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Islamic identity formation among young Muslims: the case of Denmark, Sweden and the United States

2004; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 24; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/1360200042000212223

1469-9591

Garbi Schmidt,

Religious Education and Schools

Abstract This paper aims to explore aspects of transnational identity formation among young Muslims in three Western countries, Denmark, Sweden and the United States. The thesis is that, on the one hand, such transnational identity formations are indeed taking place, and, on the other, they are continuously effected by aspects of the local and the contextual, and in particular by the conditions and legislation of the host nation‐state. The process of transnational identity formation is described according to four overall conditions and themes: (1) visibility and aesthetics; (2) choice; (3) transnationalism; and (4) social ethics. These themes play significant roles on an overall transnational level, but are continuously 'localized', formulated and lived according to the context in which Muslims actually live. In the concluding section, the article discusses the implications of the dynamic field of transnational/national Muslim identity formations for the definition of a Muslim diaspora, and raises the question of whether we can at all talk about religious diasporas, and how we may do so on the basis of myth and politicized identities. Notes A preliminary version of this article was presented at a planning meeting on 'Islam and Muslims in the United States and Europe: Processes of Mutual Accommodation', hosted by Social Science Research Council and the Russell Sage Foundation in New York, 10–12 April 2003. Quote from Y. Y. Haddad and J. L. Esposito, eds, Muslims on the Americanization Path? New York: Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 29. The lecture took place on 25 October 2001. See J. Cesari, 'Islam in France: Social Challenge or Challenge of Secularism?' in eds S. Vertovec and A. Rogers, Muslim European Youth: Reproducing Ethnicity, Religion, Culture, Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998. Fieldwork was carried out in Sweden (the Stockholm area) from September to December 2000, in Los Angeles, CA from January to March 2001, in Washington, DC, in October and November 2001, and in Denmark from November 2001 to the present. Further, the article draws on fieldwork, which I carried out in Chicago between June 1995 and April 1996, and between October 1996 and July 1997. See G. Schmidt, Islam in Urban America: Sunni Muslims in Chicago, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004. J. S. Nielsen, 'Transnational Islam and the Integration of Islam in Europe', paper presented at the Second Mediterranean Social and Political Research Meeting. Florence, 21–25 March 2001, p. 17. K. L. Johansen, Muslimsk stemmer: Religiøs forandring blandt unge muslimer i Danmark (Muslim Voices: Religious Changes among Young Muslims in Denmark), Copenhagen: Akademisk Forlag, 2001, p. 115. The aspect of Islamic architecture in the West highlights both an intent to return to 'authentic forms', and the intent to return to forms that, according to the Pakistani‐Canadian architect Gulzar Haider, are 'expressive and understandable to all … To the indigenous Muslims it should represent a linkage with Muslims from other parts of the world and should underscore the universality and unity of Islam. To the new Muslims this architecture should invoke confidence in their new belief. To non‐Muslims it should take the form of clearly identifiable buildings which are inviting and open, or at least not secretive, closed or forbidding'. O. Khalidi, 'Approaches to Mosque Design in North America', in Muslims on the Americanization Path? op. cit., 2000, p. 328. H. Groes‐Petersen, 'Nyrup kræver troskabsed fra indvandrere' ('Nyrup Demands Oath of Faith from Immigrants'), Politiken (The Politics), 28 September 2001; B. Quraishy, 'Islam i väterländska massmedier' ('Islam in Western Mass Media'), I&M (Immigrants and Minorities), Vol. 1, 2002, pp. 15–18. T. Asad, Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam, Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, p. 260. K. Ewing, 'Legislating Religious Freedom: Muslim Challenges to the Relationship between Church and State in Germany and France', in eds R. Shweder et al., Engaging Cultural Differences: The Multicultural Challenge in Liberal Democracies, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2002, pp. 63–80. K. I. Leonard, 'Muslims in the US: The State of Research', essay prepared for the Russell Sage Foundation, forthcoming, p. 35. J. Cesari, 'Pluralism in the Context of Globalization: European Muslim Youth', ISIM, March 1999, p. 25. Interview with young Muslim woman, Stockholm, Sweden, October 2000; taped. Interview with young Muslim woman, Los Angeles, CA, February 2001; taped. Z. Bauman, Work, Consumerism