kim Shively · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author describes the Islamic charity practices and organizations both before and after the 2011 revolution in Egypt and links recent developments in Egyptian charity to the ever-growing popularity (and domination) of a neoliberal worldview at all levels of society.