Islamic Activism Research Articles

Social Crisis and Islamist Transformation: Iraq’s Sadrism Through Bourdieu’s Homology

Abstract This article theorizes Islamist transformations by mapping the evolution of Sadrism in contemporary Iraq through a period of state collapse, war, and political consolidation. Using Pierre Bourdieu, this perspective emphasizes how field-based crises can synchronize and amplify homological relations between the deep-lying structures which differentiate religious from political spheres of Islamist activity. The article identifies these homological processes and structures and explains how they have patterned underlying morphologies of Sadrist politics. This differs from existing literature on Islamist movements where religion has often been contextualized in terms of material social conditions, or priority ascribed to political struggles and structures and emphasis placed on surface-level symbolic practices. By contrast, a Bourdieusian lens provides a theoretically robust approach to study the relationship between religion and politics, and an evaluative framework for Islamist transformations which is less normative than some alternatives and more generalizable beyond the context of Islamism and Islam.

The Jewish-Palestinian conflict. History and the Present

In this article, the author presents the causes and course of the Jewish-Palestinian conflict from the second half of the 19th century to the events of 2024. The main research problem concerns explaining the essence of this conflict and indicating the reasons why, in the author’s opinion, a two-state solution and life side by side for the two Jewish and Palestinian nations is impossible. The author has primarily used the historical method to show the chronology of the conflict with its pivotal moments. He considers that a lasting peace is currently unattainable because it is not wanted by the fanatical groups on both sides of the conflict, which adopts the religious motivation of the parties and thus becomes increasingly cruel and unpredictable. In his conclusions, the author points out, among other things, the deepening mutual hatred between Jews and Palestinians, which has fuelled the spiral of violence and made a political end to the conflict impossible and will continue to be so. This is also confirmed by the attempts made so far to resolve it with the involvement of third parties. The war currently being fought in Gaza will fade, but the conflict will continue and strengthen the radical factions on both sides, namely militant Islam (Hamas and Hezbollah) and the Jewish nationalist and ultra-orthodox right. The involvement of other actors in this war, notably Iran, Hezbollah and the Yemeni Houthi (Ansar Allah) movement, poses the danger of its escalation and the transfer of terrorist acts to Europe.

Konflikt żydowsko-palestyński. Historia i współczesność

In this article, the author presents the causes and course of the Jewish- Palestinian conflict from the second half of the 19th century to the events of 2024. The main research problem concerns explaining the essence of this conflict and indicating the reasons why, in the author’s opinion, a two-state solution and life side by side for the two Jewish and Palestinian nations is impossible. The author has primarily used the historical method to show the chronology of the conflict with its pivotal moments. He considers that a lasting peace is currently unattainable because it is not wanted by the fanatical groups on both sides of the conflict, which adopts the religious motivation of the parties and thus becomes increasingly cruel and unpredictable. In his conclusions, the author points out, among other things, the deepening mutual hatred between Jews and Palestinians, which has fuelled the spiral of violence and made a political end to the conflict impossible and will continue to be so. This is also confirmed by the attempts made so far to resolve it with the involvement of third parties. The war currently being fought in Gaza will fade, but the conflict will continue and strengthen the radical factions on both sides, namely militant Islam (Hamas and Hezbollah) and the Jewish nationalist and ultra-orthodox right. The involvement of other actors in this war, notably Iran, Hezbollah and the Yemeni Houthi (Ansar Allah) movement, poses the danger of its escalation and the transfer of terrorist acts to Europe.

Reflections on the Sources of the Contemporary Islamic Revival

ABSTRACT The groups and movements that comprise the Islamic revival of the past half century share an ideology of return to the origins of the faith and strictly following the scriptures. They are habitually divided into Islamist activists, who seek involvement in the political arena; Salafi purists, who censure “deviations” from “true” Islam; and Traditionalist ʽulama, who uphold the living legal, theological, and Sufi tradition. This article offers some reflections on the intricate connections and conflicts among these three large religious trends by reviewing three recently published studies that touch upon the ideational sources on which they draw. It shows the ambiguous stand of Sunni Islamic Modernists, the precursors of Islamism, toward old and new Muslim sects; the lingering exclusivism and militancy of Wahhabis, who form a subset of Salafism, in al-Qaʽida and ISIS; and the versatility of Traditionalists in accommodating to modernity.

