Islamic Activism Research Articles

Explaining a State Status Quo and Non-State Revisionist Dynamic: The Case of the Conflict Between Hamas and Israel 2007–2019

ABSTRACT Using contemporary theories on Status Quo and Revisionist actors, the study provides an alternative explanation to the Israeli−Hamas conflict. Israel is a status quo actor that enjoys high values in terms of economic and military power. It has low value in terms of brokerage in international institutions. Hamas is a radical revisionist actor that follows other radical revisionist Islamic actors. However, it fails on both axes to change its equation with Israel. This situation encourages a split within Hamas, between radical revisionists and positionalist revisionists who emphasize compromises with Israel to improve the economy in Gaza and local military capacity.

Effects of Cognitive Knowledge and Intercultural Behavioral Skills on Cultural Stereotypes and Intercultural Affect: A Case of Elementary Students' Perspective on Islam.

Two decades have passed since the September 11 attacks by Islamist militants that shocked the world. Despite this, Islamophobia remains a common phenomenon. In Taiwan, the 2014 12-year Basic Education Curriculum amendments emphasize cultural and global understanding as core competencies. With more than 6 years of implementation, it would be therefore interesting to learn what elementary school students think of Islam. Anchoring on the concepts of intercultural competency development, stereotypes are said to be related to cognitive knowledge, intercultural behavioral abilities, and attitudes. A survey instrument was developed and validated to collect information on stereotypes, skills in intercultural interaction, and attitudes toward Islam. Additionally, cognitive knowledge of Islam was also tested. A total of 712 students participated in the study. Structural equation modelling was used to test the mediating role of cognitive knowledge and intercultural behavioral skills within the relationship between cultural stereotypes and intercultural affects. Findings show that behavioral skills alone are not enough to diminish the negative aspects of stereotypes. Importantly, it is only with the help of cognitive knowledge that the relationship between stereotypes and intercultural affects are improved. It is hoped that by understanding the importance of proper curriculum content, more sustainable coexistence can be established.

Biografische Vorbelastungen und verhaltensbasierte Indikatoren der Radikalisierung im Vorfeld islamistischer Gewalt

Using a German sample of convicted perpetrators (N = 76), the authors compare the biographical characteristics and preoffence warning behaviours of non-violent Islamist activists (n = 60) with those of Islamist assassins (n = 16). While the biographical characteristics focus on the socio-structural, familial and social stressors of the convicted in addition to age and education, the exploration of warning behaviour focuses on potentially observable patterns of action associated with radicalisation processes or serious targeted acts of violence. The data basis is formed by indictments and verdicts in corresponding criminal proceedings. A standardised instrument for quantitative file analysis in the context of murder and manslaughter offences was used to identify biographical characteristics and previous social burdens (Göbel et al., 2016). The Screener Islamism (Böckler et al., 2017) was used to examine early behaviour-based radicalisation indicators and the Warning Behaviour Typology (Meloy et al., 2012) was used to identify violence-associated behaviour patterns. While all Islamist offenders committed their crimes in early adulthood and had various social backgrounds in their biographies, Islamist activists and violent offenders differed significantly in the warning behaviour they displayed before committing an offence. In particular, acts of planning and preparation (pathway to violence), new forms of aggression (novel aggression), and patterns of action that indicate that the person feels he or she is at a biographical dead end (last resort) were able to differentiate between attackers and non-attackers. The results are particularly relevant from a preventive perspective, as they can be the basis for improving behaviour-based early detection of violence associated radicalisation processes in social institutions.

The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan

The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan

Natural Gas Production in Mozambique and the Political Risk of Islamic Militancy

The Cabo Delgado province in the northernmost portion of the long Mozambican seaboard is now home to Africa’s three largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, and these projects have attracted many of the world’s major multinational energy companies, accompanied by massive LNG investments. There can be little doubt that the discovery of rich gas reserves is a potential game changer for the Mozambican economy and development agenda. It is potentially an opportunity for the rapid advancement of a country that currently ranks close to the bottom of the United Nation’s Human Development Index. However, despite the billions in investments from major multinational energy companies, the people of Cabo Delgado are yet to see the material benefit from these projects. One of the biggest risks to investors in the LNG industry is the many unknowns pertaining to the threat posed by the militant Islamic movement, Ansar al-Sunna, which has especially been active since 2017 in the Cabo Delgado province. In view of this, this article assesses Mozambique’s LNG industry and the political risks associated with the insurgent movement’s intention to establish an Islamic caliphate in the Cabo Delgado area.

