is important to perform the daily prayers on time,
therefore pray on time! You know that you should
wear the headscarf, therefore wear it! You know that
you are not allowed to eat pork, therefore don’t eat
pork! And, if you are not sure about a specific rule
follow the most logical interpretation, but, in the
meanwhile, continue searching for more knowledge
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Introduction
In this chapter I discuss how Muslim women in pious circles in the Netherlands and Belgium acquire and transmit Islamic knowledge. My purpose is to describe and analyze how and why my interlocutors established pious circles, and what type of knowledge was produced within these circles. The central question that I address is: What is the role of Islamic knowledge acquisition in the process of becoming pious? In the following pages, I demonstrate how acquiring Islamic knowledge is an impor- tant means through which piety is cultivated. Furthermore, as I show, knowledge acquisition is a devotional practice in itself, a form of worship in its own right. My data also point toward a strong connection between knowledge and gender. Obtaining Islamic knowledge specific to women was essential in my interlocutors’ cultivation of piety. Moreover, some of my interlocutors experienced knowledge as empower- ing, leading them to engage in Islam-inspired activism. Finally, I demonstrate how the possession of Islamic knowledge is used to measure each other’s piety in Born- Muslim and convert interaction.
This chapter is organized into eight Sections. In Section 5.1. I provide an outline of the sites of knowledge production for Muslim women in the Netherlands and Bel- gium. In Section 5.2. I discuss the motives of Muslim women in searching for Islamic knowledge. In Section 5.3. I analyze why pious circles have become important sites for Islamic knowledge production for Muslim women. I do so by making a comparison between them and traditional sites of Islamic knowledge production. In Section 5.4. I describe how the process of Islamic knowledge acquisition and transmission can be a devotional enterprise in its own right. In Section 5.5. I elaborate on the type of knowledge that is produced in pious circles. In Section 5.6. I discuss why some of my interlocutors have established women-only pious circles. In Section 5.7. I examine how my interlocutors gained Islamic knowledge and how, for some, it had led to Islam-inspired activism. In Section 5.8. I concentrate on the relationship between Born-Muslims and converts to Islam in terms of who perceived whom to be the most knowledgeable. Finally, I draw all these strands together in a conclusion.
5.1. Sites of knowledge production and transmission
In this Section I describe the various sites of knowledge production, and how, why and in which settings Muslim women search for Islamic knowledge. I have studied the different types of spaces in which Islamic knowledge is produced. Besides the thirteen Dutch and eleven Flemish pious circles I examined, I attended many
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conferences, gatherings and lectures organized by different organizations and net- works. Below, I have listed the various organizations that I studied.
Muslim organizations Country
Euro Islam Belgium
Al-Mawada Belgium
De Koepel Belgium
Landelijke Platform Nieuwe Moslims (LPNM) The Netherlands
Poldermoskee The Netherlands
Dar-al-’Ilm The Netherlands
Educational institutes (by Muslim women) Country
Al-Hidaya Belgium
Al-Qalam Belgium
Muslim women’s organizations Country
Al-Minara Belgium
Al-Nisa The Netherlands
LIVN The Netherlands
Women’s support & welfare networks562 Country
Network A The Netherlands
Network B The Netherlands
Network C Belgium
The spaces of knowledge production have multiplied in the Netherlands and Belgium in the last fifteen years. More and more mosques, Islamic organizations and educa- tional institutes are offering a wide variety of lectures - often called conferences - and courses. Islamic youth organizations, Muslim student associations and pious circles have also entered the arena of Islamic knowledge production. Nevertheless, so far the majority of these spaces of Islamic knowledge are organized by men and the teachers and preachers are also male. Women are less visible as active organizers and producers of Islamic knowledge in established organizations. This is partially attributable to the male-dominated character of traditional Islamic organizations. As they are constantly subjected to gender segregation, Muslim women have been less included in the process of knowledge production and acquisition. Nevertheless,
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I shall show that some of my interlocutors have actually striven to maintain this sort of gender exclusion for the purpose of being able to articulate their religiosity independently. They do not wish to be led by - male - religious authorities and want to study Islamic sources autonomously.563
My interlocutors obtained their Islamic knowledge through different channels. Their initial step in acquiring knowledge has been by reading the Qurʾan, Islamic books, surfing the Internet and listening to online lectures.564 A few have watched Islamic
satellite programs broadcast from Morocco, Turkey or other Muslim countries like Egypt with their parents. This is indicative of a setting in which knowledge has been selectively acquired. The first source of Islamic knowledge in the case of Born- Muslims have been their parents, later reinforced by Qurʾan lessons in mosques. All Born-Muslims in this study initially learned, especially non-discursive knowledge such as how to pray or fast, about Islam from their parents. Converts’ initial channels of knowledge acquisition have mostly been books, online lectures and Born-Muslim friends.
