The Pastoralised Imam: How Imams in Norway Counsel Youth and Families

In the research on Islam in Europe, the concept of ‘churchification’ has at times been used to refer to the transformation of mosques and Islamic organisations in the European context. Scholarship has often focused on the structural and institutional dimensions of change in Muslim communities, but less on the transformation of religious leadership. This article adds to this literature by examining how imams in Norway engage in counselling for youth and families. Drawing on qualitative in-depth interviews with eight imams in six Muslim congregations, I identify two broad orientations in counselling practice: a doctrine-centred approach that foregrounds religious accountability and eschatological motivation, and a relational-therapeutic approach that prioritises alliance-building, accompaniment, psychological framings, and, on occasion, referral to professional welfare services. I use these findings to enrich the concept of churchification. I propose that the concept of pastoralisation can describe important changes in the role of the imam in Europe: The adoption of a distinctively pastoral mode of religious leadership that centres on the personal needs of individual community members.