The article builds on ethnographic fieldwork within the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer) milieu of Istanbul. It is based on material collected through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with people who at the same time self-identify as practicing Muslims and have romantic and sexual relations with people of their own sex. The protagonist of the article is a pious Muslim woman who can be placed in the category of LGBTQ Muslims who do not seek coherence and are not involved in a reinterpretation of their Islamic tradition. The article explores the complex ways in which this woman handles the potential conflicts between her sex life and her religious beliefs, and points specifically to the way she supports herself on the firm belief that Allah loves and protects her.

This article focuses on the formulation of Islamic Religious Education (IRE) at two Swedish Muslim schools where fieldwork was conducted in 2005-2008. Its aim is to contribute knowledge to ways in which IRE is formed as a confessional school subject within the framework and under the jurisdiction of the Swedish school system. Even though the general content of the classrooms was fundamentally the same, specific variations were clearly evident. The paper shows that global discussions on matters such as ‘authentic Islam’, gender inequality, and Muslim minority life have influenced the teaching that has been offered in these classrooms. These discussions have developed out of the many ways in which contemporary Muslims can choose to express their faith. And although each teacher deals with these issues in her own unique way, they all attempt to connect them to the pupils’ situation as Muslims in Swedish society as well as to the national curriculum and local school syllabi. This leads to the concept of glocalisation, meaning that just as local conditions adapt to the influences of the global, so do global influences adapt to the conditions of the local. The paper demonstrates how the influences of interpretative tradition, local school context, situational perceptions and globally discussed issues work together to affect the content of IRE, meaning the type of interpretation of Islam that is provided in these schools.

When viewed on the internet, the waterslides and pools at Amman Waves look deserted, but when paying a visit they are filled with children, women and men in various kinds of swim wear. At Amman Waves women’s swim wear fashion ranges from small bikinis to swim-suits that cover every part of a woman’s body except the face, hands and feet. In this article these differences in covering are discussed and categorized in relation to Islamic law. It is argued that this variation in swim wear also has relevance for European societies since it shows possibilities for negotiations (agreement) between traditional Islamic ideals and ideals in modern Western societies.

This study concerns the formulation of Islamic religious education (IRE) at three Swedish Muslim schools which offered IRE as an extra curricular subject, one to three hours per week. The study contributes to the understanding of how IRE is formed as a confessional school subject within the framework and under the jurisdiction of the Swedish school system. The meaning of the studied IRE was construed as a way of building connectedness between pupils to both the common Islamic tradition and the Swedish society, but also highlighting and establishing connections between these two entities. The primary finding is that it is inaccurate to speak about IRE in homogeneous terms since the content varies distinctively between different schools. In addition, it has been found that the educational questions considered by the involved teachers are similar to those considered by many other types of teachers. Although classroom observations and teacher interviews showed that the general content of all three IRE classrooms included the teaching of the Quran, Islamic history through religious narratives and song, specific content variations were evident. Differences concerned approaches to the teaching of the Quran, ways of using religious narratives and genre of songs. Therefore pupils in each school received somewhat different answers to local and global questions that were raised in the classrooms, indicating somewhat different interpretations of Islam. These differences suggest that the depiction of IRE as a transmission of Islam to the younger generation is not accurate since it leads to the impression that religions are insulated entities that are capable of being passed from one generation to the next without any change taking place. Instead this study shows that the teachers translate the content of IRE according to their perception of what is vital for their pupils to know and suitable for them to comprehend since they constantly choose content and negote its meaning.

We can note a varied use and attitudes to song and music in Islam. In the classroom of Sana – a primary school teacher of Islamic religious education (IRE) in a Muslim school in Sweden – music is an important but not uncontested part of IRE. The music not only supports themes discussed in the classroom but also gives variation to the education. A popular feature is when Sana shows music videos of Sami Yusuf, a young Muslim artist in the ‘Eurovision song contest’ genre, who sings Islamic pop songs. It happens that children comment and say that the pop music she plays in the classroom is haram, forbidden. Sana seldom touches upon the notion of music as forbidden or unlawful in the classroom, but nevertheless it is visible in her choices of music and the way she presents the music for the children. Outside the classroom, in discussion Sana talks about the necessity of finding Islamic role models that attract the young, instead of ‘bearded old men’ that might have interesting things to say but have neither ‘the looks nor the language’ to attract young people. Sana's use of music within IRE is discussed to seize the meanings associated with music and understand the educational choices Sana makes in relation to music. This paper is based on fieldwork that took place during 2005 and 2006.

This is an analysis of the ethics of the Deutsche Christen, a pro-Nazi christian movement in the Third Reich. The movement was a part of the German protestant church and attracted as much as one third of the church members. They incorporated Nazi symbols in the church activities and aimed to ”cleanse” the church from what they called jewish influenses. It is debated if a group that supports Nazi ideals can be considered ethical, or even christian, but this analysis examines their etchics and raises the question if the ethics of the Deutsche Christen can be compared to other christian ethical models. It also tries to see how the ethical reflection of the Deutsche Christen was made from a christian standpoint. What concepts formed their morals?