Abstract
Islamic fundamentalism (Islamist movement) has risen in the Middle East. Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollar in Southern Lebanon have pursued two activities. They conduct radical political activities and social welfare activities such as managing clinics and providing basic social services for poor people. In the case of Egypt, social welfare activities of “centrifugal” Islamist movements have not been investigated, even though religious and secular PVOs and NGOs have increased due to globalization and implementation of aid-funded programs. PVOs respond to medical needs for people under structural adjustment programs. In 1991, approximately 14, 000 PVOs were registered in Egypt.
Islamic societies have developed the tradition of charity and formed various charity institutions, such as waqf, Islamic hospitals, schools, and Zuwiya logdes in sufi orders. Charity institutions seem to have positive effects on recent Islamic PVO activities by way of zakat collection and Islamic networks for capital and human recruitment. On the other hand, these charity institutions had negative effects of limiting benefits to persons in institutions instead of giving them to the poor as originally targeted. If the historical experience of widening the gap between ideals and practice of Islamic charity is repeated in Islamic PVO activities, Islamic people in need of welfare and medical services would lose their confidence in Islamic PVOs. This would affect Islamist movements and grass-root efforts. In order to examine these hypotheses, it is necessary to understand PVOs by considering the relationship between the state and society in both Egypt and in the Middle East.
