Religions

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26 pages, 1809 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fashion and Faith: Islamic Dress and Identity in The Netherlands

by Bat Sheva Hass and Hayden Lutek

Religions 2019, 10(6), 356; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10060356 - 30 May 2019

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 14686

This paper focuses on the relationship between clothing and identity—specifically, on Islamic dress as shaping the identity of Dutch Muslim women. How do these Dutch Muslim women shape their identity in a way that it is both Dutch and Muslim? Do they mix [...] Read more.

This paper focuses on the relationship between clothing and identity—specifically, on Islamic dress as shaping the identity of Dutch Muslim women. How do these Dutch Muslim women shape their identity in a way that it is both Dutch and Muslim? Do they mix Dutch parameters in their Muslim identity, while at the same time intersplicing Islamic principles in their Dutch sense of self? This study is based on two ethnographies conducted in the city of Amsterdam, the first occurring from September to October 2009, and the second took place in August 2018, which combines insights taken from in-depth interviews with Dutch Muslim women and observations in gatherings from Quranic and Religious studies, social gatherings and one-time events, as well as observations in stores for Islamic fashion and museums in Amsterdam. This study takes as its theme clothing and identity, and how Islamic clothing can be mobilized by Dutch Muslim women in service of identity formation. The study takes place in a context, the Netherlands, where Islam is largely considered by the populous as a religion that is oppressive and discriminatory to women. This paper argues that in the context of being Dutch and Muslim, through choice of clothing, these women express their agency: their ability to choose and act in social action, thus pushing the limits of archetypal Dutch identity while simultaneously stretching the meaning of Islam to craft their own identity, one that is influenced by themes of immigration, belongingness, ethnicity, religious knowledge and gender. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Islam in Europe, European Islam)

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13 pages, 715 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Islamic Friday Sermon in Italy: Leaders, Adaptations, and Perspectives

by Youssef Sbai

Religions 2019, 10(5), 312; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10050312 - 8 May 2019

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 5367

Abstract

The focus of this article is to spotlight the ritual frame of the canonical Friday prayer that is organized weekly around midday in places of Islamic worship in Italy. I verify how the Muslim communities in Italy, as a “cognitive minority”, use different [...] Read more.

The focus of this article is to spotlight the ritual frame of the canonical Friday prayer that is organized weekly around midday in places of Islamic worship in Italy. I verify how the Muslim communities in Italy, as a “cognitive minority”, use different strategies related to the performance of the Friday prayer ritual, and I analyze its continuous reframing. During the preliminary investigation I selected seventeen places of worship located in major cities and provincial towns located in the North, Central and South of Italy including Sicily. I have only considered spaces run by Sunni Arabs because they are the majority of Muslims in Italy. In these places I performed the participant observation from October 2016 to July 2017 collecting empirical data and more than a hundred sermons that I analyzed later. I also relied on interviews with preachers and people in charge of these places. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Islam in Europe, European Islam)

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12 pages, 234 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Mosque as an Educational Space: Muslim Women and Religious Authority in 21st-Century Spain

by Marivi Pérez Mateo

Religions 2019, 10(3), 222; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10030222 - 25 Mar 2019

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5583

Abstract

This article presents the results of a fieldwork project from January to April 2017 in Spanish mosques, an on-the-ground investigation using interviews with female Muslim teachers who constitute a sort of women’s movement within Islamic education in Islamic associations and schools across Spain. [...] Read more.

This article presents the results of a fieldwork project from January to April 2017 in Spanish mosques, an on-the-ground investigation using interviews with female Muslim teachers who constitute a sort of women’s movement within Islamic education in Islamic associations and schools across Spain. These women reflect on their zeal for teaching and the desire to receive an education in Islamic studies among Muslim women, students and teachers, who participate in these activities to transmit their knowledge of Islam in Spain. These female teachers form a heterodox group of interconnected educators who have acquired status within their communities, legitimized by their ability to impart Islamic religious knowledge, and who could prove to be potential alternative educational authorities in Spanish Islam. This educational activity by and for women in Spanish mosques, which has been studied by others at the European level could be seen as a revitalization of religious dynamics or as processes of re-Islamization. However, as the interviewees themselves observe, ‘we never stopped believing and practicing’, suggesting that this educational activity should be situated within the framework of the active search for Islamic knowledge in a non-Islamic European context. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Islam in Europe, European Islam)

14 pages, 231 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ashura in Italy: The Reshaping of Shi’a Rituals

by Minoo Mirshahvalad

Religions 2019, 10(3), 200; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10030200 - 15 Mar 2019

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 7556

Abstract

This essay explores the impacts of Italy’s socio-religious tendencies on the Shi’a rituals of Muḥarram and Ṣafar. Ethnography and semi-structured interviews were the main methods adopted for the performance of this research. The implications of commemorating the Karbala tragedy in Italy were studied [...] Read more.

