The Reluctant Custodians of Religion

Abstract The present research, based on the analysis of the Lithuanian language Online Islamic Environments ( OIE s) and in-depth semi-structured interviews with leading figures in local Muslim religious organizations, sought to answer the question of to what extent Lithuania’s Muslim institutional actors have realized the purported potential of the OIE s and have been utilizing them for their own benefit. The research revealed that the Lithuanian Muslim institutional religious actors have only to a very limited extent realized the potential of the OIE s in dispensing of Islamic knowledge and this way attracting new adherents, and also establishing themselves as Islamic authorities. Thus, qualified actors are passive in their engagement with the OIE s, while the most active lack the necessary religious credentials and status. In result, the Lithuanian Muslim religious entities appear, so far, to contribute very little to the Lithuanian OIE s and are totally on the periphery of the global OIE s.