Reimagining Ummah: The Role of Third-Generation Immigrant Women in the Transformation of Turkish Islam in Europe

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article is interesting, well elaborated and referenced; some reflections need anyway being reported, as pure suggestions to the author, for a better integration and, possibly, amelioration of the paper arguments. 

A general reflection focuses on Ghulenism, not mentioned in the article; however, before the failed coup of 2016, the F. Ghulen movement was increasingly establishing a basis of Abrahamitic inter-religiosity in western Europe with a certain success, as well as framing Institutes for inter-religious dialogue in different countries. 

- On the section of the Historical grounds of Turkish Islam, my suggestion is to develop also a little critical approach, Turkish Islam since the early Ottoman age is peculiarly associated to specific facets that from Devshirme and Millet system, pass throught his different forms of mysticism, not only Rumi but also the Bektashi as those Hesychast movements very closed to Orthodox Christianity in the Anatolia region (13-14 centuries). There is a peculiar Turkish religious nationalism which evidently promoted different narratives that have not a so strong historical basement, but a more "propagandistic" one. What the author could argue about it?

A topic not touched in the article is the impact of Erdoganism on the interesting analysis concerning the second-third generation differences. This argument, in particular, in the section entitled: Transnational imaginations....should be considered to better emphasize the author's reflection on the passage from the Turkish Islamic identitarian stance of the second generation to the more pan-Islamic posture of the third. 

Finally, I recently visited Holland during the European Football cup, and differently from what happened in the past in England or France, I remained pleasently surprised that after Turkey and the Orange quarter-final match, the situation has not degenerated into violence and damages; this reflection was impronted to ask, if the third generation could be also that able to better integrate the Turkish community not only in the plurality of Dutch Islam but also Dutch inter-religiosity. 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

First of all, thank you very much for your detailed reading. All your criticisms were very valuable and demonstrated your deep knowledge of the subject. Below, you will find my responses to your criticisms and comments.

1. The first reason why I did not mention the Gülen movement in the article is that I did not interview any names of Gülenists during my work. I had some meetings with people from all the groups I mentioned in the article. In any case, it was not possible for me to meet with Gülenists because many Gülenists started hiding after 2016 for security reasons.

On the other hand, the Gülen movement has always organized and acted differently than the Islamic groups I mentioned in the article. This is because in the article I looked at the Islamic movements, which are mainly organized in mosques, in the context of women. The Gülen movement has never organized itself in mosques. For these reasons, I did not include the Gülen movement in the article.

After all, as you said, the main theme of the Gülen movement was interfaith dialogue. However, in the article I discuss the young generation of women who have made integration possible despite these movements within Islamic movements that do not have any dialogue agenda. In this context, the Gülen movement does not fit within the scope of my study.

2.In the article, I explored how the orthodox interpretation of Turkish Islam in modern Turkey was shaped by its most influential thinkers. Given its significance to Islamic organizations in Europe, I focused on this particular school of thought. In orthodox Turkish-Islamic interpretation, Bektashism is not considered a key reference, whereas Mevlana (Rumi) is consistently regarded as a major influence. Therefore, Bektashism was excluded from the discussion. My mention of Mevlana in the article is based on the works of a prominent thinker representing the orthodox Turkish-Islamic perspective.

3. Erdoganism is a very important issue. However, in the article, I did not mention anything about Turkey's recent policy towards Turkish immigrants living in the Netherlands, including Erdoğanism. I did not ask anyone I interviewed a question about Turkey's domestic politics or Erdogan. Since I did not have such data, I did not include Erdoganism in the article. But many thanks to the you, because measuring the impact of Erdoganism on intergenerational differences in attitudes will be a great new article topic for me soon.

4. To include your final assessment as a discussion in the article, I need to explain how the Netherlands has historically shaped its integration policy and, in this context, analyze the impact of Muslims in the Netherlands on inter-religiosity. However, as you can see, I hardly mention the integration policy of the Netherlands, except in one or two sentences. I think that an analysis I will make on this topic does not fit very well into the current article structure. I am examining the impact of Turkish Islam on the integration of Turkish Muslims into their society, referring to the orthodox interpretation of Sunni Islam. However, I think your criticism of inter-religiosity is related to the other side of the issue, namely the Dutch side.

5. As you requested, the English version of my article has been reviewed by a professional proofreader. The necessary corrections have been made.

Yours sincerely,

Author

 

 

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This is one of the most fascinating articles I have seen recently.  It brings some questions to my mind about what "assimilation" and "integration" are and how many generations they take to occur. These are more general questions, and I would love to see them included. However, I only suggest them to enrich the already excellent article.

Author Response

Dear Reviewer,

I am very glad and honored that you liked my article.

I have added brief explanations of the terms "assimilation" and "integration" to the article. The sentences I added are highlighted in yellow.

Yours sincerely,
Author