Taking religiosity seriously in Muslim experiences of exclusion - Norwegian Muslim experiences with ethical, social, and institutional <i>non-recognition</i>

Research on Muslim experiences with social exclusion in Western societies is largely occupied with how phenomena such as Islamophobia and racialization negatively impact everyday Muslim lives. This article seeks to re-introduce the importance of religiosity in the scholarly discussion on Muslim exclusion, and particularly how absence of validation, conformity, and accommodation of Muslim religiosity is tied to Muslims’ sense of belonging in the West. Building on focus groups and interviews with seventy-two Muslims in Norway, the article demonstrates how religiosity is entangled in Muslims experiences with exclusion across different spheres in society, and argues for the need of a conceptual framework that acknowledges non-recognition of religiosity as a separate category of Muslim grievance in the West. The article engages multicultural theory from the so called Bristol School of Multiculturalism, and particularly the scholarship of Tariq Modood, to argue for the need of introducing non-recognition as a part of the everyday vernacular of multiculturalism.