and the New Poor, Philadelphia: Open University Press, 1998. Also V. Amireaux, 'Is Islam Soluble into Germany? Sunni Muslims of Turkish Origin', ISIM, December 1999, p. 30. The concept of reversion is frequently used by new Muslims who see their embracing of Islam as a return to their true human nature (see e.g. online http://members.tripod.com/oum_abdulaziz/WhyIEmbraced5.htm). However, people who are born of Muslim parents may also use the concept of reversion when describing their choice of Islam, hereby underlining their return to pure and genuine practice of their faith (see. e.g. online http://members.tripod.com/Islam4Mankind/reversion.html). Interview with young Muslim man, Uppsala, Sweden, 1 December 2000; taped. Also G. Schmidt, 'The Formation of Transnational Identities among Young Muslims in Denmark', paper prepared for the NOCRIME conference 'European Muslims and the Secular State', Sorbonne, Paris, 30 June–1 July 2003; G. Schmidt, 'Muslimske Ungdomsforeninger i Danmark' ('Muslim Youth Organisations in Denmark'), in eds Inge Liengaard and Lise Galal, At være muslim i Danmark (To Be Muslim in Denmark), Copenhagen: Anis, 2003. During my fieldwork in Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, DC email lists had been established by most of the MSA chapters that I visited. By the end of January 2003, more than 100 groups affiliated with the MSA were listed at www.yahoogroups.com, a homepages that allows people to establish email lists free of charge. The name of the Danish list is 'Danmarks Forenede Cybermuslimer', which translates into 'the United Cybermuslims of Denmark' and the name of the Swedish list is 'Sveriges Förenade Cybermuslimer', in English, 'The United Cybermuslims of Sweden' (see also G. Schmidt, 'Sveriges Förenade CyberMuslimer—Blå‐gul islam på Internet' ('The United Cyber‐Muslims of Sweden—Blue‐Yellow Islam in the Internet'), in eds D. Westerlund and I. Svanberg, Blågul Islam? (Blue‐Yellow Islam), Nora: Nye Doxa, 1999, pp. 107–122). The impact of the nation‐state is interesting and relevant in this context. At the same time as Muslims claim that the Internet can create a basis for a 'transnational ummah' movement, there is also the tendency to limit the communication and interest field to the localities in which people live and act, e.g. by encouraging people to write their postings in one particular language. On one hand this tendency can be seen as a means to involve Muslims from different social classes in the particular email community (it should be possible to participate without knowing English). On the other hand the tendency highlights the challenge that the nation‐state poses to Muslims in the West, in spite of ideological ambitions such as the unification of the ummah. P. Mandaville, 'Digital Islam: Changing the Boundaries of Religious Knowledge?' ISIM, March 1999, pp. 1, 23. To give an example, in 1995 a member of the American based MSA‐L (Muslim Students' Association email list) submitted an email in which he stated that: 'One frontier that can serve to link up the Ummah is cyberspace, or the Internet. We may ask ourselves if cyberspace is the means by which we can revitalize an Islamic way of life. I firmly believe that the Internet can be used to organize a society based on Qur'anic principles … This is a prime way to reach out to our brothers and sisters and galvanize us into an active citizenship of the Ummah, thus strengthening us individually and collectively as well as preserving our Islamic heritage and ideals'. F. F. Rabbani, 'Do You Feel Trapped Here?', email posted to MSA‐L, 20 February 1995. See also G. Schmidt, 'Allah på Internet' (Allah on the Internet), Chaos: Dansk tidskrift for religionsvidenskabelige studier (Chaos: Danish Journal on Religious Studies), Vol. 26, 1996, pp. 51–74; Schmidt, 'The Formation of Transnational Identities', op. cit. One aspect that contributes to the sense of a 'transnational ummah' is the impact of traveling, for example, when participating in conferences and workshops organized by Muslims in other countries. Among the young Muslims that I have so far spoken with in Scandinavia, some had participated in such activities in neighboring countries, including England, and one or two had even traveled to the United States to participate in training there. None of the Muslims that I spoke with in the United States had traveled to Europe to learn from Muslims there, but a number had either visited the Middle East to study or planned to do so. Taking his examples from the context of Britain, Nielsen describes 'new networks' among Muslims to be 'spurred on by a younger, more Europe‐based generation'. Young Muslims have 'strengthened a tendency towards closer, informal cooperation among organisation and movements which, having arisen out of a specific local–national heritage in the country of origin, now beings to identify significant areas of common interests and perspectives'. Nielsen, 'Transnational Islam', op. cit., p. 