"God’s Property sheds an instructive light on the transformations that accompanied the emergence of these very regimes of accumulation that are pushing millions of Lebanese into poverty today."
"Highly readable yet complex. . . . This book is an important contribution to our understanding of Islam, philanthropy, law, and public policy through the lens of waqfs."
— Journal of Church and State
"A brilliant conceptual history and historical anthropology, God’s Property is a genealogy of waqfs (religious endowments) in modern Lebanon. Attentive to both continuities and ruptures, Moumtaz traces the grammar of concepts within this Islamic tradition under regimes of modern governmentality, secularization, and capitalism. A must-read for scholars of anthropology, history, and law." —Omnia El Shakry, Professor of History, University of California, Davis
“Nada Moumtaz brilliantly shows how the transformation of land into real estate wealth ultimately resulted in the secularization of both land and waqf – God’s property. Unparalleled in depth and detail, this study of the momentous historical transformation of waqf examines the shifting nature of property and analyzes its effects on the self, family, and community.”—Arzoo Osanloo, Professor, Law, Societies, and Justice and Director, Middle East Center, University of Washington
"A sensitive and incisive historical anthropology of waqf that engages key theoretical debates in the study of Islamic law, the modern state and subject, and their practices and materiality."—Iza Hussin, The Politics of Islamic Law, University of Cambridge
"With considerable erudition and a finely tuned ethnographic sensibility, Moumtaz traces subtle and profound historical shifts in Islamic concepts of debt, interest, and motivation, showing how they were shaped into modern notions of self and state. This book will provide provocative, valuable lessons to fields from economic and political anthropology to Islamic and Middle East studies."—Hussein Ali Agrama, Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Chicago
“This fascinating book calls into question any simple historical understanding of waqf. And while most inquiry into the Islamic revival focuses on politics, society, and culture, God’s Property foregrounds property relations and the movement’s material foundations. It is sure to fill a major gap in the scholarship on property and political economy in modern Lebanon and in the broader Islamic world.”—Max Weiss, Professor of History and Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University
