ABSTRACT
This chapter describes 'Muslim religiosity' as a general statement because to the participants, a Muslim was straightforwardly 'a Muslim', and there was virtually no differentiation or acknowledgement of the spectrum of religiosity among Muslims based on sectarian divides. It explores the participants' discursive regimes about gender and Muslim veiling practices from the point of view of their everyday lives. Needing to pray five times a day interrupts everyday interactions and social occasions. Wearing the hijab or face veil in all public spaces inscribes the entire public realm as a liminal zone. Having to check ingredients or adhere to dietary laws 'pushes' religion to the 'foreground', not the background. It is the very reverse of downplaying religion, keeping it as something internal. Many of the participants linked Islam and Muslims with violence and terrorism. Muslim women are locked in a kind of false consciousness where they become the agents of their own oppression through their choice to veil.
