“I come here to know” : Muslims navigating space, (in)visibility, and fluidity of religious practice in Uppsala, Sweden

Abstract: This ethnographic study investigates the process of placemaking in the context of the newly built Al-Hamd Mosque as a Muslim place of worship in Uppsala, Sweden. I consider how access to space e.g., a mosque or a prayer room, affects the religious practices of Muslims in their everyday life at work, school, or in public. I explore how people navigate other spaces, both physical and social, and what ‘strategies’ and ‘tactics’ are used to maintain their religious practice.  I suggest the need for two concepts of consensus in relation to placemaking. The first is what I call community consensus which occurs among Muslim actors in the process of establishing a place such as Al-Hamd Mosque. I explore rituals such as the Taleem sessions (religious seminars) and khutba al jumah (Friday sermon) to analyse negotiations and contestations that take place in such a process. It involves the organising of different actors through hierarchical and power relations to maintain or contest a system of regularities at the mosque. I argue that as a melting pot, multiple systems of order negotiate with one another at Al-Hamd Mosque to create and maintain the community consensus, while protecting the space from impurities. The second form of consensus I call public consensus, is the access to agreements, acceptance, and shared understanding vis-à-vis practising religion in public places in the broader Swedish society. I explore how the lack of public consensus calls for individuals to come up with ‘tactics,’ while groups, in the form of mosque associations, to come up with ‘strategies’ to create places of religious practice. The fluidity of religious practice and the adoption of alternative practices become key tactics assumed by individuals in performing different rituals and practices as they navigate a lack of public consensus in Sweden.