Vertrouwen op Allah

Abstract

This paper is about religious coping of young Dutch highly educated Muslim women from Moroccan families in their adaptation to Dutch highly secular society. We found in our qualitative research that these young women are confronted with all kinds of problems at home and in Dutch society. They adapt to Dutch values, norms and behaviour. Many of them are very successful in their careers. These young Dutch Muslim women are better able to cope with tensions that are triggered by cultural contradictions, social control, discrimination and racism in Dutch society when they use religious coping strategies. They find peace in positive religious reframing, seeking comfort from Allah, praying, listening to recitation of Koran, and the support of fellow believers. By using religious coping they transform their negative stigma and protect their self-esteem. So the effect of religious coping is that they feel personally better. This gives them strength but also confronts them with social control of fellow believers. This makes it less easy for them to express a deviant religious opinion and to follow their own personal religious choices.