Exploring how mobility affects Muslim lives: The case of Yemeni refugees on Jeju Island

This article seeks to explore the role of mobility in anthropological study perspectives on Muslims, examining some of the drivers shaping the specifics of Muslim mobilities. A number of Islamic practices and Muslim beliefs such as the obligation to make the annual pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj), or going on the “smaller” pilgrimage (‘umrah), visiting the graves of saints and holy figures from Islamic history (ziyarat) the duty to migrate to safety if one is being persecuted for being a Muslim (hijra), strong encouragement to travel far and wide in the pursuit of knowledge (rihla) and the broader idea of a global Muslim community (ummah) builds transnational links between people and places, who would not otherwise have things in common. As I will show through a review of existing sources on Muslim mobilities in this article, a key component of these relationships, and networks is movement, as Muslims are motivated to travel, study, teach or go on pilgrimage. Furthermore, we also cannot ignore the issue of Muslims and forced migration as the vast majority of the world’s refugee and displaced persons population are mostly from Muslim-majority countries. To this end, I will present Korea’s so-called first “refugee crisis” as a case study for Muslim im/mobilities as in the summer of 2018, a little over 500, mostly male, Yemenis sought refuge on Korea’s holiday spot, Jeju Island. Their sudden arrival sparked a heated debate across the Island and on the mainland as Koreans engaged in anti-refugee protests that displayed deep racist and Islamophobic sentiments at the heart of Korean society that in turn rendered Yemeni refugees immobile.