Paper short abstract:

I reflect on two fieldwork sites: a Bashkir Sufi circle and preliminary thoughts on how Muslims navigate uncertain times in France and Belgium. I place at the centre of my reflection the idea of knowledge through surrender in the Islamic tradition, also exploring how to embrace it methodologically.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper, I reflect on two fieldwork sites: my fieldwork in a Bashkir Sufi circle in Russia’s Urals and preliminary thoughts on how Muslims respond to uncertainties in the form of climate change, wars, pandemics, and end-of-times prophecies in France and Belgium. I want to explore how the theme of surrendering resonates in these different sites and how my interlocutors embrace Islamic knowledge to navigate uncertainties. I place at the centre of my reflections the idea of knowledge through surrender that is present in the Islamic tradition, particularly Sufi modes of knowing, also exploring how to embrace it methodologically. How does the idea of knowledge through surrender respond to a tradition in the social sciences that emphasises power and control as ideals guiding the acquisition of knowledge? What does it mean for the researcher to adopt a position of “surrendering” when studying religious communities? To answer these questions, I will reflect on two poles that define the human in the Islamic tradition: the vicegerent of God on Earth and the servant of God. I want to understand how the idea of servanthood corresponds to another approach to human knowledge than the one originating in the Enlightenment period.