A Failed Canonization Process of Theological Knowledge in Contemporary Germany: An Analysis of the Practices of Ordinary Muslims

Ayşe Almıla Akca

Abstract

How do specific theological narratives and religious meanings prevail, fade, or become estab lished? How do certain endeavors to canonize religious knowledge fail? How do the specific meanings individuals attribute to religious knowledge influence processes of negotiation and canonization? Drawing upon intensive ethnographic fieldwork, this article analyzes a particu lar negotiation of Islamic knowledge within a local jamaat of a German mosque association by taking seriously the practices of ordinary Muslims. It highlights the social dynamics of religious power and emphasizes the social embeddedness of theological meaning-making. In so doing, this article provides insights into the shaping of religious power and authority, and, in particular, into the complex process of successes and failures of attempts to canonize theological knowledge within the contemporary German-speaking Muslim landscape.