Professor Ingvild Flaskerud – University of Oslo
A new generation Twelver Shiites in Europe: What knowledge and competence are necessary to live a Muslim way of life?
This paper will examine self-organised activities among the current generation of young Shia adult in Norway regarding religious formation. Which methods do they employ to shape and educate themselves as Twelver Shia Muslims and which topics are introduced during their meetings? The presence of Twelver Shia Muslims in Scandinavia is related mainly to the migration of people from the Middle East and Asia since the late 1960s, first as labour migrants and subsequently as refugees and asylum seekers. Like in every country in Europe, Twelver Shiites in Norway constitutes a minority within the broader Muslim minority group.