Both Born-Muslims and converts have also acquired knowledge outside the domestic space, for instance, by joining pious circles, but also by following lectures organized by Islamic organizations, and attending courses given by Islamic educational insti- tutes. The Dar-al-’Ilm Institute for Islamic Studies in the Netherlands was often mentioned. Many interlocutors followed its courses for learning the Qurʾan and the science of Hadith.565 Its annual National Islamic Congress was attended by both the
Flemish and Dutch interlocutors.566
563 This aspect is discussed in Chapter 6.3.
564 Different types of books were read by my interlocutors. Most of them bought books at Islamic book stands during Islamic conferences and “sister days.” The books (translated from Arabic and English by the Islamic book publisher Noer) most often bought were: Muhammad Ali Al-Hashimi, The ideal Muslim woman: the True Islamic Personality of the Muslim Woman (Ryad: International Islamic Publishing House, 1996); Huda Khattab, The Muslim Woman’s Handbook (London: Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd, 1993) and Aaïdh Al Qarni, You Can Be the Happiest Woman in the World: A Treasure Chest Of Reminders (Ryad: International Islamic Publishing House, 2005). Four interlocutors read books of Islamic feminists such as Asma Barlas (Believing Women in Islam: Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qurʾan) and Amina Wadud (Qurʾan and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text
from a Woman’s Perspective). Popular websites that are consulted by my interlocutors include: http://www.ontdekislam.nl, https://www.al-yaqeen.com, http://forums.ansaar.nl, http:// www.moslima.nl/nl and http://www.risallah.com.
565 Dar-al-’Ilm offers different courses in different cities in the Netherlands, for instance, “Islam for Beginners” and “Learning the Qurʾan in Four Days.” Dar-al-’Ilm is established in 2001. See for
more information: http://www.daralilm.nl/ (Accessed April 26, 2016).
566 I attended the first National Islamic Congress held on May 29, 2009. The congress was attended by more than 1,500 participants. Popular international and national preachers gave lectures, among them the converts Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips from Canada and Khalid Yasin from USA. Interestingly, on the basis of their research such social scientists as Martijn de Koning had also been invited to give workshops on specific topics.
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Among my Flemish interlocutors, the conferences, lectures and courses organized by the mosque/Islamic center De Koepel567 based in Antwerp and the previously
mentioned al-Minara were popular.568 Both organizations were established by
converts with the specific aim of supporting Flemish converts. In fact, both organiza- tions were the first to organize a national Convert Day on the 4th of March, 2007.
The Islamic foundation al-Mawada was also familiar to my interlocutors.569 Many of
my interlocutors attended its lectures on the different challenges facing the life of Muslims in secular Dutch/Flemish societies. The purpose of al-Mawada is to activate Muslim citizens to engage in social and religious activities. It assists them to achieve this goal by arranging lectures by popular Islamic preachers, seminars and debates.570
Inspired by the Flemish convert organizations, such Dutch organizations as Ontdek
Islam (Discover Islam) and the Landelijk Platform Nieuwe Moslims (National Platform
for New Muslims), both established by converts, also organized a National Convert Day in the Netherlands in 2009 and have been organizing it since.571 During national
convert days, the central theme is conversion.572 Many visitors also convert to Islam
publicly on this day.573 The lectures and courses organized by these organizations
have frequently been attended by my interlocutors who were eager to improve their knowledge about Islam.
