ABSTRACT
There has been much recent debate on the degree of influence Muslim leaders exert within their communities and wider society. As agents of religious authority and leadership, they are increasingly expected to provide more than just religious guidance, and the question of what role Muslim leaders should play within the migrant diaspora is a difficult and pressing one. The points I make have relevance for the kind of research into communities that can inform leadership, and for the wider public understanding of the challenges posed to religious migrants as they navigate between worlds. The chapter includes auto-ethnographic reflections on my own migration to Australia, provides an overview of the global context of Muslim migration, and observations on how this global phenomenon manifests itself within the urban context of contemporary Sydney. Findings suggest there is a lack of consensus among Muslim leaders on how best to interpret Islamic law and rules in new socio-structural and cultural contexts. The challenges of the authentic settlement are broad and general, applicable across the Muslim diaspora: I argue that there is a need to ‘re-entangle’ core Islamic values and principles into the many local contemporary cultures in which Muslims find themselves. For Muslim leaders to wisely guide this process of ‘re-entanglement,’ they, of course, need to understand Islam, but they must also be able to grasp a good deal about the Muslim migrants, and much about the structures, meanings, relations, and processes of the societies they have moved to.
