Religion works in different ways: an intersectional approach to Muslims’ noninstitutionalized participation

Although a growing body of research addresses the role of religion in the political engagement of Muslims, a dearth of studies scrutinizes whether intersecting power dynamics (i.e., gender and religion) shape Muslims’ political participation. In this study, we apply an intersectional approach to study whether religious indicators (mosque attendance, religious salience, and religious discrimination) shape the (gendered) participatory patterns of Muslims. Drawing on ESS data of six countries (Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, UK, and France), we find religious attendance to dampen and religious salience to heighten Muslims’ nonelectoral participation. Religious discrimination seems to have no effect. Although Muslims’ religiosity is gendered, our study finds no effects hereof on political participation. Further research unraveling the motivations of Muslims’ noninstitutionalized forms of participation is encouraged.