Difference and negotiation from the borders: Islamic religious actors providing theological counternarratives for deradicalisation in Belgium

ABSTRACT This contribution focuses on the specific Islamic authority figures that have been incorporated as ‘key figures’ in Belgian deradicalisation policies since 2015, in order to formulate a theological counter discourse. It asks firstly how these Muslim authority figures differentiate their position as ‘non-state’ actors manoeuvring a space of negotiation in secular power structures. Secondly, the contribution reflects on how they negotiate what Talal Asad has called ‘the secular episteme’ in their formulation of a theological counternarrative, as well as on how this relates to processes of ethical self-making and ‘apt’ authority formation. Rather than considering them as docile agents of the secular sovereign state, the concept of ‘border thinking’ is used to value the inter- and intra-traditional situatedness from where they attempt to renegotiate the horizons of expectations subscribed in hegemonic secularism.

Counter-terrorism and the repression of Islamic activism: Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain and Denmark

ABSTRACT This paper examines how practices of counter-terrorism (CT) have been perceived by legally-operating groups labelled ‘extremist’. Taking the cases of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain (HTB) and Hizb ut-Tahrir Scandinavia (HTS), the paper explores how two branches of the same Islamic activist organisation have experienced CT through interviews with party members and activists. Using existing models of repression, the paper maps how counter-terrorism is perceived by activist groups, revealing new information on Hizb ut-Tahrir and providing a framework for understanding the interaction of security with groups problematised as ‘extremist’ within a widening ‘securitised lens’. The paper finds that, whilst there are similarities in how CT has been articulated in Britain and Denmark, it has impacted on HTB and HTS differently, creating different strategies of response. In tracking these, we highlight the prominent role played by civil society actors in the UK in creating a hostile environment for Islamic activist groups. By using mechanistic models of repression, we conceptualise the impact of counter-terrorism and newer patterns of countering violent extremism (CVE) on contentious activist organisations at a moment when the so-called ‘risk’ of extremism is increasingly being conceptualised and responded to throughout Europe.

Alumni 212" and Ijtima Ulama: A Critical Study Of The Relationship Between Religion And Politics

This article aims to discuss the issue of the relationship between Islam and politics in the “Alumni 212” and Ijtima Ulama. this study was motivated by “Action to Defend Islam 212”. Therefor in this first study, the author wants to give about the study of background the formation of “Alumni 212” and Ijtima Ulama. second, critical review about the relationship between Islam and politics of “Alumni 212” and Ijtima Ulama. the purpose of this problem has been to trying flowin is ini and critiquing “is there the relationship between Islam and politics of “Alumni 212” and Ijtima Ulama ?”. Approsch and method in this research use social religion approach is needed and Qualitative method that is the descriptive analysis with library research genre. The result from this research indicates that analysis and critical review about the relationship between Islam and politics of “Alumni 212” and Ijtima Ulama is that be found relationship from side religion and politics, considering that there are a number of factors that indicate “Alumni 212 and Ijtima Ulama contains elements of politics and religion in it. The Defending Islam Action I,II AND III has become a new phenomenon in Islam, especially for the conditions of religious life in Indonesia. Which then this action becomes the background of the formation of the reunion “Alumni 212” and Ijtima Ulama, it is feared indicated incarnated as a religious movement mass, and could potentially be a movement on behalf of Islam as a form of identity politics. Nevertheless need the existence of functional relationship in the relationship between Islam and state (politics), that is about how Islam can perform its functions in the region or community of the state on the one hand. And how the state (politic) can the state can perform its functions as the governing body of the organization of the citizens and its territory is majority Islam on the other hand.

Wahhabis and Salafis, daije and alimi: Bosnian neo-Salafis between contestation and integration

ABSTRACT Is there ‘a Salafi community’ in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and is it a threat to moderate and tolerant Islam in Bosnia? This article intends to critically question the category of Salafism and explore the broader phenomenon of Islamic militancy in the religious and political context of postwar Bosnia. The aim is to depart from a securitizing framework by avoiding defining it in ideological terms and by choosing to look at Salafism as a relational and social phenomenon. The argument starts with a revision of the problem and of the terms used to describe it and proceeds by proposing a genealogy of the various militant Islamic groups and an analysis of Salafi relations to the religious establishment.

NEWS DISCOURSE ON THE 212 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS: CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS ON REPUBLIKA AND MEDIA INDONESIA

<span lang="IN">The 3rd Defend Islam Action incident on Friday, December 2, 2016, was the biggest rally after the 1998 protest rally. This action created two camps, i.e. supporters of DKI Jakarta Governor, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, and the camp who demanded his detention. This condition could be seen in mass media news, including in the Media Indonesia newspaper owned by Surya Paloh, Chairman of the National Democratic Party, who supports Basuki Tjahaja Purnama and also in the Republika newspaper which promotes the interests of Muslims. The focus of this study is the existence of different discourses on the news of this 3rd Defend Islam Action. These differences are the result of the interests and ideology of the two media. Media Indonesia’s news discourse did not support the action. On the contrary, Republika pushed for it to be carried out. This study uses the public sphere and hegemony theory which is able to see that in the news text both media have their own interests and ideologies. This study used a critical paradigm with a qualitative descriptive method. Teun Van Dijk's critical discourse analysis model was used in this study. The results of this study indicate that the news coverages of the 3rd Defend Islam Action produced by Media Indonesia and Republika were produced by their editorial staff based on the ideology and hidden interests of the media.</span>

