Humanitarian cash assistance is commonly evaluated through delivery speed, coverage, recipient preference, and purchasing power. Gaza exposes a deeper problem: money can reach an account while the capacity to convert it into food, transport, medicine, shelter, or secure livelihood remains externally constrained. This article asks how Muhammad Baqir al Sadr’s theory of distribution and social balance can reframe humanitarian cash under conditions of war and siege. It develops the concept of distributive captivity, defined as the condition in which a monetary entitlement is formally allocated but its conversion into substantive provision is captured at several institutional gates. The study uses qualitative document analysis of twelve purposively selected sources published between October 2023 and June 2026, including a United Nations appeal and situation reports, cash programme monitoring, market assessments, and financial sector evaluations. These materials are interpreted through al Sadr’s distinction between distribution before production, distribution after production, and social redistribution. The analysis identifies four linked gates: beneficiary recognition, payment access, market conversion, and infrastructural entry. Evidence from Gaza shows that digital wallets can reduce exposure to extreme cash withdrawal commissions and preserve recipient choice, but they cannot restore destroyed banking infrastructure, replenish markets, secure border access, or reverse the collapse of productive capacity. The article argues that transfer completion is therefore an inadequate measure of distributive justice. Al Sadr’s framework redirects analysis from the quantity of money delivered to the social control of the resources and infrastructures that make provision possible. The article concludes by proposing convertibility, infrastructural access, and reproductive capacity as necessary criteria for evaluating cash assistance in war.
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MLA
BenMoussa, E. M. "When Money Cannot Circulate: Muhammad Baqir al Sadr and the Distributive Captivity of Humanitarian Cash in Gaza", Social Theories of Muslim Thinkers, 16, 3, 2026, 7–21. doi: 10.22059/jstmt.2026.423857.1956
HARVARD
BenMoussa, E. M. (2026). 'When Money Cannot Circulate: Muhammad Baqir al Sadr and the Distributive Captivity of Humanitarian Cash in Gaza', Social Theories of Muslim Thinkers, 16(3), pp. 7–21. doi: 10.22059/jstmt.2026.423857.1956
CHICAGO
BenMoussa, E. M., "When Money Cannot Circulate: Muhammad Baqir al Sadr and the Distributive Captivity of Humanitarian Cash in Gaza." Social Theories of Muslim Thinkers, 16 3 (2026): 7–21, doi: 10.22059/jstmt.2026.423857.1956
VANCOUVER
BenMoussa E. M. When Money Cannot Circulate: Muhammad Baqir al Sadr and the Distributive Captivity of Humanitarian Cash in Gaza. JSTMT. 2026;16(3):7–21 (In Persian). doi: 10.22059/jstmt.2026.423857.1956
