Voices from the 'Periphery of Islam': Discourses of Authenticity, Rooting and Community-Building

Dear Colleagues,

Problem statement

The vast majority of Muslims in the world live outside the Middle East, outside the so-called ‘heartlands of Islam’, notably in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the United States. These regions are sometimes referred to as the ‘periphery of Islam’. Although Islam has been an established religion in parts of this ‘periphery’ for centuries, the Arabo-phone MENA region, where Islam emerged, continues to be considered by many Islamic scholars, scholars of Islam, Islamic political movements, and Muslims as the fountainhead and the unidirectional center of gravity of Islam. Consequently, the MENA region is depicted as the center, the ultimate authoritative benchmark for theological, spiritual, and cultural reasoning, and the inspirational reference point for the identity formation of Muslims around the world. Given the importance of the Arabic language, the presence of holy places in Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem, and the long history of centers of religious learning in Arab countries, e.g., al Azhar in Egypt and al Qarawiyyin in Morocco, the Arab world also seems to set the tone for and to decide the norms of Islam.

Yet this obscures the fact that influential events, thinkers, and trends, e.g., the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Swiss intellectual Tariq Ramadan, the global success of the Pakistani Minhajul Quran movement, and the rise of the AK Party in Turkey, often emerge on the margins of the Arab world. This is particularly the case since Muslim communities in the West enjoy much more freedom than in the Arab world (and often elsewhere) and, as such, are freer to express their views than in the Middle East. The latter aspect relates to another peripheral dimension, namely politics. Islamic movements, particularly those in the Arab world, often move on the political margins.

Although the vast majority of Muslims are Sunnis, there are big Shiite majorities in countries like Azerbaijan, Bahrein, and Iran, for instance. Moreover, the fact that peripheral Muslim communities like the Ahmadis, the Alevis, the Druze, and the Zaydis are numerically small does not make them any less dynamic. Furthermore, in countries where Muslims are a minority, such as in the West, even Sunni Muslims can be in a peripheral position. Not only are they religious minorities in their societies, but issues like discrimination and Islamophobia further marginalize them. In other words, the periphery comprises more than geographical designation.

Being in a marginalized or peripheral position does not mean being voiceless. Based on their experiences, Muslims in the ‘periphery’ develop alternative understandings of the global Islamic landscape. As Carool Kersten and Susanne Olsson argue (2013), many important discussions, activities, and initiatives among Muslims about Islam's future no longer reside exclusively in the ‘heartlands of Islam’, in the center, but indeed in the ‘periphery’. These discussions gained impetus with the increased global interconnectedness of Muslims and provided input for discussing new ideas about Muslims’ self-understanding and sense of belonging.

In some situations, Muslims in a peripheral position strive for a type of Islam ostensibly divorced from any local roots, what Olivier Roy calls “de territorialised Islam”, while other Muslims in the margin seek to create (or recreate) a very local form of Islam, or something in between. Although Muslim communities have been in touch with each other for centuries, of course, processes of globalization have accelerated this in an unprecedented way, resulting in new discussions, new concepts, new themes, new priorities, and new outcomes in the lives of peripheral Muslims.

Discussions take on divergent shapes and deal with different stakes depending on the geopolitical, economic, and cultural context. They can result from a political struggle between different Islamic movements about power and authority and the influence from abroad. They can be part of a (post-colonial) struggle against exclusion, stigmatization, and racialization. In other cases, discussions are part of revival movements, the quest for alternative authenticity, and an Islam that is 'rooted in the local society'.

Thus, in Indonesia, a considerable part of the Muslim population takes issue with what is often called ‘the Arabisation of Islam’. They opt for an Islam that is rooted in and engrafted upon local traditions and practices, often referred to as Islam Nusantara (Islam from the soil) (see, e.g., Schaefer 2021; Schmidt 2021; Setiawan and Stevanus 2023). On the African continent, similar discussions take place, revolving around ideas of an ‘authentic Islam of the soil’ (see, e.g., Desplat 2005; Schulz 2006; Saul 2006; Otayek and Soares 2007; Azumah 2014; Ware 2014).

In Europe and the United States, where Muslims constitute a minority, the idea exists that there is such a thing as an ‘American Islam’ or a ‘European Islam’ based on the unique experiences of Muslims in these continents. Rather than promoting a homogenous Islam that either conforms to or rejects ‘European values’ (see, e.g., Tibi 2010), experiences of European Muslim citizens with exclusion, stigmatization, racialization, and ‘secular pressure’ generate multiple forms of ‘European Islam’ (see de Koning 2016; Law et al. 2019; Sunier 2023). We find these ideas among Muslims whose parents and grandparents migrated to Europe in the 1970s and 1980s, but we can observe them even more outspokenly among Muslims in the eastern and south-eastern parts of Europe, where Islam has been an established religion for centuries.

