Constituted Islam and Muslim Everyday Practices in Austria: the Diversity of the Ties to Religious O

Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs

ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/cjmm20

Constituted Islam and Muslim Everyday Practices in Austria: The Diversity of the Ties to Religious Organizational Structures and Religious Authorities in the Process of Change

Jonas Kolb

To cite this article: Jonas Kolb (2020) Constituted Islam and Muslim Everyday Practices in Austria: The Diversity of the Ties to Religious Organizational Structures and Religious Authorities in the Process of Change, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 40:3, 371-394, DOI: 10.1080/13602004.2020.1819129 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2020.1819129

Submit your article to this journal Article views: 529

View related articles View Crossmark data

Citing articles: 1 View citing articles

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=cjmm20 Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 2020 Vol. 40, No. 3, 371–394, https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2020.1819129

Constituted Islam and Muslim Everyday Practices in Austria: The Diversity of the Ties to Religious Organizational Structures and Religious Authorities in the Process of Change

JONAS KOLB

Abstract

In current debates, Muslims are often perceived as a homogeneous group of devout persons who one and all have close relations with mosque associations and regularly, for purely religious reasons, turn to such associations. However, such notions clash with the reality. This paper contrasts such generalizing ascriptions with a differentiated image close to actual life. On the basis of a comprehensive mixed-methods study, the spectrum and differentiation of the ties of Muslims to constituted Islam, over and beyond ethnic boundaries, are described. The analysis focuses on everyday experiences, views and activities; it also examines the process-driven character and virtualization through the Internet of religious life. The findings of the present study point up the changes religious authorities are experiencing, and just how ambivalent and diverse the relations of Muslims to religious organizational structures are or can be.

Keywords: everyday life practices; constituted Islam; lifeworlds; organizational structures; Muslim organizations; mosque associations; religious authorities; Austria; mixed- methods study

Introduction As a result of formal state recognition of Islam in 1912 in Austria, the legal situation of Muslims living in the country differs from that in other European states. In international comparative terms, Islam in Austria was given the status of a religious community quite early on.1 By means of the “Law on Islam” (the so-called “Islamgesetz”), the Muslim population was basically accorded the same rights as the members of other religious communities in Austria.2 Despite the long history of Islam and Muslims in Austria, academic research on this subject has for decades remained marginal. It was largely not until the 9/11 incident in

Jonas Kolb is an Assistant Professor at the Institute for Islamic Theology and Religious Pedagogy at the University of Innsbruck. He gained a doctorate in sociology at the Goethe-University Frankfurt and his research is focused on religiosity, everyday religious practice and Muslim lifeworlds, as well as ethnicity, ethnic minority studies and migration.

© 2020 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. 372 Jonas Kolb

2001 in New York that Islam and the Muslims in Europe began to attract more interest in research.3 In the last two decades, an extensive and multifaceted spectrum of studies and publications focused on these topics have appeared. The majority of those studies center mainly on legal, historical or political questions, or provide general surveys of Islam in Austria.4 In addition, since the beginning of the civil war in Syria and a spate of crimes such as attacks by Islamic terror organizations, numerous studies have appeared dealing with religious fundamentalism, radicalism, extremism or related prevention efforts in this sphere.5 In recent years there have also been increased efforts to investigate Muslim lifeworlds,6 milieus and everyday religious practices in the Muslim population.7 It must be noted that generally within scientific research, examination to a substantial degree has concentrated usually on devout Muslims who in most cases also maintain close ties to mosques or religious associations. But a consequence flowing from that is the corresponding constriction of the Muslim presence in the media and the public sphere.8 That is because this prioritizing along religious lines indirectly functions to support one-dimensional perspectives and stereotyping, which proceed from the essen- tializing assumption that the Muslim population is a homogeneous group of highly religious persons who practice their religion consistently, all in largely the same manner. And such stereotypical views assume concomitantly that as a rule Muslims have close ties to mosque associations, and frequent such associations regularly for mainly religious motives and reasons.9 This also awakens the impression that among Muslims there are no critical attitudes toward mosque associations or religious umbrella organizations. Yet such conceptions do not correspond with reality. The present article seeks to coun- terpose a differentiated, realistic, true-to-life picture over against such misleading con- structions. However, it is necessary to mention here that the focus on constituted Islam is by no means odd or inappropriate, since from the recognition by the state in 1912 and the formal constitution of the Islamic Community of Faith in Austria (Islamische Glaubens- gemeinschaft in Österreich, IGGÖ) in 1979 as a recognized statutory body under public law, a multifaceted landscape of constituted Islam has come into being. The term “constituted Islam” describes the existence of organized religious structures—such as mosque associations, Muslim umbrella organizations and representative organizations —as well as acknowledged religious authorities. In the life of Muslims, the constituted organizational structures and authorities often have a very great significance. In addition, they shape the face and image of a religion and dominate its public perception and perceptibility.10 There are in turn at best only estimates regarding the degree of organization of Muslims in religious institutions; and to date there are no reliable data.11 However, studies dealing with organized religious structures that proceed as point of departure from Muslim daily religious practices and the plurality and diversity of Muslim lifeworlds remain an exception. In this connection, Martin Petzke and Hartmann Tyrell also speak of a “blind spot”12 when it comes to organizations. The international state of research is also deficient in this respect. For that reason, the present paper, based on an extensive empirical study, deals with the relation between constituted structures and Muslim diversity, and seeks in so doing to contribute to closing the research and information gap noted here. Before analyzing the position of the Muslim population in Austria today, the paper sketches the historical basic features of organized religious structures in Austria. It then discusses constituted organizational structure in theory and seeks to illuminate selected studies that deal in particular with the relations of Muslim believers toward religious insti- Constituted Islam and Muslim Everyday Practices in Austria 373 tutions. Following that the empirical basis of this article is illustrated. The paper then moves on to describing the diversity and differences in the positions, views and practices of the Muslim population in relation to constituted Islam, drawing on empirical analyses, statements in interviews and socio-demographic data. Subsequently, the paper discusses thoughts and reflections dealing with the dynamic processual character of religious life, the digital virtualization of aspects of religion and the changes manifest among religious authorities as well as the implications of the diversity of ties to constituted religious structures.

Muslims in Austria and the Genesis of Organized Religious Structures The history of Islam in Austria is rooted on one hand in the expansion of the Habsburg Empire, on the other in the settlement in Austria of the so-called “guest workers” in the 1960s and ‘70s.13 Since then Islam in Austria has been divided into two main currents: an Islam marked by a Bosnian tenor as well as an Islam with a distinctive Turkish coloration. Past decades have witnessed a significant numerical upsurge in the Muslim population in Austria, and there has been notable differentiation in its makeup. A projection in 2017 estimated the size of the Muslim population at some 700,000.14 Approximately half of the Muslims living in Austria have Austrian citizenship. This segment is very non-homogeneous, since the persons involved have very different migrant backgrounds. The majority have roots in Turkey. The second-largest population group is of Bosnian–Her- zegovinian origin.15 Muslims of Shi’itic faith or with Arab migration background are tra- ditionally present in smaller percentages. The genesis of constituted Islam in Austria is bound up inseparably with the compo- sition of the Muslim population. Included under the concept of constituted Islam, drawing on the differentiation of Flemming Mikkelsen,16 are organizations, associations or federations in the Muslim population that pursue religious aims. Of special relevance in this connection are on one hand the IGGÖ, which on the basis of its character as the official representative organization for religious matters of the Muslims living in Austria and as a statutory body under public law must be classified under state-sponsored organizations.17 On the other, there are also autonomous mosque associations,18 which for the most part are connected with transnational movements, but can also constitute homegrown organizations.19 The legal status of a religion officially recognized by the state by the “Law on Islam” of 1912 was initially solely accorded to the “religious society of the adherents of Islam according to the Hanafitic rite”.20 However, due inter alia to World War I and World War II, the attempt to institutionalize was interrupted for several decades.21 The estab- lishment of a representative organization of Muslim believers under public law did not come about until 1979 with the constitution of the IGGÖ.22 This organization functions as the central service office for affairs specific to Islam, such as marriages according to Islamic rites of matrimony or for matters associated with the Muslim cemetery in Vienna. It is also responsible for Islamic religious instruction in the public schools in Austria, which has been offered since the school year 1982–83.23 The increasing pluralization from the 1980s onwards also impacted the IGGÖ itself. The restriction of the Law on Islam to the confines of one among many Muslim orientations was repeatedly the focus of criticism. Numerous Muslim orientations and denominations felt that as a result they had been excluded from the IGGÖ or were not represented by this body.24 Significant changes in this connection occurred in May 2013: since then the Islamic Alevite Religious Community in Austria (ALEVI) has 374 Jonas Kolb enjoyed the status of a religious society under public law.25 Alongside this, in recent years various other Islamic communities of faith have acquired the legal status of an “officially registered religious denomination”.26 The landscape of the autonomous, self-administered mosque associations in turn is in Austria highly diverse, reflecting the diversity of the structure of the Muslim population. Heinisch and Mehmedi put the number of “Islamic associations” in Austria, which comprises all types of organizations with religious aims administered by and catering to Muslims at ca. 600.27 The topography of mosque associations is structured by umbrella organizations active transnationally, distinguished by a specific ethnic and political direction.28 The different umbrella organizations were often established after the Muslim immigrants had already been living many years in the country and the idea on their return to their country of origin had gradually faded. The largest of them, for example, are the Turkish-Islamic Union in Austria (ATIB), the Islamic Federation (IF), the Union/Society of Islamic Cultural Centers in the Austrian Alpine Region (UIKZ/ VIKZ) and the Association of Bosnian Islamic Societies in Austria (IZBA). There are numerous mosque associations belonging to the umbrella organizations, which since the amendment of the Law on Islam in 2015,29 are for their part required to formally register with the IGGÖ. The associations are subject to Austrian law of associations and function as juridical persons that can maintain prayer halls. However, neither the Austrian state nor the IGGÖ provides any financial support for the mosque associations. Rather they are financed by fees and donations that are covered by the members of mosque associations with only a few exceptions.30

