The changing image of the imam among Dutch-Turkish Muslims
How do Dutch-Turkish Muslims see the imams of their mosques, and what shapes that image? A survey of more than a thousand respondents, combined with interviews and observation in mosques in The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Leiden.
Background: an imam and board members at the door of the Turkish mosque on Koningsteinstraat, Haarlem, October 1993. Photo: Nils van Houts / Fotoburo de Boer, Noord-Hollands Archief, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- Design
- Mixed methods, within a five-year research project (2013–2018) on religiosity among Dutch-Turkish Muslims
- Survey
- 1,165 respondents (649 men, 516 women, aged 18–68); about 40% on paper at mosques, Islamic centres, schools and cultural organisations, 60% online. Analysis of the 893 respondents with a strong religious commitment, in SPSS
- Fieldwork
- 15 interviews with imams (9) and mosque staff (6) in five mosques in The Hague, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Leiden; 66 interviews with parents and children; participant observation at Friday prayers, weekend Qur’an classes and conferences
- Framework
- Elite (spiritual) and popular religiosity, and religious individualisation
Who trusts the imam’s answers?
Mean agreement with “When I find answers to my religious questions through imams, I do not doubt their correctness” (1 = fully disagree, 5 = fully agree).
The difference between the two groups is large and significant: t(746) = 22.28, p < .001.
Show data table
| Group | n | Mean | SD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Popular religiosity | 545 | 3.8 | 0.96 |
| Elite religiosity | 203 | 2.0 | 0.97 |
What goes with trust in imams
Correlations (r) between the image of the imam as intellectually reliable and religiosity and education.
Popular religiosity also goes with religious education received in mosques (r = .24); elite religiosity does not.
Show data table
| Variable | n | r | p |
|---|---|---|---|
| Popular religiosity | 545 | .365 | < .001 |
| Elite religiosity | 203 | −.211 | .003 |
| Level of education | 893 | −.173 | < .001 |
Three pressures on the imam’s authority
Factors identified in the interviews and observation.
- Language and local cultureImams trained in Turkey and sent on temporary mandates often lack Dutch and knowledge of Dutch society, which limits their reach among second- and third-generation youth
- A politicised institutional cultureFriday sermons are not written by the mosque imam but published in advance by Diyanet, and have echoed Turkish state politics, as during Operation Olive Branch in 2018
- A secularising young generationReligious individualisation leads younger, educated Muslims to seek answers elsewhere; one interviewee prefers “to just look for an answer on Google”
- The image of the imam among Dutch-Turkish Muslims is not uniform, but for the majority it remains positive and the imam keeps his authority.
- Respondents with popular religiosity trust imams’ answers far more than those with elite religiosity (3.8 vs 2.0 on a five-point scale).
- Trust in imams rises with popular religiosity and falls with elite religiosity and with level of education.
- Educated and spiritually oriented Muslims question the relevance of imams for young Muslims in Europe.
- Language and cultural gaps, the politicisation of Diyanet and the secularisation of young immigrant identity shape the imam’s changing role.
Source Gürlesin, Ö. F. (2019). Major Socio-Political Factors that Impact on the Changing Role, Perception and Image of Imams among Dutch-Turkish Muslims. Education Sciences, 9(3), 162. Open access: doi.org/10.3390/educsci9030162