This essay explores the impacts of Italy’s socio-religious tendencies on the Shi’a rituals of Muḥarram and Ṣafar. Ethnography and semi-structured interviews were the main methods adopted for the performance of this research. The implications of commemorating the Karbala tragedy in Italy were studied from four viewpoints. This article demonstrates that the presence of Shi’as in Italy not only exerts an effect on the core meaning of these rituals, namely paying tribute to Ḥusayn’s courageous stand against injustice, but also on the structure of Shi’a communities in terms of gender relations and power hierarchy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Islam in Europe, European Islam)

17 pages, 245 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Fighting for “Justice”, Engaging the Other: Shi’a Muslim Activism on the British University Campus

by Emanuelle Degli Esposti and Alison Scott-Baumann

Religions 2019, 10(3), 189; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10030189 - 13 Mar 2019

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 6505

Abstract

While Shi’a Muslims remain in the minority in Europe, including within universities, the past decade has witnessed the growing profile of Shi’ism on university campuses, especially in Britain. In particular, there has been an emphasis on campaigns that prioritise notions of justice, equality, [...] Read more.

While Shi’a Muslims remain in the minority in Europe, including within universities, the past decade has witnessed the growing profile of Shi’ism on university campuses, especially in Britain. In particular, there has been an emphasis on campaigns that prioritise notions of justice, equality, and human rights. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork conducted amongst Twelver Shi’a students in Britain between 2013–2018, this paper examines the forms of Shi’a activism currently being articulated on university campuses, especially those that explicitly seek to engage non-Muslims and spread awareness about Shi’a Islam. On the one hand, such practices constitute a form of self-representation for Shi’a students who would otherwise feel marginalised within the university space; while on the other, they promote a particular version of Shi’a Islam that both frames it within the European context and that also contributes to the sectarianisation of the contemporary Shi’a subject. While the forms and resonance of Shi’a student activism arguably only have meaning within the context of contemporary Europe, we argue that the discursive contours underpinning such activism ultimately transcend such national and cultural boundaries and contribute to a reinterpretation and reimagining of Shi’a sectarian identity for the modern age. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Islam in Europe, European Islam)

13 pages, 261 KiB

Open AccessArticle

From the Mosque to the Town Square: Some Reflections on Islam, Youth, Social Movements, and Citizenship

by Salvatore Madonia and Ana I. Planet Contreras

Religions 2019, 10(3), 180; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10030180 - 11 Mar 2019

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3357

Abstract

An observation of the dynamics of the citizen participation of young people defined as Muslims who frequent Madrid’s mosques and squares raises the possibility that these young Spanish Muslims are developing their own civic/political participation as citizens and natives. This indicates a particular [...] Read more.

An observation of the dynamics of the citizen participation of young people defined as Muslims who frequent Madrid’s mosques and squares raises the possibility that these young Spanish Muslims are developing their own civic/political participation as citizens and natives. This indicates a particular religious/cultural identification disassociated from the predefined religious view that characterizes them as actors in a process born out of their aspirations as citizens. For the most part, children of immigrants share an everyday experience in which they are defined by their religion, while also expressing their desire to break away from labels and distance themselves from the identification of Islam as experienced in immigrant communities, institutionalized Islam in mosques, associations and cultural centres, and the Islam of convert activism. The journey from the mosque to the town square is one taken time and again by these young people—followed during a multisited ethnography involving six years of research—that clears the way for a religiosity that is closely tied to the everyday experiences of young people continuously hearing about other situations (e.g., the war in Syria, the protests during the so-called Arab Spring, the 15 May Movement). In the process of differentiation and confrontation with Islamic people in the Spanish context, new association-building and new activism have emerged, with some connections to European youth associations and a growing commitment to global causes like the fight against Islamophobia and against international terrorism (the ‘Je suis Charlie’ movement) and feminist causes (#MeToo). Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Islam in Europe, European Islam)

8 pages, 233 KiB

Open AccessArticle

From One Islam to Another: A Paradoxical Agency of the Entry into Female Students’ Careers

by Rania Hanafi

Religions 2019, 10(3), 176; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10030176 - 11 Mar 2019

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2935

Abstract

The European continent appears as a new transcultural environment at the heart of globalization in which religious subjectivities are developed. I observe this more specifically in the socioreligious trajectories of the descendants of Muslim migrants. This paper focuses on the mobilization of Islam [...] Read more.

