Neo-liberal Not-for-Profits: The Embracing of Corporate Culture by European Muslim Charities

Abstract

Muslims in Europe have set up numerous initiatives aimed at reconciling religious life in modern societies. Whether they revolve around food certification, finance, education, or newly founded businesses that try to provide products and services compliant with religious prescriptions. Many charities are alternative safe spaces where people who share the same spirituality and ethics can connect and work together. Reviving Islamic traditions, such as shura, sharing a rejection of consumerism, and designing modes of governance opposed to bureaucracy, they may appear as rejecting modern models. However, inspired by the financially successful methods of big multinational companies, some charities try to design modes of action that try to emulate corporate culture. Becoming driven by results and figures such as “likes” on Facebook, retweets, and “views” on YouTube, they adapt their interpretation of the Qur’an and the hadith to justify material success as a means to achieve happiness. This paper analyses how, from a tradition rejecting materialism, some Muslim charities paradoxically develop a utilitarian mindset, and how corporate culture impacts the not-for-profit sector.