Theoretical Perspectives The relation between religion and organizations is often viewed as problematic in the social-scientific literature. That is sometimes explained by noting that religious institutions are reluctant to be placed on the same level as other “profane” organizations, such as banks or sports associations.31 In this perspective, what is questioned is the basic compatibility of religion and organization,32 an aspect that gains further brisance in the context of the question of secularization.33 Correspondingly, from the perspective of the sociology of religions, it is by no means assumed that religious experiences and convictions necessarily lead to religious organizational structures or go hand in hand with such structures. Such an occurrence is deemed more the exception than the rule.34 That conception is also espoused in particular by advocates of the thesis of secularization, who proceed in their thinking from a shifting of religious life into the private sphere and a concomitant decline of the significance of religion in society resulting from such a shift.35 But as a consequence, this would also mean that a successive de-institutionalization36 of religion was taking place. Yet that such tendencies occur in empirical reality is generally regarded as doubtful or also denied. Rather for quite some time now, instead of a disap- pearance or loss of significance of religion, there is instead talk of a return of religions.37 A further aspect frequently discussed in the literature is the question regarding how religion and religious organizational structure should be characterized, and what dis- tinguishes the ties of believers to religious institutions. Explicit and unambiguous modes of belonging to religions are by no means the normal case. Thus, Hartmann Tyrell and Martin Petzke stress that that one cannot necessarily presuppose, according to the paradigm of baptized Christians, “a generally ‘monogamous’ relation of an individual to his religion”.38 Rather, they argue, definitely conceivable are also multiple religious belongings or ties to differing traditions of faith or cults. In any case, it is critical that one Constituted Islam and Muslim Everyday Practices in Austria 375 questions to what extent within currents of Islamic faith there is a “religion of membership” operative, and whether that mode of religion must be connected with a religious organization representing it. In addition, religious organizational structures are closely linked with religious authorities. The organizations themselves, clerics or particular theological doctrines can be considered as constituting such authorities. In regard to Islam, it is often de facto the case that what is involved is a collective concept of various currents of faith, whose adherents often have a critical view or even reject the homogenizing character of a monolithic understanding of religion, and also critique the notion of an institutional umbrella organization for all believers, such as the Catholic Church. To be sure, there is to a certain extent qua birth a bond from the cradle among the young to the respective current of faith of the parents. However, a membership in a constituted organizational structure necessarily springing from that is alien to the currents. In addition, there are in the German-speaking area various Muslim umbrella organizations that are organized along ethnic lines and in the form of mosque associations at the local level; they constitute a multiple-voiced choir of religious authorities and compete for leading the representation of “authentic Islam”.39 In Austria, the IGGÖ is a statutory body under public that exists as a state-recognized constituted organ of representation, so to speak, whose structures envelop the relations (not always free of tension and conflict) of the various umbrella organizations among each other and their inclusion in the IGGÖ.40 The number of studies dealing with the relations of Muslim believers to religious organizations is strikingly scant in the German-speaking area. Knowledge about these relations can initially also be culled from the literature about migrant organizations.41 This sphere of research is relevant because all Muslim umbrella organizations and mosque associations in Austria were established by Muslims possessing a specific ethnic-cultural background and are supported by these persons, whether from the first, second or third generation. Muslims without a migrant background, such as converts to Islam, who visit mosque associations or are active there, comprise by contrast only a small percentage of the Muslim population in Austria. There are likewise hardly any mosque initiatives extending over and beyond ethnic-cultural lines of demarcation, since they “have previously failed due to the lack of unity and competition amongst the various Muslim organizations”.42 Nonetheless, one such exception is the Islamic Center in Vienna. It serves now and again as a sacred destination and gathering point for Muslims whose ethnic origin is not as yet correspondingly represented in the form of their own religious organizational structures within the Austrian landscape of mosque associations. Ludger Pries43 is vehement in pointing to a central insight in scientific inquiry on migrant organizations. Thus, he notes critically that migrant organizational structures all too often are examined solely in reference to the maintenance of identity or integration and orientation pertaining to migrant arrival or place of origin. But such a narrow, restricted view appears to be too one-dimensional in order to properly decode and properly analyze the relations of persons from a migration background interacting with organizations. Rather, migrant organizations as such—like Muslim constituted structures as well—are characterized as collective actors by a range of many-sided, diverse, and often likewise ambivalent aims, whose processes are principally carried out by persons themselves from a migration background, and who seek to address and promote migration-specific issues and topics. Building on this finding, we can specify first of all, in a fundamental sense, that the goals and purposes of Muslim organizational structures are basically oriented toward 376 Jonas Kolb seeking to facilitate implementation of religious norms by practicing Muslim believers and to satisfy their religious needs. Correspondingly, mosque associations have a distinctive multifunctional character in Austria. It is true that their facilities should be primarily understood as a space for prayer or a place of sacred devotion. But alongside that they are also a venue for meeting others, a place for shared leisure time activities, a locus for religious education, a hall for staging events, an ambit for political discussion and a space where relations to countries of origin or ethnic-cultural traditions are fostered.44 However, within the non-Muslim majority society, or in media and political debates, often expectations are voiced for mosque associations to contribute to making the Muslim population feel more at home in their country of migration or be better integrated into it.45 Thus, a more in-depth analysis of Muslim organizational structures must take into account all these various functions and aims. It cannot reductively limit itself to the question of the theological orientation of an association or organization. In addition, a debate on religious authorities that are closely intertwined with the organizational structures is indispensable in this context. As official entities, they function alongside the constituted institutions themselves and the theological schools of law (madhhab) and various currents,46 in particular the imams in the mosque associations. As religious scholars, the imams are accorded a prominent, highly visible role as especially significant religious authorities. This is also a result of their broad spectrum of tasks in the communities, which necessitate that they have a profound knowledge of the Qur’an and theological literature, have proven abilities as public speakers and can guide and lead religious rituals (required prayers, Friday congregational prayers, etc.). They also must be engaged with a range of pastoral duties, and take on organizational tasks. In sum, they have to have an open ear around the clock for the concerns and issues of the community members that are in some way connected with religious questions.47 In the scientific studies to date that have investigated constituted Muslim organizational structures, their orientation is almost exclusively to approaches looking either at the role of imams,48 problem areas and fields of tension, such as conflicts over mosque construction,49 or the questions posed by integration policy.50 In turn, along with such perspectives there are also a number of different studies that seek to analyze, from an institutionalist or organization-sociological viewpoint, the process of constituting Muslim organizational structures and their potential for shaping circumstances as political actors.51 Of great importance in the Austrian context are the analyses by Kroißenbrunner dealing with the sociopolitical networks of Turkish migrants.52 Her work is one of the few studies centering on various Muslim umbrella organizations, including the Islamic Federation (IF) and the Union of Islamic Cultural Centers (UIKZ), with analysis from a comparative perspective. The main focus of her study is on the analysis of the ideologi- cal orientation, the design and implementation of association activities and networking with organizations in the majority Austrian society. The analysis by Karl M. Reiser is another important publication in this connection. It deals with identity and interest politics within Turkish migrant organizations in Vienna. Various umbrella organizations were investigated and compared. An aim Reiser identified that all institutions shared is the “identificatory strengthening of the adolescents, since otherwise they run the risk of being ‘ground down’ between the cultures”.53 Reflected in this intention is the internal organizational focus on the “homeland” as well as the plan to preserve this orientation in regard to cultural, ethnic and social questions in subsequent generations in the future. However, at the same time conversely one Constituted Islam and Muslim Everyday Practices in Austria 377 can also note that incorporating Muslim associations into the organizational structures of the IGGÖ goes hand in hand with an intensified orientation toward Austrian political contexts. While the studies by Reiser and Kroißenbrunner focus on the functionaries of the constituted structures, some studies examine other focal themes. For example, in her work Eine Wellenlänge zu Gott,54 Gerdien Jonker has provided a detailed analysis of the German Association of Islamic Cultural Centers (VIKZ55), in which she sheds revealing light on the relation of Muslim believers and religious organizational structures as exem- plified in this specific umbrella organization. Werner Schiffauer, in turn, differentiated in his study Nach dem Islamismus56 various Muslim milieus that support the umbrella organization Islamic Community Milli Görüs¸57 in Germany and shape differing areas of respon- sibility within the organizational structures. There he sketches the trajectory of the umbrella organization Milli Görüs¸, extending from its origins as an anti-Western organization with an Islamicist orientation on to a pragmatic advocacy group for the interests of German-Turkish Muslims anchored in democracy. In his ethnographic analysis, he takes into due account both community members and institutional functionaries. In a further publication,58 Schiffauer investigates in particular, seen through a lens based on the politics of education, the relation between the school, parental home and the mosque, here also illuminating the interior life of select religious organizational structures. As a rule, as manifest in an overview of the present state of research, the Muslim population segment from a Turkish migrant background is particularly frequent as an object of research, while other Austrian Muslims are neglected. For the most part the focus is on an umbrella organization or an ethnic-cultural population group. By contrast, little or no attention is paid to Muslim diversity over and beyond ethnic boundaries. Moreover, the viewpoints of community members are basically included in research studies only in exceptional cases. In the main, in empirical analyses especially the standpoints of functionaries in religious organizations are given consideration.59 The ways of thinking of Muslims who have no place in the structures as members, and no say in the functions and processes of the organizations are left out totally in most cases. Hardly anything is known about the views, attitudes, wishes and expectations of these Muslims and potential community members. There are at present no studies whatsoever about what motivates them. This constitutes a veritable blind spot in research.

