Muslim Women in Interfaith Partnerships in Germany

Mona Feise-Nasr

doi:10.3390/rel13030193

Abstract

The number of Muslim-interfaith couples in European countries has become significant due to transnational migration and a growing number of Muslims living in Muslim Minority countries. While the challenges for partners in such unions are complex, this article focuses on the lived experiences of Muslim women in interfaith intimate relationships in Germa ny. Drawing on field interviews with women in mixed-faith relationships, the following questions are central: How do Muslim women conceptualize religious identity and practices? Do they face challenges from different groups (Muslim communities, their families, friends, etc.) and if so, how do these challenges manifest? If respondents create concepts of being Muslim for themselves, how do these evolve in their narratives? How do they question, adapt or discard theological and social demands? Preliminary results illustrate that some respondents would appreciate a Muslim community that accepts their positionality as intermarried Muslim women. Looking at the narration of religious practices and concepts of Muslimness in the interviews, it becomes clear that a classification as haram, or legally forbidden, puts a simple categorical bar in front of a socially and theologically complex context. The inquiry combines interview analysis with situational mapping and is informed by Grounded Theory methodology.

Highlights

Germany, alongside other European countries, has a significant Muslim minority population from diverse backgrounds, with complex identity connections and various religious practices
Islam prohibits interfaith marriage to Muslim women (“The present study reveals that some Turkish women do not know that a Muslim woman’s marriage to a non-Muslim husband is prohibited in Islam”, (Jawad and Elmali-Karakaya 2020, p. 18))
The data presented in this research was taken from five in-depth Muslim-interfaith couple interviews and two single interviews with Muslim women living in interfaith partnerships in Germany between December 2019 and July 2021

Summary

Introduction

Alongside other European countries, has a significant Muslim minority population from diverse backgrounds, with complex identity connections and various religious practices. Muslim women navigate a field of tension that infiltrates both their religious and their intimate agency with legal and social normativities They are confronted with opinions about the compatibility or incompatibility of being both (visible) Muslim and European. Visible religious practices, like clothing or praying in public spaces, regularly stir controversies and questions about radicalization (e.g., Der Tagesspiegel, 11 August 2019, (Fröhlich et al 2019)) Regardless of their individual degree of religiosity and to what extent and how they engage in religious practices, visibility—that is, being ‘out’ as Muslim or being interpreted as Muslim by one’s environment—intensifies an individual’s involvement. Women, especially their clothing, are regularly employed as yardsticks for Western ‘progressiveness’ towards imported ‘Oriental cultures’ in European countries.

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Conclusion