What's in a beard?: Mundane and transcendent Otherness among Danish Sufi Muslims

Abstract

This article examines how for contemporary Danish Muslim men, growing a beard becomes a spiritual practice and a marker of visible difference. Drawing on Clifford Geertz's interpretive approach to symbolic meaning, the analysis explores how a beard can function simultaneously as an expression of religious devotion and a contested symbol in public spaces. Through ethnographic research with an offshoot of the global Sufi order referred to as Naqshbandi Mujaddidi Saifi tariqa, the article analyzes how Danish Muslim men navigate between what is termed ‘mundane otherness’ – the everyday experience of being visibly Muslim in a secular society – and ‘transcendent Otherness’ – the spiritual goal of emulating the Prophet Muhammad. The analysis reveals how visible markers of faith, rather than simply acting as signs of difference, can serve as active means of spiritual transformation, even as they subject practitioners to various forms of discrimination and contestation.