Diversity and Difference in Ties to Constituted Islam The empirical data on which the present analysis is based was gathered in the framework of a research project, whose core findings were published in the book Muslimische Diver- sität.60 The study’s focus was an analysis of everyday religious practice. Based on Charles Y. Glock’s multiple-dimensional model of religiosity,61 an open approach was thus pursued to the object of investigation, corresponding to the attitude of lived religion.62 A theoretical perspective was adopted interested particularly in the question: what does a person do or not do as a consequence of his/her religiosity in designing and shaping their everyday way of life—on the job, in the family, in one’s circles of friends and acquaintances? In a fundamental sense, religiosity here was understood as something changing, fluid, developing and emergent in daily practice.63 The relation of Muslims to mosque associations, societies and religious authorities was also examined in connection with this attitude. This angle in inquiry was pursued because only such a methodological perspective is able to illuminate the diverse complexity of the relations believers 378 Jonas Kolb have with constituted religious organizational structures and what significance these have for the everyday practical lifeworlds of these Muslims. The empirical study was distinguished by a mixed-methods approach and encom- passes a qualitative and a quantitative phase. Both deal with the same phenomenon, the specific shape and manifestation of everyday religious practice; however, each devel- ops a different methodological angle. In the overall view they mutually supplement each other and should thus be understood as complementary. In the first phase, qualitative guided interviews were conducted with 71 interviewees. In the quantitative survey in phase two, there were 700 respondents. The sample of the two study components is balanced in each case and reflects as far as possible the demographic basic structure of the Muslim population in Austria.64 In sampling all persons were viewed as potential interviewees and thus as members of the basic totality of individuals who refer to themselves as Muslims—quite aside from the concrete character of their individual faith or their personal religiosity. The reason for this approach was to prevent an unintentional pre-selection of those to be interviewed—and also to take Muslims correspondingly into account in the sample who tend to be little religious or who have no relation to mosque associations or Muslim organizations.65 The analysis of the data revealed a diversity and difference in the ties of Muslims with constituted organizational structures and religious authorities. Five differing forms were identified within the empirical data: (I) unconditional dedication, (II) pragmatically grounded ties, (III) emancipated, self-determined approaches, (IV) situational and temporary reference points and (V) stringent rejection of constituted religious structures.66 Positions regarding so-called constituted Islam can be linked to three aspects. On one hand, emphasized first and foremost is the practical, everyday importance for the respective Muslim believers of self-administered mosque associations or religious institutions, whether homegrown organizations or organizations affiliated with a transnational move- ment. Of relevance in this connection are the question of membership, the engagement in mosque associations, the regularity of attendance and the motives for the visit to the mosque association. On the other, the positions people have toward the IGGÖ as a state-financed Muslim representative advocacy organization are examined. Finally, the analysis goes on to look at positions in respect to religious authorities such as imams as well as to doctrinal norms of theological schools of law and their everyday practical relevance for the interviewees. These three aspects are dealt with to a differential degree in connection with the five different behavioral forms of dealing with constituted organizational structures, depend- ing on the available data. The following description has utilized both qualitative and quantitative data, and central importance is accorded the interview material.

(I) Unconditional Dedication to Religious Authorities as a Felt Duty The first form of how Muslim believers relate to constituted religious organizational structures is characterized by an unconditional dedication to the religious authorities. This is practiced by highly religious67 Muslims, who in addition are at the same time markedly conservative in their social values. This segment maintains very close ties to mosque associations and societies. A total of 42.2% in this category are members in a mosque association (among an additional 8.4% a family member is organized in such an organization), a notably high percentage in comparison with the total sample (18.3%). The fact that female Muslims are not a member in a mosque association (or no-one from their family is) does not exclude either their visit to the mosque for religious Constituted Islam and Muslim Everyday Practices in Austria 379 reasons or social activities in a mosque association. That is because membership is not a prerequisite for being able to participate in the Friday prayer or participating jointly in reciting the ritual obligatory prayers in a mosque. The figures mentioned still provide but scant insight into the relation and the everyday practical importance of constituted religious organizational structures for the respondents. Such insights only emerge by inclusion of the qualitative data, i.e. the perspectives as voiced of the interviewed subjects. In any event, in those interviews it becomes clear that the Muslims involved as a whole spend a substantial segment of their free time in religious facilities and as a rule construct their social network around religious organizations or proceeding out from them. Attend- ance at a mosque occurs as a rule for genuinely religious motives. In this segment of the Muslim population the religious pillars of Islam, such as ritual prayer or the command- ment to fast, are viewed as axiomatic, irreversible religious duties that require unconditional obedience; questioning them is not countenanced. The everyday way of life, customs, life styles are all oriented to religious rules and precepts and a strict interpret- ation of the Qur’an. Thus, predominant here is a way of approaching religion that is primarily conscious of duty and guided by rules and regulations. This understanding is reflected for example in the case of a 39-year-old mother from a Turkish migrant background living in Vienna and working in a kindergarten predomi- nantly attended by Muslim children. The woman always performs the ritual prayers regularly at the prescribed times for obligatory prayer, and at her workplace she also makes no compromises in this respect—over against religion and its importance in her everyday life, her working life is relegated to a secondary position and plays a subordinate role. She says she’s simply a Muslim, to the core, around the clock. For this Vienna-based Muslim woman, to do her job without the obligatory prayers that occur during her working hours is out of the question unless an absolutely exceptional situation should arise. The guarantee by her employer to be allowed to perform the obligatory prayer in one’s workplace is for her the prerequisite condition on her part to accept a job offer at all in the first place. Moreover, she rejects the option to post- pone the obligatory prayers that fall during her time at work, a mode of action that also is permitted by Islamic theological precepts. Similar is the position taken by a 30-year-old male born in Turkey, who has been living in Austria much of his life and also attended a number of years of his schooling in Austria. He lives in a joint household together with his parents, his wife and additional family members in a city in the federal state of Carinthia, where he works as a non-skilled laborer without an apprenticeship certificate in a family-owned restaurant. He was brought up in a very religious manner. That is primarily manifested in his attitude toward the pillars of Islam, regarding which he thinks no compromises are permissible: Everything that’s part of Islam has to be accepted. If someone says in talking about the five obligations: ‘I don’t like one of them!’ Then he’s no longer a Moslem. Or if someone says: ‘I don’t believe in this one!’ Then he’s no longer a Muslim. You have to accept all of it. That there is no God but Allah. To believe in his books, in the angels, you understand? We all have to abide by the obligation in Islam, and you have to believe everything that the imam says too.68 In declaring Muslims who think they can take certain liberties in respect to the religious pillars and obligations not to be Muslims, he is actively engaging in takfir, the accusation of apostasy, saying someone is “impure”. He thus considers Muslims who in daily life neglect the religious regulations, such as the obligatory prayer, or consciously do not practice it, to be apostates, non-Muslims. Aside from his time on the job and within the family, 380 Jonas Kolb he spends the predominant segment of his free time in the local Turkish mosque, which belongs to one of the large Turkish transnational umbrella organizations. His relation toward religious authorities, such as imams, is marked by a striking readiness for sub- mission. This dedication on his part is unconditional and he regards it as an obligatory duty. This also goes hand in hand with a tendency toward social withdrawal into a homogeneous religious milieu. Thus, the private contact and friendships of this 30-year-old Carinthian are totally restricted to highly religious Muslim circles. He does not engage in social relations with non-Muslims away from his workplace and the mosque. More- over, he very consciously foregoes any contact with non-religious persons. Muslims who maintain such a bond with constituted religious structures are familiar with the IGGÖ, they also are desirous of a strong Islamic voice in public and political debates and an Islamic representation of interests. However, at the same time criticism is also voiced regarding Islam becoming a “church-like institution”, a process that also may go hand in hand with the existence of the IGGÖ. By this they understand on one hand a homogenization of various different currents of faith, and on the other a rupture with Islamic traditions. The direct reference point instead for those involved is principally the local mosque. Such a bond with constituted religious organizations is maintained by approximately 14% of the total sample. Heavily represented in this segment are age groups above the age of 41 as well as first-generation migrants. The latter constitute a total of 84.7% of the Muslims who perceive unconditional dedication to religious authorities as a binding duty.

(II) Pragmatically Grounded Ties of an Ambivalent Nature Along with unconditional dedication there is a second form of relations by Muslim believers with constituted religious organizational structures, marked by a pragmatic bond. It is adhered to by Muslims who likewise are highly religious, but who are moderately conservative in their value orientation, and who in some cases may also espouse liberal-minded, cosmopolitan positions to some extent. In connection with this form of practice as well, there is an above-average degree of organization in comparison with the total sample. Thus, 26.2% of those persons involved are themselves members of a mosque association, among an additional 6.5% at least one family member is organized in such a religious institution. The pragmatic approach to mosque associations, Muslim institutions and religious authorities is marked by an ambivalent and at times conflicting character. On one hand, Muslims who cultivate such a bond are highly religious and regularly visit mosques or prayer halls frequently for genuinely religious reasons, for example, to attend Friday prayers or to perform the ritual obligatory prayers. But on the other, there is doubtless among them a certain skepticism toward religious authorities. Exemp- lary in this regard are the views of a 39-year-old janitor of Turkish migrant family origin, born and raised in Austria. He is a member of a Turkish mosque association in Vienna that does not belong to any of the transnationally active umbrella organizations, but rather should be classified as a homegrown organization. The family man and father of several children attends the weekly Friday prayers in the mosque association to the extent that his duties on the job permit. But generally, he has certain problems and mis- givings when it comes to the attitude toward religious norms and regulations in everyday life espoused and preached by the imam to the community members: Constituted Islam and Muslim Everyday Practices in Austria 381