Moral Policing of Gender Norms: Honor-Based Violence as a Mobilizing Factor Towards Militant Islamism

Honor culture, in which the virtue of the family—if not community—depends on the “purity” of its female members, enforced through “moral policing” of gender norms to collectively control women’s sexuality and uphold a patriarchal gender order, is a central aspect of both honor-based violence and the Salafi-jihadist culture in militant Islamist milieus. Drawing on interviews with 1) an imprisoned Danish woman convicted of ISIS-related terrorism, 2) a mother of a deceased Swedish ISIS foreign fighter, who herself was previously part of the Salafi-jihadist milieu, and 3) “professionals” (e.g. police officers, social workers and municipal employees) conducted during ethnographic fieldwork in Sweden and prison ethnography in Denmark, this article explores how honor-based violence can constitute a mobilizing factor for Western Muslims towards militant Islamism in three distinct ways. First, isolation of Muslim women and children through gender segregation and restrictions on accessing public space to “moral police” gender norms enables the Salafi-jihadist milieu to cement and extend its ideological, religious, and physical control. Second, in an honor culture with intense pressure on men to defend and restore family honor whenever it is challenged, joining ISIS can be perceived as a means to fulfill this obligation, thereby affirming “real” Muslim masculinity and upholding a patriarchal gender order. The deeply ingrained cultural expectations to defend honor can even be exploited by militant Islamist milieus in their recruitment efforts. Third, besides providing a “safe space” where one cannot be persecuted and punished for dishonoring one’s family by leaving it as an unmarried woman, ISIS’s multiethnic diversity and embrace of interethnic marriage can be appealing for someone who wants to escape forced endogamous marriage. Given that honor-based violence strikes at the individual freedoms and rights, thereby undermining liberal democratic values and the rule of law, our article contributes knowledge on the broader threat to democracy from anti-democratic forces in the context of militant Islamism.

“Intentionality” in radical flank effects: reflections on Al-Nusra Front’s discourse of moderation between 2012–2017

ABSTRACT In this paper, I examine the theory of Radical Flank Effects (RFEs) reflecting on the case of al-Nusra Front and specifically its oscillation between ‘moderation’ and ‘radicalism’ in the period between its official establishment in early 2012 and the formation of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in January 2017. The main contribution in this paper originates from revisiting Haines’ premise that RFEs happen ‘unintendedly’. Reflecting on the discourse and behaviour of al-Nusra, I propose that RFEs can be managed purposefully by collective actors in ways that serve their strategic goals. In this sense, claims to moderation may serve as a strategic tool in the hands of collective actors, including militant Islamist organizations. In this regard, the research reveals that al-Nusra’s oscillation between moderation and radicalism was by and large purposeful, or at least carefully managed by the organization’s ideologues and strategists.

Islamism, Blasphemy, and Public Order in Contemporary Indonesia

Public order has remained a central focus of successive Indonesian governments since independence. Since President Soeharto’s political demise in 1998, blasphemy and associated religious vigilantism have, at times, posed a serious threat to public order. Using several recent case studies, this article addresses that issue and argues that, insofar as Islamist actors, opportunistic politicians, and a complicit judiciary are permitted to use religion to disrupt public order and persecute those espousing minority beliefs, constitutional guarantees of the rule of law, legal certainty and equality before the law, citizenship, and other fundamental liberal democratic rights, will continue to be undermined in contemporary Indonesia.

