%0 Journal Article
%T Reforming Men, Refining Umma: Tabl¨©gh¨© Jam¨¡ at and Novel Visions of Islamic Masculinity
%A Halkano Abdi Wario
%J Religion and Gender
%D 2012
%I Utrecht University Library Open Access Journals
%X Tabl¨©gh¨© Jam¨¡ at, a pietistic movement run by laypeople that originated in India is currently the most widespread Muslim missionary group worldwide. It is essentially men-oriented in terms of its main target for proselytization and organization. Spaces of proselytization are mosques, sacred spaces frequented by men, and the home, a place of reinforcement of ¡®lifestyle evangelism¡¯ dominated by women. The group has been described as anti-intellectualist, apolitical, docile, otherworldly, and a front for militant groups. Based on recent ethnographic research in northern Kenya, the paper explores two main thematic questions: What does it take to be a Tabl¨©gh¨© man? Does emerging Tabl¨©gh¨© masculinity embolden or reconfigure gender/patriarchal relations? The paper posits that the movement provides social mobility for non-¡®ulam¨¡ men in an alternative religious hierarchy but also lays the foundation for the emergence of a transnational practice of Islamic masculinity that appropriates the different local versions of being and becoming a man.
%K Tabl¨©gh¨© masculinity
%K non-¨±lama men
%K gender
%K jam¨¡ at
%U http://www.religionandgender.org/index.php/rg/article/view/7202