I think he [the imam (J. K.)] maybe can live that way and practice it, yes. Yet for us that’s a bit harder though. Like you can’t always practice it the way you’d like to.69 The family man and father draws a clear boundary between the imam (“he”) and “us”, the latter meaning the mosque community, and thus especially the working men. He reproaches the imam, saying he lacks practical experience as a worker and that it is easy for him to talk since he himself has not experienced the constraints of occupational life. He says that as one of the few Muslims in Austria, he (the imam) can fulfill the religious pillars without compromise in everyday life and live in harmony with those pillars and precepts. This janitor stresses however that this is impossible for employed community members working in industry, in craft trades or in the service sector. They simply have to adapt pragmatically to external conditions, especially to the possibilities that working life, family life and leisure time activities can offer, even if you are not happy with that. The 39-year-old family man thus explains his approach to religious questions and to constituted organizational structures and religious authorities not only via religious obligations and binding norms. Rather the central yardstick in this connection is everyday suitability. Nonetheless, the Vienna-based janitor does not question his membership in a mosque association. The fact that he is a dues-paying member and plans to remain one is something he justifies by referring, on one hand, to the maintenance of regional, cultural and religious traditions, and on the other by solidarity and a sense of shared community: Sure, I’m a member of the mosque association there. But only in order like to support it, so to speak. So that they’ve got a monthly income. The 10 Euros or whatever that’s deducted there from my account, like that’s a form of support. That don’t have any other reason, like for me now.70 Many pragmatically oriented Muslims are members of a mosque association, notwithstanding the fact that they may possibly have their doubts about the authority of the imam and that they also pay their monthly dues on the basis of solidarity. By no means is such an approach to constituted religious organizational structures pursued only in large cities like Vienna. A 28-year-old family man from a Turkish migrant background, born and raised in Austria and working in a metal-processing factory in a small town in the federal state of Lower Austria, shares that attitude. His children attend Qur’an lessons in the Turkish mosque association, inter alia because the Islamic religious education at the public school they go to is insufficient when it comes to acquiring religious knowledge as he hopes his children should actually have. He thinks that his children’s attendance at religious lessons in the mosque is of central importance for them so that they can later be able to live their everyday life in keeping with the pillars of Islam. Because of that, on weekends the entire family spends considerable time at the mosque facility. In addition, for this factory worker there are also certainly religious motives that play an important role in his close bonding with the mosque association, where he occasionally (but not regularly) performs his obligatory prayers. It belongs to the ATIB, the largest Turkish and transnationally active umbrella organization. Over and beyond that, the mosque association also has an important meaning for this family man and father, because the rooms at the association facility also provide a venue for events and serve as a social meeting place for young and old in the community. In this sense, constituted religious facilities in smaller towns and the countryside often can play a greater role for Muslims than in urban social spaces. 382 Jonas Kolb

In turn, Muslims with a pragmatic approach to constituted religious organizational structures are likewise familiar with the IGGÖ. However, in this case most commonly there is no close bond, because the IGGÖ is actually perceived exclusively in a functional respect, namely as an organization for representation of Muslim interests in Austria. For persons concerned the direct reference point is the local mosque association. Yet criticism, for example along the lines that Islam is becoming a “church-like institution”,is not articulated. Rather the persons concerned in this contingent of believers hope to achieve a concrete influence aiming at pragmatic concerns, such as the recognition of Muslim holidays. A pragmatic approach to constituted religious organizational structures is especially widespread within the Muslim population in Austria. Some 30% of the sample pursues such an approach. There is a tendency for ties characterized as pragmatic to be cultivated by first-generation migrants.

(III) Emancipated, Self-determined Approaches There is a marked difference between the first two forms of relating and emancipated, self-determined approaches. However, Muslims who have these attitudes toward constituted religious organizational structures and religious authorities, who can be classified as highly religious believers, at the same time also espouse cosmopolitan, liberal orientations and sets of values. This is manifested, for example, in the fact that those involved often practice ways of life and forms of relating that deviate from traditional models. Such as when they have partners and live in a stable relationship, cohabitating, but without being formally married to their partner. Membership in mosque associations is significantly lower among Muslims who cultivate emancipated approaches to constituted religious organizational structures than among other highly religious believers. 14.1% are members in a mosque association, and a similar number have a close relative who is a member. The low degree of organization here is an expression of the fact that this form of dealing with Islam tends to view religious institutions with a certain amount of skepticism. A partial distance also certainly exists vis-à-vis the IGGÖ, but especially toward mosque associations and umbrella organizations. Here the approach to religious questions is mainly individually oriented, and marked by a strong sense of piety. The religious emotions comprise a personal search for meaning in life and the quest for a source of spiritual support. Religious norms, such as the ritual obligatory prayers, are practiced, however not continuously, and not always at the prescribed times—but rather especially when there is an individual felt need for nearness to God. This self-determined, individualistic approach is also manifest in the attitude toward mosque associations, umbrella organizations and religious authorities, such as theological schools of law. In the main, theological interpretations and views of the imams are regarded as too traditionalistic or too conservative. Religious regulations and norms are frequently understood by the individuals involved as traditional cultural customs that contradict their own life realities. One such example entails the precept that the practice of the Friday prayer should only be carried out by male Muslims or should take place with gender spatial separation of those praying. Among persons who follow self-determined approaches to religious questions there are occasionally efforts to challenge such norms. Thus, for example, a 28-year-old Muslim woman in Vienna, from a Serbian-Sandžak migrant family background, comments: Constituted Islam and Muslim Everyday Practices in Austria 383

I recently have been going to the Friday prayer, something that up to now I’ve never done. Because earlier I thought that the Friday prayer is something only men par- ticipatein.Atleastthat’sthewayitisinBosnia[…]. One of my acquaintances pointed out to me that this is only a tradition that has nothing to do with Islam.71 This pregnant woman thinks it is a tradition that is only something social and not religious or theological in origin when participating in the Friday prayer is reserved only for males, or is done with the sexes separated. Since it is her concern to carry out that prayer ritual, she now practices this in a Vienna mosque where she can attend the Friday prayer together with her female co-believers without any separation between the genders. The Bosnian association that operates the mosque does not belong to any transnational umbrella organization but rather can be classified as a homegrown organization. Despite the fact that she has been visiting the mosque association fairly regularly more recently, she is not a member there. However, for the sake of completeness it should be mentioned that participation by Muslim women in the Friday prayer without any separation between the genders is by no means readily possible in every mosque and every “ethnic” community. Although their participation is not explicitly denied them, many obstacles lie in its path. Usually needed is the active support for this on the part of the imams. Yet the imams do not have a completely free hand in the mosques where they are engaged. Rather, they are dependent in what they do on the approval and support of the mosque community.72 Another interviewee, a female convert from a Serbian migrant background living in Carinthia, notes that she no longer is participating in the Friday prayer due to the limited spatial situation in a Bosnian mosque association in her residential area. She says the prayer rooms provide too little place, and she also avoids the glances and physical proximity of the male Muslims taking part in the prayer: There are really only men there and I don’t wish to be stared at. I feel uncom- fortable then going to pray. And besides, I’m always the only woman there.73 This mosque association can also be characterized as a homegrown organization. The young woman has not been granted membership there. But Muslim women who pursue an emancipated, self-determined approach to religious questions are not only skeptical about constituted organizational structures but are also skeptical when it comes to traditional religious authorities. They have their doubts in particular regarding theological schools of law, since such schools clash with a solely subjective approach to religious questions. That is manifest in commentary by the Muslim woman from a Serbian-Sandžak migrant background mentioned earlier. She notes: I don’t belong to any Muslim school of law, because that also tends to scare me off a bit. I mean, like I would have to virtually follow some sort of rules or stuff like that, so that already puts me off. I also don’t think that it’s something so super-fantastic to belong to an Islamic school of law. That doesn’t have to be.74 Islamic standard doctrinal norms are perceived by this young woman as off-putting, something daunting. Belonging to a theological school totally contradicts her conception of Muslim religiosity. Instead she expresses the need to avoid such traditional authorities, and advocates freeing oneself from the associated religious norms. In this respect an emancipated, self-determined approach differs fundamentally from pragmatically justi- fied ties to religious organizational structures or from an unconditional dedication to religious authorities as a religious duty. 384 Jonas Kolb

Largely absent in public perception is the fact that there are emancipated, self-determined approaches to Muslim religiosity, to constituted religious organizational structures and also to religious authorities. Nonetheless, such an understanding is evident among about 15% of the total sample. Of interest is the finding that females are in the majority percentage-wise in this regard. Their proportion of 60.7% is above average; in the overall sample, they only make up 48.8%. In addition, often it is younger persons who cultivate such an approach. Thus, 85.4% of persons involved here are below the age of 41. The proportion of members of the second and third migrant generation is also extremely high, at 34.5% and 6.9% respectively. Based thereupon one can assume that such modes of approach might in future increase even more, and that constituted organizational structures are required to react to these tendencies.

(IV) Situational Situational and Temporary Reference Points Springing from Cultural Custom While the previously described ties to constituted religious structures are maintained by highly religious Muslims, there are other forms of relating among individuals distant from religion. Two variants should be distinguished. On one hand, the stringent rejection of constituted religious structures and authorities; on the other, the situational and temporary bond springing from cultural custom. The latter is the focus in this section. This form of relating is cultivated by Muslims in whose design of everyday life religiosity has experienced a loss of meaning, but for whom nonetheless religious belonging plays an important role. Among this segment of Muslims there are loose and flexible ties to constituted religious structures. This is also manifested in the figures on membership in a mosque association. Only 7.7% of the persons here involved are members, among a further 10.3% a relative is a member in a mosque association. Characteristic for this form of relating is that religiosity limited to a specific time frame or social context is certainly very relevant or can become so for the persons affected. In particular during Ramadan or in the context of Islamic holidays, they perform the various religious regulations and norms, while otherwise during the year they perform the ritual obligatory prayers only rarely, and normally attend mosques only for the Friday prayers, if at all. That is evident, for example, in the case of a 50-year-old male of Turkish migrant family background, living in Vienna and working at a travel bureau. As he emphasizes, he also fasts during Ramadan, and likewise performs the ritual prayers and the Friday prayer in this time frame. He notes that for the rest of the year he only rarely conforms to religious norms. He is of course not alone in this course of action. His Muslim colleagues in the travel bureau he works at have a similar approach to religion in their everyday lives: They are, as I’ve noticed previously, all like me. But they attend mosque on Friday. And then in Ramadan they keep the religious precepts alright, like then they also pray [obligatory prayers (J. K.)] during Ramadan, but otherwise not.75 Despite the fact that religious questions in his everyday life have lost some of their meaning, it is by no means the case that he completely ignores religious norms. But he concentrates on those that do not have to be performed several times daily. Thus, he attends Friday prayer several times a month, if he is not hampered in doing so, and he fasts during Ramadan. He considers mosque associations as important spaces since cultural traditions are promoted and preserved in these associations. The mosque association in Vienna that he always visits belongs to ATIB, a transnationally active Turkish umbrella organization. This employee is also a dues-paying member in the association. Constituted Islam and Muslim Everyday Practices in Austria 385

In this connection, his ties to constituted religious organizational structures are basically positive in connotation. However, the 50-year-old is largely an exception. Because often enough a temporary or situationally limited tie springing from cultural custom also leads to a situation where those involved do not obtain membership in a mosque association. If this nonetheless comes about and membership is indeed acquired, then it is mainly due to solidarity or cultural custom, hardly for religious motives. A significant segment of the Muslim population in Austria practices such a form of relating to constituted religious organizational structures, namely some 27%. Such a tie is especially frequent among young persons, while those over the age of 40 comprise only a quarter of the persons involved. In addition, the proportion of persons of Alevite faith is larger than in connection with the previously mentioned behavioral forms of relating to constituted Islam.