Challenging Islamophobia by Action (An Overview of the Islamic Activist Movement in America from A Fiqh Aqalliyāt Perspective)

The issue of Islamophobia and the treatment of minorities is deeply rooted in the culture of Muslim societies. Throughout history, Islamic constitutional law has focused on the treatment of minority groups. However, the meaning of "minority" has evolved and shifted from referring to non-Muslim minority groups to Muslim minority groups. This research employs a qualitative methodology with an Islamic law and legal sociology approach, relying on empirical data. The article aims to emphasize the need for reassessing "minorities" and setting new standards in combating Islamophobia through a sociological approach by advocating fiqh al-Aqalliyāt as a tool to promote inclusivity among the Muslim majority. The results show that the movement against Islamophobia, based on the study of maqashid al-shariah with an emphasis on fiqh al-aqalliyat, is the main choice for American Muslim minorities. Abstrak Isu Islamofobia dan perlakuan terhadap minoritas berakar kuat dalam budaya masyarakat Muslim. Sepanjang sejarah, hukum konstitusional Islam telah berfokus pada perlakuan terhadap kelompok minoritas. Namun, makna "minoritas" telah berevolusi dan bergeser dari merujuk pada kelompok minoritas non-Muslim menjadi kelompok minoritas Muslim. Penelitian ini menggunakan metodologi kualitatif dengan pendekatan hukum Islam dan sosiologi hukum, dengan mengandalkan data empiris. Artikel ini bertujuan untuk menekankan perlunya menilai kembali "minoritas" dan menetapkan standar baru dalam memerangi Islamofobia melalui pendekatan sosiologis dengan mengadvokasi fiqh al-Aqalliyāt sebagai alat untuk mempromosikan inklusivitas di antara mayoritas Muslim. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa gerakan melawan Islamofobia yang didasarkan pada kajian maqashid al-syariah dengan penekanan pada fiqh al-aqalliyat menjadi pilihan utama bagi minoritas Muslim Amerika.

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE ISLAMISATION PROCESS IN MALAYSIA AND NIGERIA: A SOCIAL MOVEMENT THEORY APPROACH

This exploratory, diachronic study compares the politics of Islamisation, which have undergone different patterns of developmentin both Nigeria and Malaysia. Islamisation is defined as an ideological translation of Islamism into policies to “Islamise” the state andsociety by expanding the scope of the application of Islamic laws and principles. Islamisation in Malaysia has been implemented steadily and progressively since the 1980s. It involves the “inculcation of Islamic values” in a wide range of aspects of society, including the economy. The Islamic penal code or hudud enactments were legislated in two states, but held in abeyance due to their unconstitutionality. In contrast, Nigeria observed the sudden and erratic implementation of hudud in 12 northern states in 1999, along with other bureaucratic adjustments. Adopting an interpretative case study approach of the comparative method of Arend Lijphart, we explain the two contrastive case studies of the ideological translation of Islamism by analysing the manner in which various political opportunities and structural constraints in the respective cases have shaped the Islamisation process. Data gathering was based on an extensive review of the related body of literature. Analysis was conducted using a social movement theoretical framework based on a structured, focused comparison. The dynamic conceptualisation of the state as a set of institutions, which is continually and dialectically reshaped by contentious processes, captures how the bureaucratisation and judicialisation of Islam have modified the nature of state structures and the structure of political opportunities, which in turn allows for additional channels of influence for Islamic activists.

Populism at the UN: comparing Netanyahu’s and Abbas’s speeches, 2010–19

ABSTRACT Populism impacts policy choices and may contribute to fuelling crises and limiting the prospects for conflict resolution. This paper applies a multidimensional populism theoretical framework to compare quantitatively and qualitatively 18 speeches by Mahmoud Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations General Assembly between 2010 and 2019. Our analysis shows that while both Abbas and Netanyahu use populist language—mostly focused on antagonistic, moral and idealised depictions of the ‘people’ and the ‘other’—the latter consistently displayed a greater density of populist references in his UN speeches over the period analysed. Netanyahu’s discourses were both more aggressive and exclusionary and made more allusions to religion and securitisation than those of the Palestinian leader. His framing essentialised the ‘us’ (‘the Jewish people’) as threatened by an ‘enemy’; what he called ‘militant Islam’. By contrast, Abbas referred more to borders as a requirement for statehood. Their different communicative frames and language suggest discrepant worldviews. Abbas’s speeches reflected a more ‘liberal’ conception of international relations, relying more on international cooperation, institutions, and regulation to resolve the Palestinian question, while Netanyahu conveyed a realpolitik stance and stressed his concerns with external threats and willingness to act unilaterally.

