Muslims in Brussels: Transnational Religious Identifications and Sensibilities in the Wake of Shifting Geopolitical Dynamics in the Middle East

The presentation explores the changing religious identifications and sensibilities of Muslims in the city of Brussels. Through migration, globalization and mass media technology, the relationship of Islam, ethnicity and territory has become more complex. Social spaces of Muslims constitute diverse social, political and religious networks. Through migration, social media and other new information technology, diverse networks bring together ideas, places and people from all over the world. Belgium Muslims identify with issues that go beyond the national spatial space, resulting in enormous national and local effects of transnational developments. Since the upheavals in the Middle East dating from 2011, the Syrian civil war, the rise of ISIS and the Paris attacks, ideological differences have become more visible, sharper and played out. Local Muslim NGO's in Brussels depart from these global dynamics to develop local activities, lectures, worshop and formation sessions to support their members in developing nuanced sensibilities and more layered identities to co-create a society based on more social cohesion and inclusivity.