On a cold March evening following an evening prayer at the Bey’s Mosque our group met at Morića Han10 for coffee and hot chocolate. This was our regular meeting place and time and included the earlier named core group of seven women. On this particular evening, despite the cold, we sat in the outside courtyard, why I do not recall. Dressed in layers of coats and woolen accessories, we huddled together at a corner table.
I was well positioned to hear everyone and listened as the conversations unfolded. The group started with just Mina, Belkisa, Badema and myself, but we were joined by four other women over the next couple of hours. Some wore headscarves [mahrama], others did not, and all were either attending University or already had their college degree and were employed. The conversation was engaging and the several women said they felt comfortable expressing their opinions without being judged negatively. Their emphasis on the ability to speak their minds was in part caused by what they said was the lack of
accepted spaces and conversations where their opinions deeply rooted in Islamic theology would be seen as valid. Although we all wore headscarves during the evening prayers, only Mina kept her scarf on after the prayer at the mosque because she wore it permanently, while the other women in the group had not made that commitment. Whether or not they
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wore a headscarf, the majority of the women in the group felt as if their faith and commitment to a conscious Muslim life was challenged on daily basis.
Mina revealed that she had been thinking of different ways for us (as a group) to draw more young people into a life of Islam. Although we had never before discussed this topic, the entire group quickly became engaged. Some suggested classes, meeting places, and innovative ways of mentoring and educating youth about the benefits of a life of piety. Belkisa suggested that the language of condescension in which young people were spoken to by most adults had to change. Mina agreed and added that the majority of religious leaders (aside from Bugari11) had a difficult time speaking to young adults because of the hierarchical nature of families, and even more so to teenagers. All agreed that teenagers in particular were a difficult group to access as their daily lives were filled with un-Islamic behaviors and values. Badema suggested that we take it upon ourselves to create a safe space/place for teenagers where they could come and talk about problems without feeling judged. Mina agreed and spoke of the need for young people to be listened to, rather than be punished and judged.12 Ultimately, the women all agreed that teenagers needed a better moral compass, and Bosnia was not a place where morality and integrity were emphasized as much as they needed to be.
I later asked Mina, who was 24 years old at the time, why she picked the topic of drawing youth into Islam. She answered that the lack of morality she observed in everyday life was her primary motivation for wanting to do something about it. She also told me that
11
Famous Bosnian imam (see description in footnote on page 308).
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there were fewer young people who were religious or who even knew anything about Islam. She felt it was important to create a network in which young people felt safe and not judged for a lack of knowledge about religious faith and practice. After all, they did not learn about how to be a Muslim at home, and they were certainly not going to learn it on the streets.
No immediate action came from this discussion, but Mina, Belkisa and Badema became more involved with their respective NGOs and they tried to recruit younger women to join them. Mina in particular worked hard to recruit more women to Kewser (a Muslim woman’s organization) and she was successful in getting few of her acquaintances and family members to join her at the organization and at local mosques and mesdžids. Badema and Belkisa brought dozens of women they met at different events and organizations to talks by Hafiz Bugari, to talks at mosques and to Nahla.
Another way in which women help build a cohesive moral space was through telling and retelling of stories that focused on Islam, a life of piety, and living one’s life as a good Muslim. In almost every meeting women told stories about the behavior of other pious women, or sometimes instances of deceit and false representation. They were trying to draw out moral lessons, learn from and impart their own experiences with other women in an environment that was safe and accepting.
Anthropological scholarship has shown that storytelling and narratives are often used to explain life experiences (Carbine 2010; Phillips 2005). In her discussion of the use of narrative as a tool in relaying traumatic experiences of African-American women following Hurricane Katrina, Carbine observed that, “From a theological viewpoint, narratives,
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especially from marginalized groups, carry potentially disruptive and constructive functions, namely to challenge and perhaps begin to change inadequate dominant and dominating visions of the common good” (Carbine 2010: 381). In a similar fashion, women in my faith- based network challenged what was considered good and appropriate in contemporary Bosnia. Moreover, small faith-based network support Carbine’s conclusion that narratives help marginalized groups reclaim public engagement, and make personal connections, both individual and communal (Carbine 2010). Most importantly, however, Carbine uses Hannah Ardent’s words in exclaiming that “the narrative or storytelling connects private and public spheres of life” (Carbine 2010: 384) and provides an adhesive that sustains the common life of these women. For my informants, storytelling allowed them to anticipate and deal with problematic and unexpected situations in their daily lives. As the following discussion demonstrates, small faith-based networks allowed women to connect their personal wishes and wants with other women, thereby combining the private and public spheres of life.
Another important meeting took place on a day in August of 2008. As usual, the women and I met at Morića Han to enjoy the summer sun filling the streets of Sarajevo. Often our meetings focused on religious texts, including the Qur’an and the Haddiths. In addition, we often discussed Islamic-related websites that many of the women monitored as they pertained to living a life of a conscious Muslim. Many of the women spent much time researching and reading about proper Islamic behavior, and they would often recount what they had learned recently that helped them be more pious. On one occasion Nihada, a woman in her mid-20s, brought up a story she had recently read on a Bosnian website for young Muslims in pursuit of piety. The story was about a man in his 20s who had married a
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pious Muslim woman (or so he thought) after both had completed their education at the Faculty of Islamic Studies. The man found out (or thought he found out) that the woman was not a virgin during their first night together, but because he was in love, he forgave her. Things seem to be going well until he realized that his apparently pious and veiled wife was seen walking around town with other men. When her infidelity was confirmed, the only option available for the man was divorce13.
