The Religious Trajectories of the Moussaoui Family

Abstract

A glimpse into the family of Zacarias Moussaoui, the only person to be tried in a US court for conspiracy in the attacks of 9/11, brings into focus the importance of understanding individual action and choice in religious behaviour. Though rooted in the same social and cultural background, the members of this family have embarked on radically different religious trajectories: Moussaoui and his brother are adherents of very different forms of organized Islam, while his mother looks inward for her faith, and his sister identifies with Judaism.