My fieldwork concentrates on the district Rajapolah in Tasikmalaya, West Java. The economic development of this area is largely due to non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This is not unusual;...Show moreMy fieldwork concentrates on the district Rajapolah in Tasikmalaya, West Java. The economic development of this area is largely due to non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This is not unusual; many rural Indonesian regions have been partly abandoned by governmental services. In most cases, secular or international NGOs will fill the gap through developmental aids and welfare programs. Yet, the main NGO in Rajapolah, Persatuan Islam (Persis), can be distinguished from its peers. Not only does it have a strong Islamic foundation, it also based most of its organization on local knowledge, customs and religions. But at the same time they were adapted to current circumstances. The Islamic community of Rajapolah had already modernized their alms distribution before the religious NGO took over finances in 2007. This thesis will consider how this modernization took place and how Persis eventually started administrating it. By adapting local customs, Persis could easily enter the local economy. Moreover, as a religious institution it stood closer to the local Islamic communities than the government or the World Bank ever would.Just as Islamic charity systems merged together with local cultures. As a consequence, religious aids are frequently used for social welfare and development in rural and urban areas.In this thesis, I demonstrate how they managed to do so in Rajapolah. With this purpose in mind, focus is put one three particular forms of institutionalized Islamic charity; namely Zakat, Sadaqah and Infaq. These three types of alms formed the basis of modernized institutions providing affordable credit for small businesses.The efficiency with which the Rajapolah NGO circulated money through the district proved to boost economic prosperity significantlyShow less
