Muslim Life in Germany - Deutsche Islam Konferenz

138 Religiousness and religious practice
dimensions has proven effective in the field of religious sociology
(Huber 2007; Kecskes and Wolf 1993/1993). These comprise
general religiousness, private religious practice, ritual religiousness
and the intellectual dimension of religiousness (Huber
2007; Stark and Glock 1968). For practical reasons, the scope of
research for the project “Muslim Life in Germany” was limited
to the interviewees’ private religious practice and ritual religiousness.
While private religious practice is restricted to the
practicing of the interviewee’s religion in the private sphere,
ritual religiousness concerns how a person’s religiousness is
integrated into a social network and thus defines the public face
of a person’s religiousness (Huber 2007: 218).
4.2.2.1 Private religious practice: Prayer, festivals, dining
and fasting
The private religious behaviour of Muslims and non-
Muslims was measured by reference to various indicators in
the study “Muslim Life in Germany”. These included prayer
practices and the celebration of religious festivals, as well as
observance of religious dietary laws and fasting in connection
with religious occasions or during certain periods. Interpretation
of the results requires a special understanding with regard
to Alevis. While the Alevi faith shares a number of precepts with
Sunnis and Shiites, considerable differences exist between Alevis
and Muslims of the Sunni or Shiite denomination. Not all five
pillars of Islam play a vital role in defining the Islamic religion
for Alevis, for example. Prayer and fasting at the time of Ramadan
are of no relevance to Alevis (Bartsch 2002: 30; Sökefeld
200b: 33). Consequently, it is only to be expected that the results
obtained for Alevis in these two areas of private religious practice
will fall short of those for other Muslim groups.