Muslim youth and the Mufti : youth discourses on identity and religious leadership under media scrutiny

Abstract

This thesis examines the influences and discourses that young people from an Arabic speaking and Muslim background experience and respond to in developing their understanding of community political events and community identity. The research has focussed on the evolution of diverse leadership of their community, and debates on leadership particularly in terms of key events involving media and the community in relation to Sheikh Taj el Din Al Hilaly as the Mufti of Muslims in Australia. It has also explored the various influences on young people from family, religious and peer mentors in shaping the discourses in which they engage. This study has focussed on young men of Muslim background because these men are often seen as the most vulnerable to influence from radical leaders. Based on interviews with young Arabic background Muslim males in South Western Sydney and an analysis of media representations of Islamic leadership focussing on a case study of events involving Sheikh al Hilaly in late 2006 and 2007, this research explores young Muslim men's perceptions of the role of the religious leader and what requirements they consider are necessary for religious leadership in the Australian Muslim community. The thesis argues that these young men, in a climate of negative portrayal of their religion, their leaders and their community, negotiate their needs for relevant religious leadership through internal criticism while maintaining public support for defiant Muslim leaders in order to restore personal dignity when enduring an Islamophobic climate. It also argues that these young men recognise the inadequacy of their leaders in addressing such Islamophobia and draw on a diverse array of strategies to maintain ontological security - in particular a religious 'framework of living' and the development of an authentic Australian Islamic culture. Without a suitable 'bridging dialogue' between Oriental and Occidental perceptions of the Muslim community their sense of place and identity is significantly affected and they are vulnerable to brotherhoods offering membership in an 'imagined community' of a global Ummah with a more Islamist message.

Date of Award	2009
Original language	English