Religious and ethnographic practice: the Tablighi Jamaat and the Raval neighbourhood

Abstract

The fieldwork described in the article involves the observation and analysis of the religious practice and the representations of the Tablighi Jamaat in the city of Barcelona based on two parallel historical paths. Firstly, a historical reconstruction of the movement’s development, from its founding to its arrival and implantation in Barcelona, at the beginning of 1980s. And secondly, a reconstruction of both the history and urban evolution of the area where the research is carried out, namely the Raval neighbourhood, in particular the area around Carrer Robadors. This is where the majority of prayer and meeting places are located and where the social agents and actions of this religious practice come together. Subsequently we analyse how members of the movement build frameworks and spaces
for interaction and we study the introduction of the Tabligh through the practice of the religious community. Moreover, the article invites readers to consider, through certain readings of such practices and of specific urban spaces where they are performed, how other representations of the movement, of the participants of the events and of the interaction spaces are derived. Thus the article attempts to analyse the terms and conditions in which research into a religious phenomenon such as this can occur in a specific location.

Keywords: ethnography, religious practice, Ŷama’at at-Tabligh ad-Da’wa’, mosque Tariq ibn Ziyad, Raval.