Abstract
Based on an analysis of 150 documents collected between 2012 and 2015 from bookstores, websites and YouTube channels operated by Salafi mosques and organisations in Britain and Germany, this article discusses the different strategies adopted in European Salafi discourse in an effort to disassociate salafiyya from al-Qaeda, ISIS and other Jihadi-Salafi movements. The article suggests that the target audience of these rebuttals are Western governments and publics, who suspect salafiyya to be a breeding-ground for terror, as well as mosque attendees, who are exposed to jihadi-salafi denunciations of Salafi anti-politics and anti-violence agendas. It introduces the diverse set of arguments invoked by Salafis to defend their opposition to violent attacks on Western soil, including the religious duties to abide by contracts, respect Islamic rules of warfare and the regulations on initiating jihad, avoid harming the interests of Muslims and of Islam in Europe, and oppose modern-day Khawarij of whom the Prophet Muḥammad warned.Key words: Islam in Europe, salafiyya, jihadi-salafiyya, al-Qaeda, ISIS
Highlights
The term ‘the Muslim minority in Europe’, so commonplace today in popular and academic discourses, is reductionist and misleading
Based on an analysis of 150 documents collected between 2012 and 2015 from bookstores, websites and YouTube channels operated by Salafi mosques and organisations in Britain and Germany, this article discusses the different strategies adopted in European Salafi discourse in an effort to disassociate salafiyya from al-Qaeda, ISIS and other Jihadi-Salafi movements
The article suggests that the target audience of these rebuttals are Western governments and publics, who suspect salafiyya to be a breeding-ground for terror, as well as mosque attendees, who are exposed to jihadi-salafi denunciations of Salafi anti-politics and anti-violence agendas
Summary
The term ‘the Muslim minority in Europe’, so commonplace today in popular and academic discourses, is reductionist and misleading It postulates that for a majority of individuals of Muslim faith on the continent, the religious aspect of identity overrides all other aspects, including national, ethnic and socio-economic. To sum up the gravity of the challenge, both the legal and religious legitimacies of European Salafis have been questioned, pressuring them to convince Western publics and policy makers that they do not support violence, and to convince their disciples that their rejection of violence is commensurate with the true meaning of Islam. Some 150 publications and posts pertaining to the views oftruesalafiyya on violence were analysed
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