(V) Stringent Stringent Rejection of Constituted Structures and Religious Authorities The second form of a bond to constituted Islam that is maintained by Muslims distant from religion is the stance of stringent rejection of religious organizational structures and authorities. This is practiced by Muslims who are very critical toward and distanced from religious questions. That notwithstanding, relicts and remainders of religiosity nonetheless still continue to exist, such as the belief in a deity, life after death and para- dise. These individuals also profess Islam as their faith and see themselves as Muslims. This bond should be understood as a relic of the origin of their parents’ generation, maintained for the sake of tradition or based on ascription by the majority society. However, this basic confession of faith has no corresponding equivalent in practice. Rather their affiliation with religion, comparable to the situation of the so-called “Chris- tians by dint of a baptismal certificate”, exists “only on paper”76—as aptly summed up by a 27-year-old Viennese woman of Shi’itic faith, an accountant from an Iranian migrant family background. Muslims distinguished by such a fragmented religiosity principally confront religious institutions with a fundamental attitude of critique and distance. This critical view is equally directed at mosque associations, imams, theological doctrines and traditional theological schools of law. Most of the persons concerned have not yet heard of the existence of the IGGÖ. The preponderant majority in this category of Muslims in Austria have often never set foot in a mosque or a Muslim prayer hall. There are diverse reasons for this. They extend from questioning the role of imams and religious authorities on to the principled rejection of Muslim organizations and institutions and further on to criticism of the possibilities for approaching and accessing mosques. A 28-year-old female office worker from a Kurdish migrant background and an Aus- trian citizen employed in the municipal administration is extremely distanced from religious organizations and institutions. That not only because in her life religiosity in principle plays only a very limited role, but rather also for another reason: Just because a hodja says something doesn’t mean that I should abide by that. Because this is how I see things, I don’t go to places like mosques. I think that these places manipulate people.77 She accuses imams of manipulating the believers who go to a mosque.78 A 42-year-old family man from a Turkish migrant background working at a logistics firm in Lower Austria has a similar critical view of religious institutions. The fact that he rejects 386 Jonas Kolb mosques is not only bound up with his distance from religion as such; to a large extent it is also due to how organized groups instrumentalize religion in his view: I’m especially disturbed here in Austria by the groupings like Milli Görüs¸, for example, and then the Gülens, the Fethullah Gülens. And also other organizations that actually ignore democratic values and that play a big role in Turkish politics. And which in this way exploit uninformed people or those with a poor education in Austria, like the Turks, and drive people into politics only to get votes for the AKP and religious parties. So they engage in politics in the mosques, such mosques and communities of faith are utilized for political purposes.79 This employee in Lower Austria regards mosques in Austria generally as places where a nationalistic politics is promoted and co-opted for these ends. In this connection he cri- ticizes in particular Turkish umbrella organizations and mosque associations as stooges of political parties and powerful interest groups that often have pursued undemocratic goals. This political instrumentalizing and utilization of religious sites for political purposes serves additionally to heighten his dissociation and alienation from religion. The stringent rejection of constituted organizational structures and religious authorities is not by any means a peripheral phenomenon, something negligible that deserves to be ignored. It is evident from the empirical data that such an approach is pursued by about 15% of Muslims in Austria. Members of the second (33.3%) and third migrant generation (11.1%) comprise a significant proportion among them.

Discussion To summarize the findings in this paper, reflections are put forward that center on three differing aspects very closely associated with the ties Muslim believers have to religious organizational structures, constituted Islam and religious authorities. In this connection, I discuss the process-driven character of religious life, the virtualization of the religious and the concomitant transition of religious authorities, as well as the implications of the diversified ties to constituted religious structures.

(I) The Processual Character of Religious Life One aspect of all the forms of relating to constituted religious organizational structures discussed above comprises the process-driven character of religious life. Thus, how people deal with religion in everyday life changes over the course of an individual’s life. Dependent on the biographical phase of life, religion for Muslims plays a greater or lesser role. This is always influenced likewise by external conditions, such as a person’s marital status or situation at work. Lived religiosity in this connection should be fundamentally viewed as a dynamic process subject to constant changes. This involves not just the question as to whether a person regularly performs the ritual obligatory prayers, wears a headscarf or attends a mosque association for the Friday prayer. It also entails aspects such as membership, activities and type and degree of engagement in constituted religious organizational structures. The empirical findings clearly show that membership in mosque associations is principally a matter for male Muslims aged 40 and older. Within younger age groups and among women the proportion is markedly lower. That is bound up with the common practice that the mosque associations recognize membership not just for the dues-paying individual but also for the entire associated nuclear Constituted Islam and Muslim Everyday Practices in Austria 387 family. The operative expectation is that adolescents do not obtain their own membership until they have their own corresponding regular income. The changing tie to constituted organizational structures goes hand in hand in the course of a person’s life also with the processual development of the religiosity of Muslim believers. Very frequently it is found that young people are comparatively lax in how they deal with religious regulations, but that they change how they approach these questions at a certain point in the course of their own lives. That is because the period of adolescence and young adulthood constitutes for many a hiatus in religious life, a kind of time-out, during which certain “sinful practices” can still be somewhat indulged in, where religiosity plays a less important role than in other phases of life— and a period in which the boundaries of being Muslim can be tested, limits checked out. Non-observance and negligence in regard to religious norms do not carry so much weight at this age, this in any case is the assumption. This phase commonly comes to a biographical end with the watershed of establishing one’s own family. Religiosity at that juncture is then accorded an increasingly more central role in the life of young adults. When what becomes more crucial are aspects of the education and upbringing of one’s own children—only then does a person’s own religiosity increasingly move to the center of one’s life. This also entails the challenge of being a model for them and how to convey one’s own religious convictions and traditions to one’s own children. In that phase the readiness to become a member in constituted religious organizational structures also increases. In particular in the case of second-generation Muslims, who thus themselves were born and raised in Austria, in this phase of life individuals often come to a point of recollecting who they are and the cultural and regional origin of the parents. The finding that the phenomenon of ties to constituted religious organizational structures is something fluid, constantly in motion and dependent on contextual conditions, is valid for and applicable to all different sorts of relational variants.

(II) Virtualization of Religious Life and Transition of Religious Authorities A further tendency pertaining to all the different ties to constituted religious organizational structures is the virtualization of religious life. For one, this becomes clear in everyday religious practice. In this connection, of particular importance are smartphone apps that remind Muslims of any age of the times for the ritual obligatory prayer or indi- cate the correct direction of prayer. Second, a virtualization of the religious occurs when answers are sought out to religious questions that have to do with the shaping of one’s everyday life in conformity with religion. In the interviews it was evident that for the main part, Muslims do not anymore turn to an imam or an Islamic religious teacher if they wish to better inform themselves about certain religious questions. Instead they either consult individuals in their circle of friends and acquaintances or—and nowadays this source is consulted with particular frequency—turn to online search engines, even if the persons involved often feel insecure about the reliability of the information they obtain. Due to skepticism regarding the correctness and validity of the information on internet web pages, online sources are consulted in particular when the questions to be answered are fairly simple, such as information about the ingredients contained in some food product. But such approach is less frequent in the case of complex or important religious questions, where answers may not be as conclusive as desired. In addition, entries on different internet pages are as a rule compared—this in order to review and verify the correctness of the information provided. Using these strategies, the persons involved seek to cope with and master the familiar dilemma that often highly traditiona- 388 Jonas Kolb listic conceptions of Islam are widespread in frequently consulted sources and rec- ommended search results.80 Despite the lack of clarity as to whether the information is trustworthy and believable, consultation of online sources in respect to religious questions has a great inherent advan- tage, namely anonymity. That is how the 39-year-old janitor in Vienna mentioned earlier sees the matter. He regularly attends the same mosque for the Friday prayer and actually has close personal ties with the imam there. Nonetheless, as he stresses, if there were some substantial lack of clarity in a regard to a question, he would not rely on the imam, but would instead utilize the options the internet offers: Yes, sure, I mean, I could go to the imam any time and say: ‘Listen, I’ve got this here problem, and this one too.’ Or: ‘I’ve got a huge question mark in my mind, so how does it look? There certainly has gotta be a good answer, right?’ And if the imam then says: ‘Well, that’s asking too much of me now!’ Then I simply have to ask someone else. OK, that’s also possible, sure! […] But you can natu- rally also google it, haha! [laughs]. That’s anonymous then. […] I mean, I’ve already had a whole lot of conversations with imams. In a situation where an imam’s a friend of mine, someone I’ve known for a long time. But in that sense I’ve never really asked such a question about anything! […] Because, well, the man’s a friend of mine, see? Then I prefer to google.81 So before he brings himself to disclose to Islamic religious scholars—and on top of it, when they are friends of his as well—that he doesn’t really know so much about religious questions and positions, he prefers to look for the protection of anonymity, and to consult the online search engine Google on religious matters. Consulting the “Google hodja”,82 a 33- year-old Tyrolean from a Turkish migrant family background succinctly terms it, is an especially popular method for acquiring religious knowledge or refreshing it. Autonomous and above all anonymous online research is now in competition with direct, interactive, face-to-face contact with an imam. That does not mean to say that Islamic religious scholars have completely lost their authority—above all in important questions people do not wish to do totally without their advice and opinion. Such consultation was customary in the past. However, it should be noted that virtual media now are at least questioning traditional authorities—and in some cases even supplanting them. This change in religious authorities, triggered by the phenomenon of the online virtualization of religious life, affects all the various forms of establishing ties to constituted religious organizational structures.

