The concept of ritual developed as a formal term of analysis during the 19th century and came to identify what was alleged as a worldwide category of human experience. Ritual was described as mindless handling, something that was routinized, habitual, compulsive or mimetic. The term was voiced as a major beginning of the change in the way European culture was associated to other cultures and religions. To be able to describe religions many myth and theorists looked at rituals.

Rituals in Islam are regulated actions that can be performed at a particular place or time, or both. They are seen as particularly meaningful as they are loaded with religious symbolism. The religious texts surrounding rituals are usually normative. In order for the believer to do the right thing and understand, the aforementioned texts are described, how rituals should be performed and what different parts have for the meaning are explained.

In Western Europe, research on young Muslims in school began around the end of the 20th century. The research was more about how their relationship was with the parents/Islamic community, the student and the teacher/school system. After that, research began on young adults and how they carve out spaces for themselves in relation to family, relatives, friends, school, and youth culture and majority society.

Through interviews, six young adults, of different ages and backgrounds, will describe what they consider a ritual to be, what their everyday ritual looks like, whether they follow any ritual within Islam and about performing other rituals within the religion. Their rituals may be to follow the religion, but not everything, as age, lack of time, feeling and situation play arole.