The European continent appears as a new transcultural environment at the heart of globalization in which religious subjectivities are developed. I observe this more specifically in the socioreligious trajectories of the descendants of Muslim migrants. This paper focuses on the mobilization of Islam in its social manifestations among female Muslim teachers in Muslim private schools, in comparison with the Islam of young female students at university. Research with the professors allows us to question the religious activity of the interviewees and how they develop a long-term lifestyle, including in a context marked by stigmatization, against the backdrop of the results of our previous work on the emancipation pattern of the “sisters in Islam”. This analysis is based on a comparative approach that aims to capture a new way of being in the French society, in a religious frame of reference that is being reinvented. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Islam in Europe, European Islam)

15 pages, 661 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Muslim Everyday Religious Practices in Austria. From Defensive to Open Religiosity

by Jonas Kolb and Erol Yildiz

Religions 2019, 10(3), 161; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10030161 - 6 Mar 2019

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5885

Abstract

Although Muslim groups in the population comprise an integral component of Austrian society, the public image of Islam tends to be generally negative. In the meantime, there are now significant successor generations of Muslims who, in contrast with their parents’ generation, have other [...] Read more.

Although Muslim groups in the population comprise an integral component of Austrian society, the public image of Islam tends to be generally negative. In the meantime, there are now significant successor generations of Muslims who, in contrast with their parents’ generation, have other religious orientations and positionings, and have become hybrid, heterogeneous individuals with ‘multiple-home’ attachments living in Austria. Nonetheless, in public discourse, they appear as a homogeneous group. Our study is based on a change in perspective, shifting front and center the religious orientation of these persons as seen from their own perspective and experiences. The findings of our study on Muslim diversity in Austria show just how differentiated, complex, ambivalent, and hybrid the everyday religious practice of individuals directly on the ground is or can be. In the following article, the focus is on a form of open religiosity that is practiced above all by members of the successor generations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Islam in Europe, European Islam)

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14 pages, 379 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Media and the Female Imam

by Jesper Petersen

Religions 2019, 10(3), 159; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10030159 - 5 Mar 2019

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 8410

Abstract

Female imams are attractive protagonists in documentaries, books, and news stories. This article investigates the tensions that arise when ritual performance takes place before an audience and how symbolic events such as women-led Friday prayer and identities such as female imams are produced [...] Read more.

Female imams are attractive protagonists in documentaries, books, and news stories. This article investigates the tensions that arise when ritual performance takes place before an audience and how symbolic events such as women-led Friday prayer and identities such as female imams are produced in the intersection of interests between women who want to re-claim Islam and commercial media, which produce narratives that are in demand among media consumers. These productions are compared with women who make similar performances but who for various reasons stay away from media. One of these reasons, the problem of translating meaning from an Islamic context to a non-Islamic mediated context, is explored in depth. Finally, the spread of Sherin Khankan’s and Seyran Ates’ narratives are analyzed with Henry Jenkins concept spreadability. The article is based on field work in the Mariam Mosque (Copenhagen), field observations in the Ibn Rushd-Goethe Mosque (Berlin), and interviews with 14 women who are engaged in nonconformist activities such as delivering the khutbah or leading Friday prayer. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Islam in Europe, European Islam)

12 pages, 202 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Relational Ethics: Volunteering and the Responsibilities of the Good Muslim

by Merve Reyhan Kayikci

Religions 2019, 10(3), 150; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10030150 - 1 Mar 2019

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3110

Abstract

This article explores the ways in which female Belgian Muslim volunteers experience responsibility. It argues that responsibility consists of multiple dynamics for the volunteers, for example, the duties that are embedded in the Islamic tradition and the duties that arise from being a [...] Read more.

This article explores the ways in which female Belgian Muslim volunteers experience responsibility. It argues that responsibility consists of multiple dynamics for the volunteers, for example, the duties that are embedded in the Islamic tradition and the duties that arise from being a good citizen in a liberal/secular context. While these are often emphasized as being contentious binaries—especially for Muslims living in the West—this paper suggests that volunteering allows the Muslim women to bring these worlds together. The ways in which volunteering enables this is by introducing a relational reading of ethics and ethical self-formation. Relationality is highly significant for the female Muslim volunteer. It signifies being in touch with both (non-liberal) Islamic ethics and liberal public norms, even when pursuing a pious lifestyle. Hence, the article explores the ways in which responsibility is actualized in this framework. Finally, the last section interrogates how this idea of responsibility and relationality re-articulates binaries of the good-Muslim and the bad-Muslim. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Islam in Europe, European Islam)

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