University of California Press Giving to God: Islamic Charity in Revolutionary Times

Giving to God examines the everyday practices of Islamic giving in post-revolutionary Egypt. From foods prepared in Sufi soup kitchens, to meals distributed by pious volunteers in slums, to almsgiving, these acts are ultimately about giving to God by giving to the poor. Surprisingly, many who practice such giving say that they do not care about the poor, instead framing their actions within a unique non-compassionate ethics of giving. At first, this form of giving may appear deeply selfish, but further consideration reveals that it avoids many of the problems associated with the idea of “charity.” Using the Egyptian uprising in 2011 and its call for social justice as a backdrop, this beautifully crafted ethnography suggests that “giving a man a fish” might ultimately be more revolutionary than “teaching a man to fish.”   Review "Mittermaier has created an important study of Muslims negotiating their religious lives in the modern world."-- "Journal of the American Academy of Religion" "A masterpiece of the anthropology of charity and the ethos of Islamic economics."-- "Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations" "Provides a discourse of charity that challenges and disrupts dominant secular and liberal notions of humanitarian aid. The book is recommended not only to anthropology and sociology students and scholars but also to ones of economics, theology, and religious studies."-- "KULT Online" "Amira Mittermaier has written a marvelous book. Giving to God will be of considerable value not only to anthropologists of Islam and charitable giving, but also to historians and political scientists who seek to understand the persistence of a longstanding model of Islamic charity in the face of political, economic, and social upheaval."-- "Reading Religion" From the Inside Flap “With a light touch, Amira Mittermaier brings her astute ethnographic sensibilities to bear on pious charity, revealing the surprising, even radical, possibilities it affords. This book is a true pleasure to read and a highly original provocation to thought.”—Webb Keane, author of Ethical Life: Its Natural and Social Histories and Christian Moderns: Freedom and Fetish in the Mission Encounter    “Amira Mittermaier has written a brilliant ethnography. A rich and complex account of Islamic ideas and practices of charity in Cairo during and after the 2011 uprising, Giving to God invites the reader to contemplate the different ways that people inhabit the Islamic tradition. But this book is not only a highly sophisticated description of the way people belonging to different classes live in their religious world; it is also a challenge to serious thought about the possibilities and limits of the ethics and politics of poverty in the contemporary Middle East—and beyond.”—Talal Asad, author of Secular Translations: Nation-State, Modern Self, and Calculative Reason “The revolutionary moment in Egypt seems to have redirected, as it has so much else, Amira Mittermaier’s vivid ethnographic meditations on the everyday practices, sites, and intentions of pious charity. Drawing from friendships across Cairo with ordinary/extraordinary individuals dedicated to giving to the poor, she challenges the familiar paradigms of humanitarian care, revolutionary justice, and neoliberal self-help, offering up a remarkable alternative animated by such unforgettable concepts as ‘a divine minimum wage.’”—Lila Abu-Lughod, Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor at Columbia University and author of Veiled Sentiments From the Back Cover "With a light touch, Amira Mittermaier brings her astute ethnographic sensibilities to bear on pious charity, revealing the surprising, even radical, possibilities it affords. This book is a true pleasure to read and a highly original provocation to thought."--Webb Keane, author of Ethical Life: Its Natural and Social Histories and Christian Moderns: Freedom and Fetish in the Mission Encounter "Amira Mittermaier has written a