Nowadays Muslim women also have other channels to choose from in their search for Islamic knowledge, for instance, if they opt to study classical Islam. Consequently, Islamic higher educational institutes have also become important spaces for women. Four of my interlocutors in the Netherlands were enrolled in such classical Islamic sciences as the study of ahadith, fiqh and Qurʾan at The Islamic University of Rot- terdam (IUR).574 One interlocutor studied Islamic social work at the Amsterdam-
567 De Koepel was established by Flemish converts with the aim to advocate converts’ rights in the Muslim community and offer them support and coaching due to their conversion to Islam. They were the first in Antwerp to offer the Friday sermon in the Dutch/Flemish language. See for more information: http://de-koepel.be/ (Accessed April 26, 2016).
568 For more on al-Minara see the introduction and http://www.alminara.be/ (Accessed April 26, 2016).
569 See http://www.almawada.be/home (Accessed April 26, 2016).
570 I attended one of their lectures on the life of the Prophet Muhammad in Belgium on May 22, 2011.
571 See http://www.ontdekislam.nl/ (Accessed April 26, 2016). 572 See also Chapter 6.4.
573 I attended National Convert’s Days on January 31, 2010, and on January 8, 2011.
574 The IUR was established in 1998 to offer Islamic theological education to Muslims. Their mas- ter’s program, Islamic Spiritual Care, and the bachelor’s program, Islamic Theology, are officially accredited by the Dutch and the Flemish governments. http://www.islamicuniversity.nl/index. php?option=com_content&view=article&id=238&Itemid=1300&lang=nl (Accessed November 12, 2014).
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based Higher Vocational School InHolland.575 Another interlocutor had studied
Islamic Theology at the Free University in Amsterdam that offers a master’s degree in Islamic spiritual care.
The European Institute of Human Sciences (EIHS) at Château-Chinon in France was mentioned by my Flemish interlocutors as a place that offered them the opportunity to learn more about classical Islamic sciences. Two Flemish interlocutors had studied at the EIHS. Five Flemish interlocutors worked as Islamic teachers in public second- ary schools and had a bachelor’s degree in teaching Islamic education.576 Finally,
four interlocutors had followed Islamic schooling outside Europe. Al-Azhar in Egypt,
pesantren - Islamic boarding schools - in Indonesia and private Arabic and tajwid - the
science of Qurʾanic Recitation - schools in Syria and Jordan were also mentioned. 5.2. Motives behind the quest for knowledge
In this Section I shall discuss the reasons that women were so eager to acquire Islamic knowledge. This Section is principally based on my interviews and, to a lesser extent, on participant observation. I have abstracted three principal reasons. Firstly, my Born-Muslim interlocutors began their quest for knowledge after having made the decision to become a practicing pious Muslim woman. I have referred to this as the process of religious awakening (see Chapter Four). In the case of convert interlocu- tors, knowledge has been acquired before and after conversion and, as mentioned in the previous chapter, it was related to the process of conversion. In both cases, the purpose of knowledge acquisition was to pursue the formation of piety. Importantly, all interlocutors underlined that knowledge should be obtained for the purpose of practicing Islam, as the quotation of the convert Zarina at the beginning of this chapter reveals. My interlocutors were aware that to remain committed to Islam, they were dependent on active knowledge acquisition by which they could continue to nurture their spiritual growth. Zarina explained this process vividly:
575 InHolland offers a practical training to become an Islamic social worker, spiritual worker and imam. Islamic schooling at InHolland also provides a classical study of Islamic texts and Islam in the Dutch context. The educational institute was established with government funding with the aim to train Dutch Muslims to become imams, so that they could lead mosques instead of foreign-trained imams, who lack knowledge of the Dutch language and Dutch society. However, InHolland stopped offering professional training in 2013. This information is based on my visit to InHolland and on my interview with my interlocutor Kaya who had studied to become an Islamic social worker at InHolland.
576 They had obtained their degree at the Erasmus University College in Brussels that offers a bachelor’s program for becoming a teacher in Islamic education in both primary and secondary schools.
