“Islamic cafés” and “Sharia dating:” Muslim youth, spaces of sociability, and partner relationships in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Abstract

The paper explores forms of sociability and partner relationships among pious young Muslims in Sarajevo with a focus on the emic concepts of Islamic cafés (hospitality establishments perceived to operate according to Islamic moral principles) and Sharia dating (premarital relationships perceived to be sanctioned by Sharia). It draws on 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in different spaces of Islamic worship, learning, and sociability. This paper places the renewed interest in Islam within the context of a post-Dayton Bosnia characterized by complex and impractical government structures, lingering post-war grievances, and a brutal transition to a neoliberal capitalist economy. Although it acknowledges the continuing relevance of Islam as a resource for Bosniak nation building, it suggests treating the Muslim faith community as overlapping but distinct from the Bosniak community. By focusing on gendered interaction and partner-seeking strategies, this paper explores how young members of this faith community contextually negotiate their Islamic beliefs with mainstream local expectations of conventional behavior. The paper argues that believers’ varying responses to this predicament can be observed as an example of the localization of Islam, but they do not constitute a return to local, traditional gender roles and marriage practices, nor are they an introduction of foreign cultural patterns.

Keywords:

• Islamic revival
• sociability
• dating and marriage practices
• community
• Bosnia-Herzegovina

Notes

1 Names have been replaced with pseudonyms.

2 The term Bosniak was introduced as the official name for Bosnia’s Muslim population in 1993 (Hećimović 2008, 187–188; Larise 2015, 203–204). In contrast to Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, Macedonians, and Montenegrins who held the status of “constitutive nations” since the establishment of socialist Yugoslavia, Muslims did not achieve constitutive status until 1968 and were encouraged to declare themselves as Serbs or Croats (Bringa 1995, 27–29; Larise 2015, 199–201; Merdjanova 2016, 36).

3 Madrasas in Bosnia are equivalent to high schools. Although they offer religious education, much of their curriculum is secular. There are six such madrasas in Bosnia, all under the authority of the official Islamic Community.

4 The number of Salafi organizations in Bosnia linked to Arab governments or transnational networks has declined after government closures and other pressures following 9/11 (Moe 2009b, 153–155; Li 2010). Turkey’s influence has grown in recent decades, although not to the same extent as in other Balkan countries with Muslim populations (Solberg 2007, 2009; Merdjanova 2016, 76–81; see also Zadrożna 2017). Iranian influence is also present in Bosnia through religious and cultural initiatives.

5 There are a significant number of pious women who do not wear hijab in their daily lives, mainly citing practical obstacles and fear of discrimination. For more on Muslim women’s dress practices in Sarajevo, see Mesarič (2013).

6 “Covered” (pokrivena) is the most common way of referring to a woman who wears the hijab.

7 It is interesting to note that a number of my interlocutors, regardless of whether they had a Bosniak, non-Bosniak, or mixed family background, found their way to Islam after a period of exploring Christianity, Buddhism, or the Hare Krishna movement.

8 There is a broader scope of interpretation of the strict rules followed by Salafis than commonly thought. Based on my observations at a Salafi women’s Quranic school and the subsequent conversations with the women I met there, particular aspects of religious practice are often the subject of debate. Salafis also differ in their views on the Bosnian Muslim mainstream and established Islamic authorities (Hećimović 2008, 198–202; Moe 2009b, 94–95).

9 My interlocutors disagreed about whether smoking is permitted in Islam, but pious women who smoked often avoided doing so in public.

10 Elsewhere in her analysis, Bendixsen does describe how women distinguish between pious and nominal Muslims and explores how this impacts their marriage practices (2013, 232–234).

11 Although Islam allows for divorce, it was not common practice in Bosnia. A new generation of pious Muslims who turn to Islamic scripture for guidance are more likely to be accepting of the practice.

12 Polygamous marriages are practiced by some Salafis in Bosnia, but they are extremely rare and are not sanctioned by the official Islamic Community.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Slovenian Research Agency through the Young Researchers program.