Islamic welfare organizations are currently going through processes of 'NGOization'. Drawing on qualitative data from Pakistan, Norway and the UK (2012)(2013)(2014)(2015), this article examines how two Islamic welfare organizations which are embedded in Islamic political movements, become 'Muslim NGOs'. The NGOization of Islamic charity signifies not only a change in organizational structure and legal status, but also more profound changes in organizational discourse and practice, and in the ways the organizations make claims to legitimacy. To claim legitimacy as providers of aid in changing institutional environments, the organizations draw on both religious and professional sources of authority. By analysing the NGOization of Islamic charity, the paper brings out the importance of normative frameworks in shaping organizational legitimacy and sheds light on the continued significance of both moral and transcendental aspects of the discourses, practices and identities of Muslim NGOs.Résumé Les organisations de protection sociale islamiques sont actuellement soumises à des processus de transformation dans le but d'en faire des ONG. Inspiré de données qualitatives du Pakistan, de la Norvège et du Royaume-Uni (2012-2015, le présent article étudie la façon dont deux organisations de protection sociale islamiques intégrées à des mouvements politiques deviennent des « ONG musulmanes » . La transformation du contexte de bienfaisance islamique signifie non seulement la modification de la structure et de l'état juridique des organisations, mais aussi des changements beaucoup plus profonds des discours et pratiques organisationnels, ainsi que des façons dont les organisations affirment leur légiti-mité. Pour affirmer leur légitimité en tant que prestataires d'aide dans des
After almost 25 years of war, the formal justice sector in Afghanistan is dysfunctional, and comprehensive reform of both laws and institutions have been high on the Western-supported agenda for reconstruction. This article examines the post-2001 justice sector reforms in Afghanistan, which appear as a case of problematic legal transplants in a context of legal pluralism and intense political contestation. While Afghanistan's legal traditions are characterized by diversity and constant negotiations between Islamic principles, customary law and Western legal traditions, recent reforms lead by Western donors and Afghan legal modernists have accentuated the conflictual aspects of justice sector reform. The extreme dependence of the Afghan state on Western powers has reduced the element of choice in the reforms and limited the possibility for developing a syncretic (uniting what is different or opposing) and inclusive system. Building on fieldwork from rural Afghanistan, the second part of the article examines the views of village mullahs in a rural Pashtun heartland of the central region, a presumptive conservative religious constituency that wields moral authority and helps dispense justice at the local level. The fieldwork finding supports the limitations on the legitimacy and efficacy of simple legal transplants. To be legitimate and effective, legal reform needs to seriously engage with the foundations of justice in Afghan, i.e. Islamic law, as well as Afghan traditions, or what the mullahs describe as islamiyat and afghaniyat.
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