Paper short abstract:

In contemporary Dutch society, the quest for personal piety among young reformist Muslims entails constant struggle, making it an inherently insecure endeavor. Comparison with similar challenges among Christians, helps to see how this struggle itself gives shape to what it means to be pious.

Paper long abstract:

Many young Dutch Muslims explicitly aspire to strict piety, defined as everyday personal dedication to moral reform rather than mere religious heritage. This objective is encouraged by revivalist movements, especially Salafism in the Dutch context. Personal piety is understood to bring 'peace', both in this life and in the afterlife. In practice, however, the quest for piety involves constant struggle. It is structurally undermined by the regimes of modern capitalism (study, work, achievement), secularism and pluralism. Moreover, while the emphasis on critical self-reflection among reformist Muslims facilitates self-conscious religious dedication, it also complicates the ambition of surrender of the (reflexive) self. For these reasons, the project of achieving strict piety never succeeds completely. This results in intrinsic insecurity in young Muslims' lives. Their response is a constant moral vigilance of their selves, while reformist preachers' respond by persistently criticizing the state of the Islamic community. Still, this is not the exclusive problem of a Muslim minority in secular Europe. Young pious Christians face almost exactly the same problems. Just as Muslims keep on struggling to become better Muslims, Christians keep on struggling to become better Christians. This suggests that this very struggle might actually define what it means to be a Muslim (or Christian), especially in a dominantly secular context. The quest for piety is never accomplished, indeed, should never be accomplished, since it is precisely the everyday struggle to become a better Muslim that gives shape to what it means to be pious.