Understanding the roles of imams in Sydney's Muslim communities

Abstract

In recent years, many Western countries, including Australia, have experienced increased immigration, with the accompanying issues surrounding religious diversity. Muslims in Australia may feel insecure, may experience a sense of spiritual segregation, and may struggle to adapt to their new environment, with their challenges including being able to accept the differences between Western culture and their own religion. Islamic leaders (imams) in Western countries are an important agent in helping Muslim immigrants to interact effectively with communities, to establish new and strong partnerships, identify future opportunities, and generally improve the experience of being Muslim in the West. This research seeks, by better understanding Muslim leadership in Sydney, to provide a new look at the cultural-religious character of imams in Muslim communities. It has addressed this through a combination of conceptualization and empirical data collection. Bourdieu’s work is adopted for this thesis in particular through his theorizing on habitus and field. The idea of the power of influence (or capital) that imams and Muslims possess as a consequence of their habitus in particular fields is based on this distinction as the values, principles, and cultural frames of imams and Muslims are embedded in their habitus and are a part of that habitus. The question is whether these values, principles, and frames are appropriate to the Muslim migrant experience and to the challenges they and their children confront in the Australian landscape. This study adopts qualitative methods, specifically through individual interviews with imams in Sydney and through observations of mosque activities. On the basis of the data emerging, these research findings are presented according to Aslan, Ersan-Akkiliç & Kolb’s (2015) typology of imams in relation to integration into the wider society. The typology of imams develops in four chapters devoted to empirical findings: ‘reform imams’, ‘bridge-builder imams’, ‘traditional imams’, and ‘imams with limited manoeuvrability’.

Date of Award	2022
Original language	English