MASYARAKAT ISLAM INDONESIA PADA ABAD MODERN DAN KONTEMPORER

The expression of the Indonesian Islamic Community is the response ofMuslims to the development of modernity, so that the big of the Islamic revival isdivided into three groups, namely Islamic revivalisme, Islamic reformisme and Islamicfundamentalisme. Revival Islam gave to several movement groups, including:patienting Islam, traditionalist Islam, orthodox Islam, Neo-revivalisme, andconservative Islam. While reformist Islam gave to several movements, such as:modernist Islam, liberal Islam, substantial Islam, and Neo-modernists. while,fundamentalist Islam gave to radical Islam, militant Islam and even terrorisme.Methodologically the understanding of Islam, the modern and contemporary Islamicthought movements, as stated by loualy sufi consists of two, namely groups that use andapply the classical Islamic system and groups that use the paradigm of modern Westernepistemology in total or with a process of integration between modern scholarship. Westwith the treasures of Islamic scholarship. Based on this, it is worth mentioning that thediversity of Indonesian Muslims as a national treasure must be knitted so that interreligiousharmony is created as a characteristic of the true character of the Indonesiannation.

Exploring Kurdish Islamist Civil Society and Conflict in Turkey (2015–2018)

This article addresses the role and impact of religious civil society in situations of armed conflict through a case study of Kurdish Islamist civil society organisations and activists in Turkey. The focus is on the period following the collapse of the peace process and resurgence of violence in mid-2015 between Turkish security forces and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (Partiya Karkêrên Kurdistanê). Based on 40 in-depth interviews conducted in the city of Diyarbakir, I identify three main challenges to the effectiveness of religious civil society in peacebuilding processes: (1) relations with the state, (2) legacy and relationship with institutional violence, and (3) advocacy and representation of community needs. This article shows how ethnicity and Islam are shifting, contingent interactions in the construction of Kurdish identity, especially in response to violence. Although the public expression of pro-Kurdish rights claims altered under a securitisation rubric during this period, the demand for a peaceful settlement to the conflict transcends ideological and social differences across many Kurds.

Islamic Extremism and CBRN Terrorism

ABSTRACT The extant literature on the relationship between religious ideology and CBRN weapons pursuit lacks a strong empirical basis. To address this, the current study utilizes a new dataset—the CBRN Terrorism Database (CTD)—to evaluate whether Islamic actors are more or less likely to pursue CBRN weapons. Binary logistic regression models are used on several different constrained subsamples to assess the relationship between ideology, group-, and country-level factors and CBRN weapons pursuit. Across the models, the strongest predictors of pursuit are whether the actor is an individual, is inspired by an Islamic ideology, and resides in a country with low levels of ethnic fractionalization. Other factors are important under specific contexts, but Islamic groups are significantly more likely to pursue CBRN weapons as well. Implications and recommendations are discussed.

Comparing Islamic and International Laws of War: Orthodoxy, “Heresy,” and Secularization in the Category of Civilians

Abstract This Article investigates how contemporary laws of war rationalize civilian deaths. I concentrate on two specific legal constructions in warfare: the definition of civilian/combatant and the principle of distinction. (The categories of civilian and combatant should be understood as dialogically constitutive and not entirely distinct. In addition, the category of “civilian” is a modern one and premodern legal sources often do not use one term to refer to noncombatants.) I focus on two significant parties in contemporary warfare: al-Qāʿidah (aka Al-Qaeda) and the U.S. military. Al-Qāʿidah diverges from orthodox Islamic law on these two legal issues, while remaining within the Islamic legal tradition. To scrutinize the nature of this divergence, I compare al-Qāʿidah’s legal reasoning to the legal reasoning of the U.S. military. I demonstrate that the U.S. military diverges from orthodox international law in ways that parallel how al-Qāʿidah diverges from orthodox Islamic law. Specifically, both the U.S. military and al-Qāʿidah elide orthodox categories of civilians and expand the category of combatant, primarily by rendering civilians as probable combatants. Based on this comparative analysis, I argue that the legal reasoning of al-Qāʿidah (and other militant Islamist groups) is as secular as it is Islamic; I call this fusion secularislamized law.

God Emperor Trump: Defending Western Civilization Against Neo-Marxism and Militant Islam

Abstract As we await the Second Coming of President Donald Trump, it is important to understand that his conservative Evangelical supporters view him not as a new Christ but as a new Constantine, a guardian of Western Civilization in a crucial period when we face threatened conquest by foreign enemies and infiltrators, Postmodern Neo-Marxism, and Militant Islam Thus he should be seen also as a new Charles Martel. He need not be a Bible-reading pietist to fulfill these roles, so Christians need not be ashamed of him if he isn’t.

