Muslimska kvinnor i Israel : religionens roll i vardagslivets förflyttningar

Sammanfattning: This dissertation aims to contribute empirically and theoretically, to the field of Islamology and Religious Studies in general. It does so by investigating the possible relation between Israeli Muslim women’s choice of religious identification and their individual experiences in everyday life transitions. Many of these women are traveling daily from their hometowns or villages to the major cities in Israel to study or to work. Israeli statistics shows that the socio-economic status of Muslim women in the country have improved over time, and so has the number of Muslim women in Israel that are choosing religion as their dominant identification.The main methodological approach of this disertation is qualitative fieldwork conducted in Israel between 2009 and 2010. Empirically, this thesis presents a case study founded on interviews with several women. This material is complemented by statistics about Muslim women from various sources. Theoretically, the present thesis is inspired by the ideas of Alain Tourraine on individuals everyday life transitions. At the time of the interviews the women were between 19–26 years old. They all studied at universities in Israel, they all identified themself as religious and were all members of The Islamic Movement in Israel. In the interviews the women express how they understand their choice of religious identification and what religion means to them in everyday life. One chapter is devoted to a historical and statistical overview of Muslims in Israel that ends with specific data about Muslim women in Israel. The interviews are presented in five chapters. The first chapter, “Ummah”, presents how the interviewed women relate to other Muslims in the world. The second chapter discusses the “Prayer”; what prayer means to the women and why they pray. Another chapter examines how they discuss their clothing. A separate chapter is devoted to the women’s attitudes towards modernity. In the fifth chapter the women’s relationship to various interpretations of the Koran is discussed. In sum, this study of religious Muslim women in Israel advocates that it is significant to focus on everyday life transitions to understand why people chose religion in the construction of personal identities. Consequently, in an increasing global society humans are moving between surroundings that have overlapping, different and some times contradicting expectations on individuals. Hence, this thesis suggests that one way individuals negotiate and facilitate transitions in everyday life is through religious identification.