Explaining the distinction between religious and political activism in Islamism: evidence from the Tunisian case

AbstractTunisia's Islamist movement Ennahda has announced a separation of political and religious work, apparently reinforcing a “post-Islamist” argument that Islamic parties have left behind religious mobilization. However, the boundary between religious and political fields is highly porous. We ask why the distinction between religious and political activism remains a point of ambiguity within Islamism. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 48 men and women who participated in the movement in the 1970s and 1980s in Tunis and Sousse, we develop a microlevel explanation of Islamist mobilization. We argue that religious and social Islamist activism is replete with political intent, which worked through three mechanisms: a counter-hegemonic ideology, an activist engagement in social transformation, and a formal organization. These findings add empirical insights to the case of Ennahda, provide leverage in explaining the politicization of Salafist movements, and underscore the legacy of asymmetric party capacities in shaping outcomes in a democratic transition.

Homegrown Hate: Why White Nationalists and Militant Islamists are Waging War Against the United States by Sara Kamali (review)

Homegrown Hate: Why White Nationalists and Militant Islamists are Waging War Against the United States by Sara Kamali (review)

Defending Islam Action and Its Impact on the Local Islamic Conservatism Movement in West Sumatra

The massive demonstrations as part of the Defending Islam Action against Ahok in 2016 have had a broad impact on the dynamics of contemporary Indonesian politics. The event has not only created socio-political polarization in society but also seeped into local political dynamics in West Sumatra. So far, most studies have focused on the motives and causal factors of the Islamic defense action with its various implications, but there are still few studies that explain the influence of this action on the local Islamic conservatism movement in West Sumatra. Specifically, this study answers the question of how the influence of the Defending Islam Action on the local Islamic conservatism movement in West Sumatra after the 212 rally. A deep understanding of the development of Islamic conservatism in the local context can develop theories of Islamic conservatism in explaining the Islamic revival movement in Indonesia. This research uses a qualitative method by interviewing a number of actors of the local Islamic conservatism movement in West Sumatra. The results of this study show that the transformation of national politics in the issues of the Defending Islam Action has a significant impact on the local Islamic conservatism movement. The national political factor not only affects the local Islamic conservatism movement but also the proliferation of such movements locally, that are active in responding to social, political and religious issues. The national political factor followed by local political decentralization is a political opportunity for local Islamic conservatism groups to carry out conservative Islamic agendas in West Sumatra.

Political Islam and emancipatory politics: snapshots of Islamic liberation theology

ABSTRACT As a growing corpus of academic literature is taking notice of the plural geographies and trajectories of liberation theologies across diverse faith traditions, inquiries into the relationship between political Islam and liberative praxis are garnering renewed attention. Some scholars, casting doubt on the possibility of an Islamic liberation theology (ILT), have regarded political Islam as being devoid of liberative potential. Others, designating Islamism as the Muslim equivalent of liberation theology, have argued the emancipatory potential of Islamic political theology came to an end with the rise of fanatical renditions of Islamist militancy. Challenging these narratives, this article contributes to a recent stream of scholarship which tracks the historical and ongoing articulation of an ILT that overlaps with but is irreducible to Islamism. The article defines ILT as a manner of Islamic political theology that came into being in the context of the global emergence of liberation theologies, and one whose commitment to liberative praxis is anchored in a humanist and anti-oppression interpretation of Islamic precepts.

