Giving With Strings Attached

About this episode

Saadia Khan interviews Dr. Rhea Rahman about the complexities of humanitarianism within Muslim organizations and the implications of their actions.

What does it really mean to do good, and who gets to decide? Saadia sits down with Dr. Rhea Rahman, an anthropologist at Brooklyn College, CUNY, and the author of Racializing the Umma: Muslim Humanitarians Beyond Black, Brown, and White. After more than a decade embedded with Islamic Relief, the largest Muslim NGO in the West, Dr. Rahman asks the questions most of us avoid: when Muslim organizations fly across the world to help, whose definition of "help" are they using? The episode gets into: The "good Muslim" trap-how Islamic charities are pressured to depoliticize themselves to gain Western acceptance Racial hierarchies inside Muslim communities and why South Asian Muslims are often disconnected from Black Muslim struggles The savior mentality immigrants unknowingly inherit and the hard work of unlearning it A radical reframe of Zakat: it's not charity. It's returning what was never yours to begin with What abolitionist Muslims and mutual aid movements are building as an alternative Whether you work in a nonprofit, donate to Islamic causes, or have ever questioned whether your good intentions are actually good, this one will sit with you. Join us in creating new intellectual…

People in this episode

Host: Saadia Khan

Guest: Dr. Rhea Rahman

Topics covered

• humanitarianism
• Islamic charities
• racial hierarchies
• Zakat
• mutual aid
• immigrant mentality

Keywords

• humanitarianism
• Islamic Relief
• Zakat
• racial hierarchies
• immigrant mentality
• good intentions
• mutual aid

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Islamic Relief

Books & works: Racializing the Umma: Muslim Humanitarians Beyond Black, Brown, and White

Places: Brooklyn College, CUNY

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