Jihad, Extremism and Radicalization in Pakistan

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to fill current information cavities in the present material on the determinants of radicalization. The radicalization has badly affected good governance. Education, health, socio-economic and political system are major components of good governance. This research paper examines the emerging trends of Jihad, Extremism and Radicalization in Pakistan.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: A survey was conducted a total of 4200 respondents across the country. There was no response from 200 persons and received the response of 4000 respondents, with 2800 people (70 percent) urban and 1200 respondents (30 percent) from rural area. The figure of respondents from each of the four provinces of Pakistan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, Balochistan, and Sindh, ), Gilgit Baltistan, and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK),entities reveals the percentage of population of each area vis-à-vis the total population of the country.
 Findings: The results revealed that the causes of radicalization and extremism are as varied as they are abundant. The study of radicalization, Jihad and extremism in both contexts has sought to find out the causes of radicalization. It is concluded that the root causes of the Islamic militancy and religious radicalization in Pakistan are generally religious, political, ideological, economic, and social in nature.
 Implications/Originality/Value: This research paper gives a comprehensive viewpoint and analysis amongst religion, radicalization, governance, extremism, politics, Islamic militancy, sectarianism, conflict and identity. The major root causes of militancy and radicalization were traced out which will be helpful to overcome Islamic militancy, extremism, radicalization and sectarianism in Pakistan.

Inter-Secular Party Competition and the (Non-)Formation of Salafi-Jihadist Milieus: Evidence from Tanzania and Kenya

This article investigates whether inter-secular party competition can constrain the formation of Salafi-jihadist milieus. Focusing on the recent rise of militant Islamism in sub-Saharan Africa, I argue that the electoral process prevents the opening of political space for jihadist radicalization when Salafi contention has historically become aligned with salient non-Islamist grievances. Specifically, I hypothesize that based on this alignment, the competitive electoralization of non-Islamist grievances incentivizes Salafi movements to endorse the electoral process and support secular parties. The article explores the validity of these propositions with the help of a “most-similar” case study of Zanzibar (Tanzania) and coastal Kenya.

Emerging Islamic Representations in the Cambodian Muslim Social Media Scene: Complex Divides and Muted Debates

AbstractThis article explores the characteristics and structure of the Cambodian Muslim social media scene and considers what they tell us about the sociopolitical setting of the country's Muslim minority. It focuses on how the relationship between Islamic actors of the Cambodian Muslim minority, that is, groups, movements and institutions, and their offline environment shape their online representations and proselytization activities. It particularly considers the observation that theological debate is almost absent in this Islamic social media scene compared to that of other Southeast Asian Muslim societies and attempts to find answers to the question of why this is the case. The article particularly examines the Facebook pages of various Islamic groups and explains the sociopolitical factors and language politics that inform the ways in which they formulate the contents and style of their posts. It shows how the close connections between the political and the religious fields in an authoritarian setting, where the state strongly discourages social discord, have the effect of largely muting debates on social media.

Effect of the Arab Spring on Stabilization Capacity of the MENA Monarchies

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region after the Arab Spring, monarchy has turned out to be a far stronger negative predictor of destabilization than it was before 2011. For the MENA, the period after 2010 can be subdivided into three periods: a mass protests period (2011–2012), the period of explosive growth of radical Islamist activities (2013–2016), and the second mass protest period (since 2016). Our analysis demonstrates that monarchies’ stabilization capacity was preserved in 2011–2012 and grew substantially during 2013–2016, as MENA monarchies turned out to be more resilient in the face of the outbreak of radical Islamism in the region.

Understanding Islamist Militancy in Bangladesh

Challenges from Islamist militants have been an integral part of Bangladesh’s political landscape since the 1980s. Islamist militancy has passed through different phases of silent and active forms, drawing inspiration from conflicts in Libya, Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. A vast literature has dealt with Islamist militancy in Bangladesh, but very few works have shed light on who the Bangladeshi Islamist militants are and how they radicalize youths, whom they target for their secret mission of killings, and finally why youths choose to be radicalized, especially with the arrival of Islamic State and Al Qaeda in Bangladesh in 2013. The author conducted nearly 50 in-depth interviews with experts in Bangladesh and reviewed newspaper reports to answer these questions. This paper argues that middle-class youths with urban and secular backgrounds are increasingly being radicalized through cyber space, and diverse groups of people are targeted to carry out killings owing to their perceived ideological divergence. The idea of an apocalyptic Caliphate, a feeling of victimization, a disillusionment with the state and society, and personal distresses are all found to act as catalysts for Islamist radicalization in Bangladesh.