Religious Classification Beyond Belonging: Madhehebu as Lived Grammar

ABSTRACT

Religious classifications remain socially meaningful even when people refuse to inhabit the categories they name. This article examines that puzzle through madhehebu , the Swahili term (from Arabic madhhab ) used to name Muslim difference. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork (2022–2026) at Radio Nuur FM—an Islamic station in Tanga, Tanzania, that broadcasts “without regard for madhehebu ”—alongside interviews with station personnel and listeners, I trace how madhehebu circulates through everyday talk, institutional relationships, and ethical reasoning. I argue that madhehebu operates as a lived grammar of difference: a shared, contested, and generative resource through which Muslims recognize, negotiate, refuse, and regulate religious plurality. By shifting attention from what religious categories are to what categorical language does, the article extends lived religion into the study of classification and offers a portable framework for analyzing religious difference across traditions.