(III) Implications of the Variety of Ties to Organized Religious Structures In conclusion, it is useful to reflect on the multiplicity of the approaches to constituted religious organizational structures. It becomes fundamentally clear that relations exist almost exclusively to mosque associations and umbrella organizations, no matter whether transnationally active or homegrown organizations are involved. Meanwhile, as a rule there are no personal ties or bonds to the Islamic Community of Faith in Austria, the IGGÖ. It is perceived principally as a political actor that has but little to do with the everyday religious practice of the Muslim population. In addition, in the course of the analysis it became evident that by no means are all Muslims in Austria members in a mosque association or actively engaged there. A total of 18.3% of respondents state they themselves are mosque association members, a further 8.3% note that a family member is. Membership is mainly comprised of males and family men. However, 73.4% of the sample, and thus the predominant Constituted Islam and Muslim Everyday Practices in Austria 389 majority of the Muslim population in Austria, are not members in a mosque association (and no-one from their family is). In a basic sense, the degree of organization among Muslims and the regular visitation of sacred places (to perform the ritual obligatory prayers, the Friday prayer and to break the fast in Ramadan) appears to be greater than among other religious communities in Austria. There can be no talk about a de-institutionalization of the religious in the case of Islamic currents of faith. This is doubtless also closely connected with the status as a minority of the persons involved in the diaspora—and the aspiration often springing from that to preserve the culture of origin. Nonetheless, the stereotypical view that the Muslim population is a homogeneous group of believers practicing their everyday religiosity in a similar manner, and with a close bond to mosque associations or umbrella organizations, is certainly not the case. The findings as discussed above show that even among Muslims who can all be characterized as having highly religious orientations in terms of the typology proposed, it is by no means true that amongst them there is a predominant and uniform close bond to constituted religious structures. Within families, an especially close bond with mosques associations or societies, particularly in the form of membership, is usually nurtured above all by the family head/ father. As a rule, it is they who cover the membership fees, which then are also valid for the entire family, including the children. To a certain extent, this already also serves to recruit the young. Because once the adolescents have their own earned income or establish a family of their own as young adults, they cover their membership fee themselves, and often follow in the footsteps of their parents in the very same mosque association or umbrella organization. Ties to a specific religious organization are often thus passed on between generations. In turn, we note that there are no indications in the empirical findings of the research conducted to support the assumption that a constituted Islam might be leading to an Islam that is morphing into a “church-like institution” and to a unification of the various Islamic currents. Rather, this analysis discloses clear differences and a great spectrum of variation among Muslim believers pertaining to positions, needs and practices relating to constituted religious organizational structures. These extend from unconditional dedication, to pragmatic ties, on to self-determined, individualistic approaches with a potential of critical reflection; and reaching on to a situational and temporary tie, and the fifth variant, a stringent rejection of constituted structures and religious authorities. Consequently, the spectrum extends from an unlimited and totally obedient sub- mission to authority all the way to a critical-negative questioning of the right to exist of traditional religious organizations, institutions and authorities. In quantitative terms, predominant here is a tendency toward critical approaches. The analyses convey a lively, vital image, close to everyday life, of the relation of Muslim believers in Austria to constituted Islam. This diversity also springs from the fact that the sample of the empirical study on which the present analysis is based is especially balanced. Moreover, significant here is that its focus was not, as otherwise often customary in such studies, on Islamic organizations, religious institutions and Muslims who are organized in mosque associations—rather, by contrast this research also took into account the everyday religious practices of those individuals who rarely or virtually never seek out the mosque. In addition, the empirical analyses reveal that the boundaries between the various behavioral forms of dealing with religiosity run neither along ethnic lines nor national citizenship linkages, nor do they correspond to denominational modes of attachment and belonging. None of the forms of relating to constituted religious organizational structures was solely 390 Jonas Kolb practiced and represented by a single ethnic or national grouping or denomination. For example, Sunnis from different theological schools of law or Alevites can be found in all such behavioral forms of relating to organized Islam and its structures. Of course, the analysis of the ties of Muslim believers to constituted organizational structures does not necessarily lead to a conclusion that the architecture of the landscape of mosque associations and umbrella organizations has to be restructured, or that the orientation of constituted Islam as it has developed based on the principle of ethnic belonging has to be fundamentally reassessed. Nevertheless, it remains desirable as an option if mosque associations, umbrella organizations, religious institutions and authorities were to take more seriously into account than previously the diversity of the ties of Muslim believers, regarding this diversification and multiplicity as a given reality, so as to adequately deal with it.

Conclusion Against this backdrop, from the perspective of the mosque associations and umbrella organizations, it is necessary to reflect upon and to perceive more robustly and centrally that a substantial proportion of the Muslim population—and one’s own ethnic community—has a stance toward religious organizational structures that is critical, extending even all the way to outright rejection. The reasons for that differ, ranging from a lack of time, agonistic attitudes, self-determined theological interpretations, reaching on to critique of political activities ongoing within mosque communities. But religious organizations would do well not to allow the relations to these segments of the Muslim population to break down and be torn asunder; rather, they should create offerings and benefits that can prove appealing to the persons concerned. In the case of Muslims who categorically reject constituted organizational structures and religious authorities, this may harbor poor prospects for success—but things look somewhat different when it comes to those who either engage in self-determined, individualistic approaches or with situational and temporary ties out of cultural custom. In these cases, there is on one hand the option of possibly intensifying the relation to mosque associations or umbrella organizations. Yet on the other hand, one likewise cannot proceed on the assumption that ties to religious organizational structures will continue to be lastingly sustained or maintained at all in the future. The latter could perhaps also have negative implications for community life, activities such as events or the financial situation of the organizations. In any case, to be oriented solely to Muslims who view an unconditional subjection and dedication to religious authorities as their solemn duty, would appear one-sided and not necessarily beneficial for the community life of a mosque association. If religious organizational structures were to increase their efforts to address and appeal also to those segments of the Muslim population with critical stances toward traditional religious authorities, both the diversity of community life could be augmented and the heterogeneity of a specific ethnic community inside the mosque association or umbrella organization could be better depicted. By means of such an orientation, a religious organization would be more likely in a position to meet satisfactorily in a sustainable way the expectations the non-Muslim society often harbors of mosque associations: namely to contribute to better integrating the Muslim population in the Austrian context and making them feel more accepted and at home.

NOTES 1. Richard Potz, “Die Anerkennung der islamischen Glaubensgemeinschaft in Österreich”,inFreiheit der Religion. Christentum und Islam unter dem Anspruch der Menschenrechte, ed. Johannes Schwartländer, Constituted Islam and Muslim Everyday Practices in Austria 391