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I have noticed that when you begin to think “Oh never mind”, rules become less important to you, despite the fact that you should adhere to them so you can continue your devotion. I have noticed myself that there are moments at which I experience my submission to God very intensely and very powerfully. And there are moments at which [it is less intense, S.N.] especially when you are caught up in your daily life. (…) But it is important to keep reminding yourself to stay connected to God. (…) For instance, I listen to the Qurʾan and read its translation digitally. The other day I was at
the playground with my children. And, as I was listening to it, a sentence was recited: “If you have found the light, go on.” I found that so beautiful! At that moment I felt I am doing good and that Allah was seeing me. I experienced a harmony with His creation. (…) But then you shouldn’t stop. Don’t think: “I am there!” Submission is not some- thing you can achieve completely at some point. Submission is a way of growing.577
Hence in order to grow in piety, my interlocutors needed to continue to pursue their quest for knowledge.
The second major reason my interlocutors wanted to increase their Islamic knowl- edge was to raise their children in an Islamic fashion. Most of my interlocutors were already mothers, or wished to become a mother soon. They emphasized the importance of cultivating a new generation of pious Muslims imbued with Islamic knowledge, so that they in their turn could build or continue to build the Muslim
umma. This desire should be viewed in the context of living as a religious minority
in a secular society. Consequently, obtaining Islamic knowledge became more than just an individual project of cultivating piety. It was a way of creating a pious com- munity of conscious Muslim believers. The latter was related to the third reason my interlocutors sought Islamic knowledge, that was to perform daʿwa.
The primary meaning of daʿwa in Arabic is to call or to invite. In the religious sense,
daʿwa is addressed to human beings, urging them to believe in the true religion, Islam. It is used for both Muslims and non-Muslims; two forms Egdu¯nas Racˇius calls intra-ummaic and the extra-ummaic daʿwa.578 The intra-ummaic daʿwa is inward-
focused, as it aims to revive Islam among Born-Muslims, and encourage them to practice their religion more intensely. The extra-ummaic daʿwa is outward-focused, and its purpose is to convert non-Muslims to Islam.579 My Born-Muslim and con-
vert interlocutors had different opinions about the type of daʿwa that should be
577 Interview with Zarina (May 15, 2011).
578 Egdu¯nas Racˇius, The multiple nature of the Islamic Daʿwa (PhD diss.: University of Helsinki, 2004),
pp. 109-145. 579 Ibid., pp. 147-183.
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performed. I shall present an example of a gathering at a pious circle that illustrates this difference.
The theme of the gathering was “The responsibility of Muslims.” The female lecturer was Dahlia, a Dutch-Indonesian Born-Muslim.580 At some point, a convert participant
said that she was worried about her sister as she was a non-Muslim. Therefore, she wanted to convert her sister to Islam. The participant asked Dahlia whether it was her responsibility to convert others such as her sister, to Islam. Dahlia replied:
Let there be no compulsion in religion,” says God. My intention is not to convert non- Muslims to Islam. I am not going to visit them at their homes, ring their doorbells and ask whether they want to become a Muslim. We should improve our own Muslim community first. Daʿwa is setting a good example. My exemplary behavior as a Muslim
[is what, S.N.] should encourage others to learn more about Islam. If someone is inter- ested in Islam and asks you for help, you should help them to understand Islam. But my main concern now is the umma. You should not try to convert others to Islam if you are not solidly grounded as a Muslim community in the first place.581
Dahlia was critical of the Muslim community. She was convinced that there was plenty of work to be done among the umma, especially among the youth. Dahlia stated that the Muslim youth are “too busy with their appearance, whereas they should work more on themselves internally.”582 She found them unmotivated to
learn more about Islam. She referred to her classes for learning Arabic saying that many young participants quit because they lacked the motivation. Hence, for many Born-Muslims such as Dahlia, daʿwa was performed for the purpose of making fellow Muslims conscious of their Islamic identity, and encouraging them to become com- mitted Muslims. They saw daʿwa as a means to improve the moral fiber of the Muslim community, and to create a positive image of Islam in Dutch or Flemish societies. These views contrasted with those of convert interlocutors who considered daʿwa to non-Muslims equally important. Because of their own conversion narratives and their relationships with their non-Muslim families, converts thought that both types of daʿwa were an important responsibility of Muslims. They gave two reasons for