Paper short abstract:

This contribution will outline the heterogenous ways Islam is practiced within the Somali communities in Kenya. It will ask how it is possible to establish an academic language, that acknowledges difference without falling into the trap of fixation, but also without portraying everything as fluid.

Paper long abstract:

This contribution will outline the heterogenous ways Islam is practiced within the Somali communities in Kenya. While Somalis are in Kenya often presented as practicing a rather strict Islam, I argue that beyond that public image there are many religious practices by Somali Muslims not fitting into this image. Starting from a conflict in the Muslim community in Nakuru, I will sketch out very different ways of practicing Islam among Somalis in Kenya - from what is referred to as Salafi/Wahhabi interpretations of Islam, to being active in the Tablighi Jamaat, to 'Sufi' practices and healing ceremonies, but also to Islam as just an important aspect of life for many and an almost neglectable one for some. These practices are not only part of changing local and global entangelements, but they are also used in power struggles within urban Kenyan Muslim communities, which were heavily influenced by the migration of Somalis (from Kenya as well as from Somalia) to the cities since the beginning of the 1990s. In these arenas of competition specific interpretations of Islam serve as justifications for drawing boundaries between 'us' and 'them'. In a second step I will examine different emic and etic taxonomies along which the field of Islam is described, taxonomies which feed into ideas of clearly distinguishable practices within Islam. As these taxonomies are used in the emic and etic discourses alike, it is difficult to find and establish an academic language which acknowledges difference without falling into the trap of fixation.