Исламистский терроризм в Африке в 2010–2020-е годы: основные тенденции и перспективы

In recent years, an obvious sign of intensifying terrorist activities by Islamist radicals in Africa has been a steady trend indicating the expanding geography of their extremist actions. Africa turned out to be the region of the world most affected by jihadist terrorism. Moreover, there is an “African U-turn” in the activities of transnational Islamist networks that aim to spread their influence in many regions of the continent. While in the 2010s militant Islamist groups were primarily active in Algeria and Somalia, by the early 2020s the scope of African jihadists’ activities had significantly expanded (mainly in West and Central Africa). At the same time, the Sahel region has become one of the main terrorist hotbeds of jihadist groups on the continent, where the number of violent acts committed by Islamists has doubled annually since 2015. In the article, the author analyzes the causes and specifics of the spreading influence of extremist groups in Africa, examines the significance of internal and external factors that affect these processes, and draws conclusions about the correlation of global and local agendas in the activities of militant Islamists in African countries. The author also makes a prediction that current trends suggest the possibility of new “hot spots” of militant jihadist activities on the continent (in particular, in countries such as Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa) to arise, and the Islamist jihadism in existing hotbeds to intensify.

The Nature of Civil Conflict and the Rise of Islamic Militancy in Somalia

The Nature of Civil Conflict and the Rise of Islamic Militancy in Somalia

Special Issue on Radical and Militant Islamism in Indonesia

Special Issue on Radical and Militant Islamism in Indonesia

Rethinking Political Inclusion Beyond Moderation: Strategic Relational Pluralization in Tunisian Islamist Politics

Abstract This article explores the complex dynamics shaping the integration of the Tunisian Islamist party Ennahdha into the instituted political game. Drawing on a strategic relational approach, the analysis highlights the simultaneous, mutually reactive, and often conflicting relationships of Ennahdha party with three types of actors: political secular forces (allied or antagonist), political and religious Salafi actors, and faith-based associations. Based on extensive field research and 33 in-depth interviews conducted with key players involved, we propose to capture these dynamics at the macro (regime), meso (organizations), and micro levels, through the notion of strategic pluralization, by which we mean a reconfiguration of Ennahdha’s relations with various Islamic actors under the pressure of secular forces. Going beyond institutional-structural approaches and monolithic interpretations of the Islamist constellation, we argue that Ennahdha’s integration in relational economies has formed the basis of the party’s strategy to secure its political inclusion in the post-revolutionary scene.

From Islamists to Religious Patriots

Abstract This article explores the complex and intersectional identities and positionalities of Kurdish Islamist women activists in Turkey in the context of heightened violence and tensions linked to the ongoing Turkish-Kurdish conflict. While both female Islamist activists and Kurdish activists in Turkey and the wider region have been subject to in-depth research over the past decade, Kurdish Islamist women have largely been overlooked in the literature. The article focuses on the complex relationship between ethnicity and religion in understanding Kurdish Islamist women’s mobilization, political views, perceptions of gender norms and relations, and self-ascribed identities. Based on original empirical research carried out in southeastern Turkey in 2015 and 2018, the article engages with the relevant literature on Islamist women’s mobilization, particularly in relation to Turkey, to complicate discourses of empowerment and critiques of liberal notions of agency while also challenging prevailing depictions of Kurdish women’s mobilization. It pays attention both to the intersecting power configurations enabling and challenging Kurdish Islamist women’s everyday lives and political engagement, and to changing political economy locally, nationally, and transnationally.

Online Radicalisation: How Social Media Is Promoting Islamist Militancy

This study delves into the role of social media in the realm of Islamist militancy, with a particular emphasis on Bangladesh, a country with the third-largest Muslim population. Employing a content analysis approach, this study finds that while explicit calls to join Islamist militancy are rare, social media platforms contribute to the creation of a moral foundation for militant ideology and provide justification for violent acts. Additionally, the study highlights the influence of social media in motivating young individuals to participate in Islamist militancy, although the direct impact of online radicalisation on real-life actions remains uncertain. The findings underscore the need for further research on the dynamics between social media and Islamist militancy and their implications for countering militant ideologies.