The Noble Sanctuary: Interpreting Islamic Traditions of Asylum in the Contemporary World TAHIR ZAMAN A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the School of Law & Social Sciences, University of East London for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2012 i Abstract This study aims at deepening understanding of religion in the social and cultural lives of forced migrants. It considers how Iraqi refugees in Damascus mobilise religious traditions, networks and institutions in order to negotiate their new surroundings and access much needed social and material resources. In doing so, refugees move beyond the management and care of UN agencies, international NGOs and the state. This thesis argues against conceptualizing religion solely as an identity concern or in institutional terms. Instead it emphasises religion as being a holistic and experiential matter. This study provides a synchronic and diachronic examination of Islamic traditions in relation to sanctuary, refuge and the stranger. Over the course of a year, from March 2010 to March 2011, 23 Iraqi refugees and five refugee service providers participated in in-depth semi-structured interviews. Ethnographic data was also collected and recorded in the field during this time. The thesis explores how Islamic traditions are interpreted in contemporary contexts in addition to demonstrating the relational dimensions of religious practice and experience. The constraints and opportunities Iraqi refugees encounter in em-placing themselves indicate that religion is a much contested notion. I make the case for a holistic understanding of religious practice and experience wherein home-making is a key concern. The challenges of facing a protracted exile and a protection impasse in Syria means Iraqi refugees are compelled to reflect upon their specific experiences of religion and to mobilize their understandings of religious traditions in innovative ways in order to construct inhabitable worlds. It is argued that the complex intersection at which refugees are located in social space indicates that the struggle to make homes is contingent on relations of power. This study considers the positions refugees take relative to the state, international humanitarian agencies and faith-based actors in the humanitarian field. In doing so, attention is drawn to the agency of refugees as they struggle to negotiate circumstances of considerable constraint. This thesis also illustrates the challenges of conducting research in an authoritarian state. ii Table of Contents Abstract.................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements................................................................................ vii A note on language ……………………………………………………….. viii Glossary ................................................................................................. ix Introduction: Refuge, Migration and Religion………………………….... 1 1. Refuge in the study of religion and migration……………................... 2 2. Finding gaps in the literature…………………………………………… 5 3. Thesis outline……………………………………………………………. 6 Chapter 1 The Noble Sanctuary………………………………………………………. 10 Introduction............................................................................................. 10 1.1. Transnational Islam……………………………................................. 11 1.2. The ‗stranger‘ in the Muslim imagination……….............................. 15 1.3. Tradition and change………………................................................. 21 1.4. Understanding religion………………………………......................... 24 1.5. Religious practices: in the shadow of the state .............................. 26 1.6. The mobilisation of capital .............................................................. 29 1.7. Bourdieu and religion……………………………………………….... 33 1.8. Key concepts .................................................................................. 35 1.9. Critiquing Bourdieu‘s sociology of religion....................................... 37 1.10. How hierarchical is Islam?............................................................. 41 1.11. Islamic traditions of protection………. .......................................... 43 Conclusion.............................................................................................. 45 Chapter Two Research Methodology: Locating Religion in the Lives of Forced Migrants 48 Introduction: ........................................................................................... 48 2.1. Locating myself within the research project .................................... 51 2.2. A sacracialized identity ................................................................... 53 2.3. Thinking about refuge in religion .................................................... 56 2.4. Agency within a Bourdieuian framework ......................................... 57 2.5. Interviewing and narrative............................................................... 60 iii 2.5a. Positioning the interviewer and interviewee……………………..... 60 2.5b. The two-way street of memory……………………………………... 61 2.5c. Add-an-adjective narratives……………………………………….. 63 2.6. Persecution narratives………………………………………………… 65 2.7. Sampling and data collection........................................................... 69 2.7a. Mḥabba………………………………………………………………... 71 2.7b. Iraqi Student Project (ISP)............................................................. 72 2,7c. Al-Rābeta……………………………………………………………… 74 2.8. Conducting ethical research under a watchful eye………………… 76 2.9. Guardians and gatekeepers………………………………………… 80 2.10. ―I‘m not UNHCR‖: ethical concerns………………………………… 82 2.11. ―In Syria everything is politics‖……………………………………… 83 2.12. Transcription and translation……………………………………… 85 2.13. Data analysis………………………………………………………… 88 2.14. Coding………………………………………………………………… 89 Summary ................................................................................................ 90 Chapter 3 Sowing the Seeds of Displacement: Religion and Society in Ba‘thist Iraq (1980-2003)………………………………….………………………… 92 Introduction............................................................................................. 92 3.1. Experiencing religion………………………………………………… 94 3.2. The researcher‘s experiences count………………………………… 97 3.3. Religion under Ba‘thist Iraq…………………………………………… 99 3.4. Intermarriage................................................................................... 100 3.5. Growing up with religion in the home ……………………………… 105 3.6. The Iran-Iraq war……………………………………………………… 108 3.7. Palestinian memories of the Iran-Iraq war....................................... 110 3.8. The wider impact of the Iran-Iraq war ............................................. 116 3.9. The invasion of Kuwait and sanctions ............................................ 119 3.10. The re-emergence of tribal solidarities.......................................... 123 3.11. The faith campaign…………………………………………………... 128 Conclusion ............................................................................................. 131 iv Chapter 4 The Un-mixing of Neighbourhoods………………………………………. 134 Introduction: ........................................................................................... 134 4.1. Defining sectarianism ..................................................................... 135 4.2. Tribal solidarities re-visited ............................................................. 138 4.3. Foreign culpability……………………………………………………... 143 4.4. Easy targets……………………………………………………............ 145 4.4a.Palestinian-Iraqis…………………………........................................ 145 4.4b. Christians ...................................................................................... 153 4.5. Militia influence over state institutions ............................................ 154 4.6. Wāsta and the right connections..................................................... 155 4.7. Contesting religious meaning on campus....................................... 157 4.8. Greater visibility of religious symbols.............................................. 159 4.9. Trust deficits ................................................................................... 162 Conclusion …………………………………………………………………. 166 Chapter Five Jockeying for Positions in the Humanitarian Field ................................. 169 Introduction ............................................................................................ 169 5.1, Refugee agency.............................................................................. 169 5.2. Iraqi refugees in Syria..................................................................... 172 5.3. Religion and faith-based humanitarianism...................................... 175 5.4. State, religion and Iraqi refugees .................................................... 177 5.5. Protection impasse.......................................................................... 181 5.6. Widening horizons .......................................................................... 184 5.7. A network of self reliance ............................................................... 188 Conclusion.............................................................................................. 193 Chapter Six Home Sacred Home .............................................................................. 195 Introduction ............................................................................................ 195 6.1 Broken homes.................................................................................