Mainz: Grünewald, 1993, p. 138; Maja Sticker, Sondermodell Österreich? Die Islamische Glaubensge- meinschaft in Österreich (IGGiÖ), Klagenfurt: Drava, 2008, p. 4. 2. Martina Schmied, “Islam in Österreich”,inIslam, Islamismus und islamischer Extremismus, eds. Walter Feichtinger and Sibylle Wentker, Vienna: IFK, 2005, p. 190. 3. Levent Tezcan, “Das Islamische in den Studien zu Muslimen in Deutschland”, Zeitschrift für Soziolo- gie, Vol. 32, No. 3, 2003, pp. 237–261, https://doi.org/10.1515/zfsoz-2003-0304. 4. For an overview of dominant thematic focal areas and directions in research, see Ednan Aslan, Jonas Kolb and Erol Yildiz, Muslimische Diversität. Ein Kompass zur religiösen Alltagspraxis in Österreich, Wies- baden: Springer VS, 2017, pp. 15–24. 5. Rauf Ceylan and Michael Kiefer, Salafismus. Fundamentalistische Strömungen und Radikalisierungsprä- vention, Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2013; Ruud Koopmans, “Religious Fundamentalism and Hostility against Out-Groups: A Comparison of Muslims and Christians in Western Europe”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 41, No. 1, 2015, pp. 33–57, https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2014. 935307; Thomas Schmidinger, Jihadismus: Ideologie, Prävention und Deradikalisierung, Vienna: Man- delbaum, 2015; Ednan Aslan, Evrim Ersan Akkilic and Maximilian Hämmerle, Islamistische Radika- lisierung. Biografische Verläufe im Kontext der religiösen Sozialisation und des radikalen Milieu, Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2018. 6. The term lifeworld is understood as the sum of components of everyday life that people subjectively experience and interpret (cf. Alfred Schütz and Thomas Luckmann, Strukturen der Lebenswelt. Band 2, Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp, 1984, p. 11). 7. Nikola Ornig, Die Zweite Generation und der Islam in Österreich. Eine Analyse von Chancen und Grenzen des Pluralismus von Religionen und Ethnien, Graz: Grazer Universitätsverlag, 2006; Ernst Fürlinger. ed., Muslimische Vielfalt in Niederösterreich, Krems: Edition Donau-Universität Krems, 2014; Aslan, Kolb and Yildiz, Muslimische Diversität, op. cit., note 4; Jonas Kolb, “Religiöse Praxisformen Junger Musli- mInnen in Österreich im Alltag. Virtualisierungstendenzen, religiöse Bricolage und der Prozesschar- akter des religiösen Lebens”, Österreichisches Religionspädagogisches Forum, Vol. 25, No. 1, 2017, pp. 74–88, https://doi.org/10.25364/10.25:2017.1.8; Jonas Kolb and Erol Yildiz, “Muslim Everyday Religious Practices in Austria. From Defensive to Open Religiosity”, Religions, Vol. 10, No. 3, 161, 2019 (Special Issue: Islam in Europe, European Islam), https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10030161. 8. Kolb, Religiöse Praxisformen junger MuslimInnen in Österreich im Alltag, op. cit., note 7. 9. See on this Aslan, Kolb and Yildiz, Muslimische Diversität , op. cit., note 4, p. 1. 10. Peter Beyer, “Secularization from the Perspective of Globalization. A Response to Dobbelaere”, Soci- ology of Religion, Vol. 60, No. 3, 1999, pp. 295–298. 11. Susanne Heine, Rüdiger Lohlker and Richard Potz, Muslime in Österreich. Geschichte—Lebenswelt— Religion. Grundlagen für den Dialog, Innsbruck: Tyrolia, 2012, p. 65. 12. Martin Petzke and Hartmann Tyrell, “Religiöse Organisationen”,inHandbuch Organisationstypen, eds. Maja Apelt and Veronika Tacke, Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien, 2012, p. 276. 13. Ornig, Die Zweite Generation und der Islam in Österreich, op. cit., note 7, pp. 135–136; Anna Strobl, Islam in Österreich. Eine religionssoziologische Untersuchung, Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang, 1997, pp. 27–28. 14. Anne Goujon, Sandra Jurasszovich and Michaela Potančokova,Demographie und Religion in Österreich. Szenarien 2016 bis 2046. ÖIF Forschungsbericht, Vienna: ÖIF, 2017, p. 7, 13. 15. Aslan, Kolb and Yildiz, Muslimische Diversität, op. cit., note 4, p. 43. 16. Flemming Mikkelsen, “The Diffusion and Innovation of Muslim Organizations in Denmark”, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Vol. 39, No. 2, 2019, pp. 157–176, https://doi.org/10.1080/13602004. 2019.1625255. 17. Ibid., p. 161. 18. Ibid., pp. 162–164. 19. By contrast, further organizational types identified by Mikkelsen, such as Muslim youth organizations (cf. ibid., pp. 166–167)—one example would be the Muslim Youth Austria (MJÖ)—are not listed in the present paper since they are not mentioned in the empirical research data underlying the analyses presented here. 20. RGBl. No. 159/1912, Reichsgesetzblatt für die im Reichsrath vertretenen Königreiche und Länder. 159. Gesetz vom 15. Juli 1912, betreffend die Anerkennung der Anhänger des Islam nach hanefi- tischem Ritus als Religionsgesellschaft innerhalb der im Reichsrat vertretenen Königreiche und Länder von Zisleithanien, § 6, paragraph 1. 21. Martina Schmied, “Islam in Österreich”,inIslam, Islamismus und islamischer Extremismus, eds. Walter Feichtinger and Sibylle Wentker, Vienna: IFK, 2005, p. 190. 392 Jonas Kolb

22. Heine, Lohlker and Potz, Muslime in Österreich, op. cit., note 11, pp. 55–56. 23. Sticker, Sondermodell Österreich?, op. cit., note 1, p. 1; Mouhanad Khorchide, Der islamische Religion- sunterricht zwischen Integration und Parallelgesellschaft. Einstellungen der islamischen ReligionslehrerInnen an öffentlichen Schulen, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2009, p. 16. 24. Strobl, Islam in Österreich, op. cit., note 13, p. 38; Peter Draxler and Solmaz Khorsand, “Fast eine für alle”, DATUM, Vol. 10, No. 6, 2006, Internet source: https://web.archive.org/web/20141109143330/ http://www.datum.at/artikel/fast-eine-fuer-alle/ (accessed 15 April 2018). 25. Stefan Beig, “Die neue islamische Konfession. Das Bildungsministerium anerkennt die ‘Islamische Alevitische Glaubensgemeinschaft in Österreich’”, Wiener Zeitung, 17 October 2010, Internet source: http://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/archiv/56014_Die-neue-islamische-Konfession. html (accessed 21 April 2019); Irene Brickner, “‘Kleine Revolution’ für Muslime, made in Austria. Aleviten werden Bekenntnisgemeinschaft. Nun fordert die ‘zweite’ islamische Gemeinde einen eigenen Religionsunterricht”, Der Standard, 21 October 2010, Internet source: http://derstandard. at/1292462317408/Islam-Kleine-Revolution-fuer-Muslime-made-in-Austria (accessed 21 April 2019). 26. Aslan, Kolb and Yildiz, Muslimische Diversität, op. cit., note 4, p. 35. 27. Heiko Heinisch and Imet Memedi, Die Rolle der Moschee im Integrationsprozess. ÖIF Forschungsbericht, Vienna: ÖIF, 2017, p. 28. 28. Heine, Lohlker and Potz, Muslime in Österreich, op. cit., note 11, p. 11; Ednan Aslan, Evrim Ersan Akkilic and Jonas Kolb, Imame und Integration, Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2015, pp. 67–77. 29. An important new feature in the amended law is that there is a ban on financing from abroad for Muslim organizational structures. This prohibition constitutes a difficult challenge for many mosque associations (cf. Clara Akinyosoye, “Islamgesetz: Alter Wein in neuen Schläuchen”, ORF Religion, 25 February 2016, Internet source: https://religion.orf.at/m/stories/2759217/ (accessed 10 February 2019)). 30. The lockdown during the Corona crisis in the first half of 2020 posed further serious challenges for mosque associations to the already precarious financial situation (cf. Bernhard Ichner, “Wegen Corona: Ein Drittel der Moscheen steht vor der Pleite”, Kurier, 8 April 2020, Internet source: https://kurier.at/chronik/oesterreich/wegen-corona-ein-drittel-der-moscheen-steht-vor-der-pleite/ 400807466 (accessed 10 August 2020)). 31. Niklas Luhmann, “Die Organisierbarkeit von Religionen und Kirchen”,inReligionen im Umbruch. Soziologische Beiträge zur Situation von Religionen und Kirche in der gegenwärtigen Gesellschaft, ed. Jacobus Wössner, Stuttgart: Enke, 1972, p. 249. 32. Niklas Luhmann, Die Religion der Gesellschaft, Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp, 2000, pp. 248–249. 33. Mark Chaves, “Secularization. A Luhmannian Reflection”, Soziale Systeme, Vol. 3, No. 2, 1997, pp. 439–449; Hartmann Tyrell, “Religion und Organisation. Sechs kirchensoziologische Anmerkun- gen”,inParadoxien kirchlicher Organisation. Niklas Luhmanns frühe Kirchensoziologie und die aktuelle Reform der evangelischen Kirche, eds. Jan Hermelink and Gerhard Wegner, Würzburg: Ergon, 2008, pp. 200–203. 34. Nicholas J. III Demerath, Peter Dobkin Hall, Terry Schmitt and Rhys H. Williams. eds., Sacred Com- panies. Organizational Aspects of Religion and Religious Aspects of Organizations, Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1998, p. VII. 35. Gert Pickel, Religionssoziologie. Eine Einführung in zentrale Themenbereiche, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2011, p. 137; Detlef Pollack, Säkularisierung—ein moderner Mythos? Studien zum religiösen Wandel in Deutschland, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck. 36. Nilüfer Göle, “Islam, europäische Öffentlichkeit und zivilgesellschaftliches Bewusstsein”, Transit. Europäische Revue, Vol. 15, No. 26, 2004; pp. 156–165; Aslan, Ersan Akkilic and Kolb, Imame und Integration, op. cit., note 28, p. 47. 37. Martin Riesebrodt, Die Rückkehr der Religionen. Fundamentalismus und der “Kampf der Kulturen”, 2nd ed., Munich: C. H. Beck, 2001; Pickel, Religionssoziologie, op. cit., note 35, pp. 284–293. 38. Petzke and Tyrell, Religiöse Organisationen, op. cit., note 12, p. 279. 39. Karl M. Reiser, Identitäts-und Interessenpolitik „türkischer“ Migrantenorganisationen in Wien, Vienna: University of Vienna, 2000. 40. Heine, Lohlker and Potz, Muslime in Österreich, op. cit., note 11, p. 63. 41. Harald Waldrauch and Karin Sohler, Migrantenorganisationen in der Großstadt. Entstehung, Strukturen und Aktivitäten am Beispiel Wien, Frankfurt a. M.: Campus, 2004; Nebahat Yilmaz-Huber, “Die Rolle von MigrantInnenvereinen bei der Integration”,inDie missglückte Integration? Wege und Irrwege in Europa, ed. Manfred Oberlechner, Vienna: Braumüller, 2006, pp. 45–56. Constituted Islam and Muslim Everyday Practices in Austria 393