This story was important because it characterized the typical discussion during our meetings. Every week a different topic of discussion was presented in the hope of drawing out a lesson that could be applied in day-to-day life. The moral of the story above was that one couldn’t judge a person by their appearance, but more important that anyone can be deceitful. In the opinion of my informants, the woman was not a good Muslim and,
moreover, she was a liar for tricking the young man into marrying her (or perhaps was faced with temptation she could not resist). Mina was very vocal that night about the shame that this woman’s behavior brought upon all other pious Muslim women. Specifically, Mina said that the story of infidelity and false appearances was devastating for her as it brought further challenges to the group’s own legitimacy as devout Muslim women. Mina, Belkisa and Badema all explained that this story made them worried about how pious men would perceive them. They worried that their own sexual purity would be questioned by men in general or their own prospective partners because of the un-pious behavior of this woman.
However, the most important concern that women drew from the story was to always be on their best behavior, always in pursuit of piety, and always living up to the
13
Although divorce is accepted in Islam, it is not a general practice among Muslims of Bosnia. However, all of my pious informants felt that the divorce should be avoided.
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duties and expectations of, what they defined, as a good Muslim. In particular, they decided that women wearing headscarves had a special responsibility to behave and represent Islam in accordance with duty.14 Badema also reacted to the story by relating a similar instance involving people she knew. Young women gasped as they listened to another story of betrayal involving (what appeared to people) a pious Muslim woman. The discussions of how pious Muslim women should behave often returned to the importance of appearances. Ironically, and against what Islamic feminist thought, indeed what all feminist thought suggests, these women’s focus on control of their own sexuality was a continued example of the way in which women make patriarchal bargains. This means that pious Muslim women replaced one set of rules about female sexuality (the secular values) with strict Islamic rules. In either case, women’s sexuality was controlled and in a highly contentious state. For women in this group sexuality was a woman’s rather than a man’s responsibility, meaning that sexuality and duty of a pious Muslim woman was her burden alone, and they all believed they had to do their best in addressing their responsibilities. These women’s experiences were an example of agency that did not resist, but rather upheld patriarchal structure (Mahmood 2005).
However, there were also benefits to living a life as a pious Muslim woman. For many women pious appearance, and particularly the wearing the hijab, provided them with a sense of protection and autonomy (Mahmood 2005; Mernissi 1998). Having recently put on the hijab, Devla said that,
14 The issues associated with responsibilities of pious Muslim women and the pressures to act in a certain way
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[women with a headscarf] were not burdened with those things as unveiled women. Starting with fashion, to please the society in how they dress, in a pressure to follow trends. One the year one thing is modern, the next another. It is exhausting15.
Mina recalled reactions against her since she began wearing the hijab. While her reasons for veiling were strictly “to please Allah,” she was not free of influence by her family, friends, and colleagues. Mina’s decision was deeply personal, and she took years to make the final decision. Because of the burden she felt to represent Islam properly (as pokrivena Muslimanka [covered Muslim woman]), she resisted for a long time, finally coming to terms with struggles she would have to face for the rest of her life. Mina recalls,
I was afraid… how was I going to get a job, I was afraid of what others would say. An architect, I was always ambitious, I wanted to do many things in my life and I was afraid that the headscarf would prevent me from that. With the current situation in the world in particular. Everyone looks at you with prejudice. Headscarf to them means uneducated, unfortunately. Then I realized that I cannot go through life afraid, that I needed to feel as a complete person. The headscarf made me a complete person.
Despite the day-to-day discrimination she was sure she would face later on, Mina said she was empowered by her decision to wear the hijab. It involved a struggle that required her to literally wear her choice on her body. Mina used her faith-based network as a support system in which she exercised her voice and simultaneously reinforced her decision to veil. It was the small faith-based networks to which she belonged that helped her make the final decision to live her life as a pobožna or prava Muslimanka. Despite negative comments and diminished opportunities (such as inability to find a job and being passed over for
15
There is quite a bit of variety in what is termed Islamic clothing or fashion. My pious informants referred to Turkish and Arab style dress. Turkish dress usually was colorful and involved flowing, soft and at times very light fabric, while Arab style clothing was black, made from basic cotton and very loose fitting (similar to the robes worn by women in Saudi Arabia).
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scholarship opportunities at the University), Mina transformed her deeply personal faith and practice into a public and political statement, and she committed herself to help other women make the same transition. By promoting and maintaining the control over her body and sexuality, Mina gained a sense of the self and in this way gained agency.
This discussion demonstrates some ways in which small faith-based networks helped a few young women deal with their struggles. Furthermore, building a network of like- minded women provided each of them with actual models of how to live as a conscious Muslim. Finally, the telling and retelling stories they heard or read was an important part of building a community by providing a moral compass for all members. Undoubtedly, this was one of the most important benefits of the network because many of the women had a difficult time explaining their beliefs and practice to those closest to them, their family.