14. See, for example, Y. Y. Haddad and A. T. Lummis, Islamic Values in the United States, New York: Oxford University Press, 1987; Johansen, Muslimsk stemmer, op. cit., pp. 89ff. Interview with young Muslim woman, Copenhagen, Denmark, 19 December 2001; taped. See also G. Schmidt, 'Dialectics of Authenticity: Examples of Ethnification of Islam among Young Muslims in the United States and Denmark', Muslim World, Spring 2002, pp. 1–18; Johansen, Muslimsk stemmer, op. cit.; Schmidt, Islam in Urban America, op. cit. Interview with young Muslim woman, Los Angeles, CA, 2 February 2001; taped. Interview with young Muslim man, Uppsala, Sweden, 12 December 2000; taped. S. Vertovec, and A. Rogers, 'Introduction', in eds S. Vertovec and A. Rogers, Muslim European Youth: Reproducing Ethnicity, Religion, Culture, Aldershot: Ashgate, 1998, p. 8. Schmidt, Islam in Urban America, op. cit. Interview with young Muslim woman, Stockholm, Sweden, October 2000; taped. Johansen, Muslimsk stemmer, op. cit. Cesari, 'Islam in France', op. cit., p. 31. Johansen, Muslimsk stemmer, op. cit. Y. Y. Haddad, 'Arab Muslims and the Islamic Institutions in America: Adaptation and Reform', in eds S. Y. Abrahan and N. Abraham, Arabs in the New World, Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1983, pp. 65–81, 70; L. Poston, Islamic Da?wah in the West: Muslim Missionary Activity and the Dynamics of Conversion to Islam, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 102. J. Otterbeck, Global Islam och svensk muslimsk media (Global Islam and Swedish Muslim Media), Lund: Teologiska Institutionen, n.d., p. 4. 'There is no compulsion in religion; truly the right way has become clearly distinct from error; therefore, whoever disbelieves in the Shaitan and believes in Allah he indeed has laid hold on the firmest handle, which shall not break off, and Allah is Hearing, Knowing.' M. H. Shakir, The Holy Qur'an', trans. M. H. Shakir, Elmhurst: Tahrike Tarsile Qur'an, 1983. 'They who turn (to Allah), who serve (Him), who praise (Him), who fast, who bow down, who prostrate themselves, who enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil, and who keep the limits of Allah; and give good news to the believers.' Ibid. 'O you men! surely We have created you of a male and a female, and made you tribes and families that you may know each other; surely the most honorable of you with Allah is the one among you most careful (of his duty); surely Allah is Knowing, Aware.' Ibid. Schmidt, Islam in Urban America, op. cit. Schmidt, 'Dialectics of Authenticity', op. cit. For further description of the clinic, see also Mary Rourke, 'Caring in the Name of Community: From Ashes of L. A. Riots Emerged a Free Clinic, Run by 4 Muslims', Los Angeles Times, 18 August 1998. G. Schmidt, 'A Visible Change: Young Muslims in Denmark and the United States after September 11', paper presented at workshop on Muslim minorities after 11 September, Duke University, 22 March 2002; G. Schmidt, 'Certifying Religious Practice: The Production Of Visibility Among Muslim Minorities in Two Western Countries', paper presented at the American Anthropological Association's Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, 22 November 2002. L. Stenberg, 'Islam in Scandinavia: Notes on History, Organization and Present Situation', Lund, n.d., p. 19. Die Welt, 'Schily verbietet dritte islamitische Organisation' (Schilly Bans Third Islamic Organization), 16 January 2003, available online at: ⟨www.welt.de⟩. A. Cohen, 'US Officials Give High Marks to Karimov on Washington Visit', Eurasia‐net, 18 March 2002, available online at: ⟨http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav031502b. shtml⟩. The remark was made during Uzbek Prime Minister Islam Karimov's visit to Washington in March 2002. According to Human Rights Watch, the Uzbek government has targeted the Hizb al‐Tahrir by 'peaceful means'. However, the organization refers to estimates saying that up to 4000 people may be imprisoned in the country for participating in activities of the Hizb. Human Rights News, 'Press Backgrounder: Human Rights Abuse in Uzbekistan', 26 September 2001, available online at: ⟨http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/uzbek092501‐bck. htm⟩. In August 2001 the Human Rights Watch sent a referendum on religious persecution in Uzbekistan to the US government. Human Rights Watch, 'Memorandum to the U.S. Government Regarding Religious Persecution in Uzbekistan. August 10, 2001', available online at: ⟨http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/eca/uzbek‐aug/index.htm⟩. S. Vertovec, 'Religion and Diaspora', paper presented at the conference on 'New Landscapes of Religion in the West, School of Geography and the Environment', University of Oxford, 27–29 September 2000. P. Werbner, 'The Place Which is Diaspora: Citizenship, Religion and Gender in the Making of Chaordic Transnationalism', Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 119–133, 119. Ibid., p. 121.