42. Ernst Fürlinger, “Moscheebau und Moscheebaukonflikte in Österreich. Eine religionswissenschaf- tliche Perspektive”,inIslam als Teil der Gemeinde. Islam in Österreich, Moscheebau & Dialog—Informa- tionen für Gemeinden, Organisationen & Multiplikator/innen, ed. Österreichischer Integrationsfonds, Vienna: ÖIF, 2015, p. 61. 43. Ludger Pries, “(Grenzüberschreitende) Migrantenorganisationen als Gegenstand der sozialwis- senschaftlichen Forschung: Klassische Problemstellungen und neuere Forschungsbefunde”,inJen- seits von ‘Identität oder Integration’. Grenzen überspannende Migrantenorganisationen, eds. Ludger Pries and Zeynep Sezgin, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2010, pp. 15–60. 44. Aslan, Ersan Akkilic and Kolb, Imame und Integration, op. cit., note 28, p. 76; Werner Schiffauer, “Akteur Islamische Gemeinden: Identitäten und Ressourcen”,inSchule, Moschee, Elternhaus. Eine ethnologische Intervention, ed. Werner Schiffauer, Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2015, pp. 136–138. 45. Hansjörg Schmid, Ayse Almila Akca and Klaus Barwig, Gesellschaft gemeinsam gestalten. Islamische Ver- einigungen als Partner in Baden-Württemberg, Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2008, p. 24. 46. A distinction is made between theological, practical-religious and legal schools. The most important theological schools that define the principles of the faith include the Mutazalites, the Asharites and the Maturidites. The most important schools of law that define the religious-practical rules of Islam include within Sunni Islam the Hanafites, Shafiites, Malikites, Hanbalites and the Shiitic law school of the Jafarites (cf. Sönmez Kutlu, “Schulen des Islams”, Lexikon des Dialogs. Grundbegriffe aus Christentum und Islam. Band 2, eds. Richard Heinzmann et al., Freiburg: Herder, 2013, p. 627). 47. Aslan, Ersan Akkilic and Kolb, Imame und Integration, op. cit., note 28, pp. 38–45. 48. Sabine Kroißenbrunner, Türkische Imame in Wien. Projektendbericht, Vienna: IFK, 2001; Aslan, Ersan Akkilic and Kolb, Imame und Integration, op. cit., note 28. 49. Ernst Fürlinger, Moscheebaukonflikte in Österreich. Nationale Politik des religiösen Raums im globalen Zei- talter, Vienna: Vienna Univ. Press, 2013; Reinhold Bernhardt and Ernst Fürlinger. eds., Öffentliches Ärgernis? Moscheebaukonflikte in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz, Zurich: Theologischer Verlag Zürich, 2015. 50. Yilmaz-Huber, Die Rolle von MigrantInnenvereinen bei der Integration, op. cit., note 41; Johan Wets, “The Turkish Community in Austria and Belgium. The Challenge of Integration”, Turkish Studies, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2006, pp. 85–100, https://doi.org/10.1080/14683840500520600; Heinisch and Memedi, Die Rolle der Moschee im Integrationsprozess, op. cit., note 27; Joachim Wagner, Die Macht der Moschee. Scheitert die Integration am Islam? Freiburg: Herder, 2018. 51. Julia Mourao Permoser, Sieglinde Rosenberger and Kristina Stoeckl, “Religious Organisations as Politi- cal Actors in the Context of Migration: Islam and Orthodoxy in Austria”, Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Vol. 36, No. 9, 2010, pp. 1463–1481, http://10.1080.1369183X.2010.500819; Kerstin Rosenow-Williams, “Von der Konsolidierung zur Erneuerung. Eine organisationssoziologische Analyse der Türkisch-Islamischen Union der Anstalt für Religion e.V. (DITIB)”,inJenseits von ‘Identität oder Integration’. Grenzen überspannende Migrantenorganisationen, eds. Ludger Pries and Zeynep Sezgin, Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2010, pp. 169–200; Kerstin Rosenow-Williams, Orga- nizing Muslims and Integrating Islam in Germany. New Developments in the 21st Century, Leiden: Brill, 2012; Zana Citak, “The Institutionalization of Islam in Europe and the Diyanet: the Case of Austria”, Ortadogu Etütleri, Vol. 5, No. 1, 2013, pp. 167–182; Kerstin Rosenow-Williams and Zeynep Sezgin, “Islamic Migrant Organizations: Little-Studied Actors in Humanitarian Action”, International Migration Review, Vol. 48, No. 2, 2014, pp. 324–353, https://doi.org/10.1111/imre.12061. 52. Sabine Kroißenbrunner, Soziopolitische Netzwerke türkischer MigrantInnen in Wien. Projektendbericht, Vienna: IFK, 1996. 53. Reiser, Identitäts-und Interessenpolitik „türkischer“ Migrantenorganisationen in Wien, op. cit., note 39, p. 322. 54. Gerdien Jonker, Eine Wellenlänge zu Gott. Der »Verband der Islamischen Kulturzentren« in Europa, Bie- lefeld: transcript, 2002. 55. The Austrian umbrella organization Union of Islamic Cultural Centers (UIKZ) and the Association of Islamic Cultural Centers in the Austrian Alpine Region (VIKZ) cooperate very closely with the central office of the German umbrella organization in Cologne. 56. Werner Schiffauer, Nach dem Islamismus. Eine Ethnographie der Islamischen Gemeinschaft Milli Görüs¸, Berlin: Suhrkamp, 2010. 57. The corresponding umbrella organization in Austria operates under the name Islamic Federation (IF). 58. Werner Schiffauer.ed., Schule, Moschee, Elternhaus. Eine ethnologische Intervention, Berlin:Suhrkamp,2015. 59. Detailed insights regarding this perspective can be found especially in Ayse Almila Akcas study (see Ayse Almila Akca, Moscheeleben in Deutschland. Eine Ethnographie zu Islamischem Wissen, Tradition und religiöser Autorität. Bielefeld: transcript, 2020). 394 Jonas Kolb

60. Aslan, Kolb and Yildiz, Muslimische Diversität, op. cit., note 4. 61. Charles Y. Glock, “Über die Dimensionen der Religiosität”,inKirche und Gesellschaft. Einführung in die Religionssoziologie II, ed. Joachim M. Matthes, Reinbek: Rowohlt, 1969, pp. 150–168. 62. Robert A. Orsi, The Madonna of 115th Street. Faith and Community in Italian Harlem, 1880–1950, New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1985; David D. Hall. ed., Lived Religion in America. Toward a History of Prac- tice, Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press, 1997; Nancy T. Ammerman. ed., Everyday Religion. Observing Modern Religious Lives, Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2007; Meredith B. McGuire, Lived Religion. Faith and Practice in Everyday Life, Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2008. 63. Nathal M. Dessing, “How to Study Everyday Islam”,inEveryday Lived Islam in Europe, eds. Nathal M. Dessing, Nadia Jeldtoft, Jørgen S. Nielsen and Linda Woodhead, Farnham: Ashgate, 2013, pp. 39–52; Jørgen S. Nielsen, “Concluding Reflections: Everyday Lived Islam and the Future of Islamic Studies”,inEveryday Lived Islam in Europe, eds. Nathal M. Dessing, Nadia Jeldtoft, Jørgen S. Nielsen and Linda Woodhead, Farnham: Ashgate, 2013, pp. 163–177. 64. Aslan, Kolb and Yildiz, Muslimische Diversität, op. cit., note 4, p. 57. 65. Ibid., pp. 51–56. 66. In the course of the study Muslimische Diversität, a typology was developed that differentiates between five forms of religious modes of practice in everyday life in a general sense. This refers to the following types of religiosity: tradition-preserving religiosity, pragmatic religiosity, open religiosity, religiosity as a cultural habit/custom and free residual religiosity. The analytical approach and the features of the practice forms have already been discussed in detail elsewhere (see ibid., pp. 59–65; Kolb, Religiöse Praxisformen junger MuslimInnen in Österreich im Alltag, op. cit., note 7; Kolb and Yildiz, Muslim Every- day Religious Practices in Austria, op. cit., note 7). However, in this paper the naming of the general forms of religiosity is partially modified in order to cope with the encountered diversity of the ties to religious organizational structures. 67. In the quantitative analysis, the centrality scale of Stefan Huber (cf. Stefan Huber, Zentralität und Inhalt. Ein neues multidimensionales Messmodell der Religiosität, Opladen: Leske & Budrich, 2003) was employed to measure religiosity. The scale was operationalized with the poles 0 (minimal value) and 5 (maximum value). I designate believers as ’highly religious’ whose religiosity lies in the maximum spectrum end of the scale, more precisely, between 4 and 5. 68. Interviewee 1 (male, age 30, resident in Carinthia, Turkish origin, assistant employed in gastronomy). 69. Interviewee 2 (male, age 39, resident in Vienna, Turkish origin, janitor). 70. Ibid. 71. Interviewee 3 (female, age 28, resident in Vienna, Serbian-Sandžak origin, student). 72. Aslan, Ersan Akkilic and Kolb, Imame und Integration, op. cit., note 28, pp. 308–317. 73. Interviewee 4 (female, age 18, resident in Carinthia, Serbian origin, unemployed). 74. Interviewee 3, op. cit., note 71. 75. Interviewee 5 (male, age 50, resident in Vienna, Turkish origin, employee in a travel bureau). 76. Interviewee 6 (female, age 27, resident in Vienna, Iranian origin, accountant). 77. Interviewee 7 (female, age 28, resident in Vienna, Kurdish origin, office worker in the municipal administration). 78. It should be pointed out here that the interviewee comes from a Kurdish migrant family origin. In view of the fact that many Turkish umbrella organizations in Austria tend to espouse views hostile to Kurds or at least critical of them, the rejection of mosques and religious facilities is also conditioned by this factor. 79. Interviewee 8 (male, age 42, resident in Lower Austria, Turkish origin, employee in a logistics firm). 80. Florian Harms, “Der Prophet ruft aus dem Cyberspace. Formen islamischer Mission im Internet”,in Von Chatraum bis Cyberjihad. Muslimische Internetnutzung in lokaler und globaler Perspektive, eds. Mat- thias Brückner and Johanna Pink, Würzburg: Ergon, 2009, pp. 169–212; Jens Kutscher, “Online- Fatwas—Islamische Rechtsgutachten und ihre Bedeutung für politische Partizipation”,inVon Cha- traum bis Cyberjihad. Muslimische Internetnutzung in lokaler und globaler Perspektive, eds. Matthias Brückner and Johanna Pink, Würzburg: Ergon, 2009, pp. 135–154. 81. Interviewee 2, op. cit., note 69. 82. Interviewee 9 (male, age 33, resident in Tyrol, Turkish origin, office worker in an educational facility for adults).

ORCID Jonas Kolb https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7935-1855