Voluntary Giving of Time and Money Among Muslims in the MENA Region: A Cross-National Analysis

This study explores individual- and contextual-level determinants of volunteering and donating as two voluntary acts of philanthropy in 11 Arab Middle East and North African countries. Using multilevel binary logistic regression modeling, we analyze data from 18,818 Muslim respondents collected by the Arab Barometer in 2018–2019. Combining insights from global, Arab, and Muslim philanthropic studies on the one hand, and political sociology on the other, we test both globally comparative and context-specific hypotheses. Our findings reveal that the normative effects of Islam positively associate with donating money, whereas civic culture more strongly informs volunteering. However, the control variable, educational attainment, had the largest effect on both outcomes, which we link to resource theory and state-induced mandated volunteering among higher-educated youngsters. Our findings underscore the importance of both religious and civic influences operating at structural and cultural levels in shaping voluntary philanthropic behavior by Muslims in Arab countries.