These cases also converge in connection with fundamental societal transformations in late modernity. More than twenty-five years ago, Robert Hefner pointed at the “structural predicament related to the globalization of mass societies and the porous pluralism of late modernity” (1998, 83). This pluralism, Hefner argues, may, on the one hand, lead to standardization and objectivation of religious reasoning, but on the other hand, it may unleash “contestive heterogenizations” (ibid., 98). These reflections and discussions in different contexts and regions of the world indeed have in common the development of new forms of assertiveness and notions of rooting and identity that do not necessarily consider the Middle East as the only exclusive point of reference for being Muslim.

Aim of the Special Issue

As the cases show, ‘center’ and ‘periphery’ are not exclusively geographical categories; they comprise many forms, manifestations, and activities. This Special Issue aims to bring together articles based on ethnographic research that explicitly address peripheral bottom-up discourses, discussions, initiatives, and modes of community building by Muslims around the world, dealing with authenticity, local rooting, new senses of belonging, local experiences, imaginaries about ‘Islam from the soil’, and indeed contested heterogenization and empowerment. Authors can focus on specific themes and significant cases in specific countries or regions.

References

Azumah, John Alembilah. 2014. The Legacy of Arab-Islam in Africa. A Quest for inter-religious Dialogue. London: Oneworld Publications.

Desplat, Patrick. 2005. “The Articulation of Religious Identities and their Boundaries in Ethiopia: Labelling Difference and Processes of Contextualization in Islam”. Journal of Religion in Africa Vol. 35 (4): 482–505.

Hefner, Robert. 1998. “Multiple Modernities: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism in a Globalizing Age” Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 27: 83-104.

Kersten, Carool, and Susanne Olsson, (eds.) 2013. Alternative Islamic Discourses and Religious Authority. London: Routledge.

Koning, Martijn de. 2016. “’You Need to Present a Counter-Message’. The Racialisation of Dutch Muslims and Anti-Islamophobia Initiatives” Journal of Muslims in Europe Vol. 5(2): 170-190.

Law, Ian, Amina Easat-Daas, Arzu Merali, S. Sayyid (eds.) 2019. Countering Islamophobia in Europe. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Roy, Olivier. 2004. Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah. London: Hurst.

Şaul, Mahir. 2006. “Islam and West African Anthropology”. Africa Today Vol. 53 (1): 3-33.

Schaefer, Saskia. 2021. “Islam Nusantara: The Conceptual Vocabulary of Indonesian Diversity”. Journal for the Study of Islamic History and Culture, Vol. 2(2): 1 - 16.

Schmidt, Leonie. 2021. “Aesthetics of authority: ‘Islam Nusantara’ and Islamic ‘radicalism’ in Indonesian film and social media” Religion 51 (2): 237-258.

Schulz, Dorothea. 2006. “Promises of (Im)Mediate Salvation: Islam, Broadcast Media, and the Remaking of Religious Experience in Mali”. American Ethnologist Vol. 33 (2): 210–29.

Setiawan, D. E., & Stevanus, K. 2023. “Significance of Islam Nusantara Values in an Indonesian Multicultural Society”. Journal of Al-Tamaddun 18(1): 203–214.

Soares, Benjamin, and René Otayek (eds.) 2007. Islam and Muslim Politics in Africa Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Sunier, Thijl. 2023. Making Islam Work. Islamic Authority among Muslims in Western Europe. Leiden/Boston: Brill.

Tibi, Bassam. 2010. “Euro-Islam: An Alternative to Islamization and Ethnicity of Fear”. In The Other Muslims: Moderate and Secular, edited by Zeyno Baran, 157–74. London: Palgrave MacMillan.

Ware, Rudolph. 2014. The Walking Qur’an. Islamic education, embodied knowledge, and history in West-Africa. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but not limited to) the following:

• Anthropology and social sciences;
• Political science;
• Religious studies/Islamic studies;
• Cultural studies;
• Any other area related to the topic of this Special Issue.

We request that, prior to submitting a manuscript, interested authors initially submit a proposed title and an abstract of 150-200 words summarizing their intended contribution. Please send it to the Guest Editor, Prof. Dr. Sunier ([email protected]), and CC the Assistant Editor, Ms. Violet Li ([email protected]). Abstracts will be reviewed by the Guest Editor for the purposes of ensuring proper fit within the scope of the special issue. Full manuscripts will undergo double-blind peer review.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Thijl Sunier
Guest Editor

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• Islam in Asia
• Islam in Africa
• Islam in Europe and USA
• authenticity
• contestive heterogenization
• local rooting
• Islam from the soil