A Muslim Chaplaincy for Asylum Seekers? Results from an Evaluation Research Study

Due to the high number of Muslim applicants in the Swiss asylum system, in recent years there have been calls for an introduction of a Muslim chaplaincy service into Switzerland’s asylum centers. Acknowledging this need, the Swiss federal government ran a Muslim chaplaincy pilot service in Zurich’s Juch Asylum Center between July 2016 and June 2017, with a view to its possible roll-out across Switzerland’s federal asylum centers. This paper links methodological reflection with a presentation of key results in the evaluation of this project. Applying a mixed-method design based on the fourth-generation evaluation research, the study investigates the perspectives of the main stakeholder groups on the pilot project. The interaction with Muslim chaplains mostly led to a high degree of satisfaction among asylum seekers. The study shows there were difficulties and obstacles integrating Muslim chaplaincy into the center’s inter-professional setting, although the interfaith cooperation with Christian chaplains nonetheless developed intensively. The study’s methodological limitations, primarily caused by the setting of the study, are also discussed, as well as the impact the evaluation itself had on the asylum center setting.

Securitization, Islamic chaplaincy, and the issue of (de)radicalization of Muslim detainees in Dutch prisons

What position does organized Muslim chaplaincy in Dutch prisons take with respect to the prevention of radicalization and to the de-radicalization of detainees with a Muslim background? After describing the process of securitization of Salafism in the Netherlands, discussing the use of context-related concepts as radicalization, extremism and terrorism, and sketching the context and the making of Muslim chaplaincy, the article provides a brief overview of recent research on the relation between detention and (de)radicalization. Then, the stance of Islamic prison chaplaincy towards (de)radicalization of Muslim prisoners is described and analyzed in terms of goals, policy and practice. An expansive oligopolistic system of chaplaincy, representing various organized religions, seems to facilitate a relatively a-political type of Islamic chaplaincy, which often acts as a countervailing force to the dominant trend of securitization.