ABSTRACT
In recent years, Islam, the place of Islamic practices in the public sphere and the relations between Muslims and non-Muslims have become important, and often controversial and polarizing topics in societal and political discussions in Western countries. Fuelled by references to national and international incidents and conflicts, the rhetoric and arguments in these debates have over the years taken an increasingly negative turn and become infused by anti-Muslim sentiment and Islamophobia (Bousetta and Jacobs, 2006; Helbling, 2014; Spruyt and Elchardus, 2012). While these discourses and debates also permeate the boundaries of organizations (Siebers, 2010), the topic of Islam and the specific experiences of Muslim employees has so far received relatively little attention in organization studies (Essers and Benschop, 2009; Forstenlechner and Al-Waqfi, 2010; Van Laer and Janssens, 2011). Existing studies on these subjects have mainly explored the barriers and disadvantages Muslims are exposed to in organizations and in the labour market. In doing so, they have highlighted how these individuals are faced with interpersonal and career-related discrimination (for example, Forstenlechner and Al-Waqfi, 2010; Ghumman and Ryan, 2013; Van Laer and Janssens, 2011) and with organizational norms which tend to disadvantage them as they aim to gain acceptance and inclusion in organizations, especially if they make their religious identity visible (Syed and Pio, 2010; Van Laer and Janssens, 2014). Less attention, however, has been paid to the way organizations, as part of their HR or diversity programmes, deal with, or manage, Islamic practices and Muslim employees.
