Islamic Piety and Masculinity

1. Islamic Piety and Masculinity Geoffrey Samuel Cardiff University Paper for the panel, ‘Islamic Piety and Gender Relationships among Contemporary Muslims’ at the Australian Anthropological Society conference, Macquarie University, 9-11 Dec 2009

2. THE PROJECT • 3-year project on Islam and Young Bangladeshis funded by UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) • Fieldwork in UK and Bangladesh; interviews, group discussions and participant observation with both young women and young men • Examining ways in which modernist Islam is affecting young people’s ideas about marriage, gender relationships, families and personal futures • Aim is to look at a wide variety of people and situations

3. Modernist Islam • A somewhat catch-all term • specific contemporary Islamic movements and groups such as the Jama’at-i Islami and the Tablighi Jama’at in Bangladesh and in the UK, and the Hijaz community in the UK • contemporary versions of Islam more generally • All are modernist in (at least) 2 senses • They distinguish themselves from ‘traditional,’ local, cultural forms of Islam (e.g. the Bangladeshi Islam of the parental generation) • They are responses to specifically contemporary issues and problems

4. MASCULINITY • a preliminary attempt to talk about the impact of modernist Islam on practices and understandings of masculinity, and • in particular to look at the development of one specific style of masculinity, which is marked by non-aggression and relative downplaying of gender differentials

5. MASCULINITY Problems with current approaches: • Focus on Western, developed, Anglophone societies • Emphasis on interview data and cultural analysis, rather than detailed fieldwork – privileges what people say over what they do • Emphasis on sexual minorities and on the working class – ethnic minorities neglected • The individual rather than the social • The absence of the body (substituted by discourse about the body) • The absence of religion

6. PETER HOPKINS Peter E Hopkins, Youthful Muslim masculinities: gender and generational relations. Transactions of the Institute of British geographers NS 31 337–352 2006 Study of young Muslim men (16-25 yrs) in Scotland, based on focus groups and interview – mostly middle class backgrounds

7. PETER HOPKINS Quotes from Hopkins’ interviews: • . . some people think that there is like a lot of sexism in Muslim men and women, but that sexism comes from like culture, Pakistani culture . . . but the actual religion of Islam, men and women are very close. • Women are not oppressed. Most women prefer to stay at home and look after the kids you know. Expressions of admiration for parental generation – they worked very hard to establish themselves here, etc

8. PETER HOPKINS . . . possess[ing] multiple Muslim masculinities that do not conform to simplistic stereotypical understandings of Muslim men as patriarchal and effeminate. They place a central emphasis on earning capacity and the control of appropriate Muslim femininities, and draw upon a range of reference points such as religion, heritage and gendered expectations. . (2006: 343)

9. ISLAMIC CIRCLES Emasculated Muslim Men and the Feminist Hijabi London July 2009 3 speakers • Muslim woman (trainer for ‘Surrendered Wives’) • White woman • Muslim man (Imam and psychotherapist)

10. BARBARA METCALF Men engaged in Tabligh activity, whether rich or poor, are expected to develop a new way of relating to other people and a new standard of humility as exemplified in their learning to cook, wash their clothes and look after each other [while on Tablighi missionary tours]. In that sense, the Tabligh encourages a certain reconfiguring of gender roles [. . .]. The gentleness, self-abnegation and modesty of the Tablighis, coupled with their undertaking a range of activity associated with women’s work, marks them as inculcating what may be core religious values but are also culturally designated as quintessentially feminine. [In Masud, ed., Travellers in Faith, Brill, 2000, p.50]

11. HIJAZ COMMUNITY After this form of Qiyamul Lail, one should find one’s heart becomes softer and the person becomes more patient. If the opposite is true, in that the person becomes more aggressive and harsh hearted, then this is the indication that Iblees (Satan) is making him proud of his prayer [. . .]. That person should focus on his sins and supplicate to have them forgiven,rather than feeling that he is above other people for praying to Allah Almighty. [Hijaz Community literature.]

12. THE CARING MALE 1 • Case Study 1: Young man in UK, not affiliated with any organisation, studying medicine, Western dress. He wants to work in (Muslim) developing country, involved extensive in voluntary community work etc. He sees what he is doing as part of his personal commitment to Islam and to being a Muslim. • Case Study 2: Young man in UK, linked to Hijaz Community in which he has a leadership role, dresses in Muslim style with beard etc, responds to sudden death of his father by moving quickly into role of the responsible male for family.

13. THE CARING MALE 2 • Case Study 3: Young Bangladeshi man, Tablighi follower. “Our prophet led a humble and gentle life. We have to follow his sunnat.” On the issue of masculinity, he comments: “You can’t argue that Tablighi men lack masculinity. For example, Tablighi student perform well in their studies, their result is always good. Just because they avoid going to various cultural function, to department picnics and the like, it does not mean they are feminine or lack masculinity.”

14. FEMALE RESPONSES Group of girls at Shah Jalal University, Sylhet: • I saw some Tablighi men like this. It felt like there is a change in their personality. They’d become somewhat feminine (ektu meyeli), they become like this and they walk around in a strange way. Maybe it’s because they are cowards, because they are scared, that they go for religion. • These men look different because they wear panjabi, pajama, they have beards. They think they are different from others, they want to stay different. Maybe they don’t feel at ease speaking with other men, let alone speaking with women. Some of them are quite feminine (meyeli). • I think there are exceptions among them. We have a teacher in our department, he has tej [vigour, virility, power], what we expect from men, he is tejoshi. He wears panjabi, pajama and so on, but when you see him, you can tell he has tej in him. If a man is like this, then I have no problem. [from focus group by Santi Rozario]

15. THE END • Geoffrey Samuel, Cardiff University, UK • SamuelG@cardiff.ac.uk