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Striving for Allah: Purification and Resistance among Fundamentalist Muslims in the Netherlands
Abstract
Islamic fundamentalist movements such as Salafism are of great concern to Western societies like the Netherlands, yet much remains unknown about these phenomena. Striving for Allah aims to fill in the blanks by presenting primary data from in-depth qualitative research in the Netherlands and, to a lesser extent, Britain. Firstly, this study distinguishes orthodox, radical and extremist groups within Islamic fundamentalism regarding attitudes, motives, reasons, and behaviour. Secondly, it presents an innovative theoretical framework that helps to understand the attraction of these different fundamentalist currents to individuals from Muslim families and to converts, an important group that is often overlooked.The author finds that Dutch Muslim fundamentalists are not as ‘other’ as is commonly assumed. Instead, her research demonstrates that Islamic fundamentalism among these Muslims is to a large extent a Western, and hence a truly glocal phenomenon.
Target group
criminologists, sociologists, psychologists, politicologists, researchers and practitioners in the field of terrorism and radicalisation
Author's information
Fiore Geelhoed is Assistant Professor of Criminology at VU University Amsterdam. After having obtained a law degree from the University of Groningen and a criminological master at the University of Barcelona, she conducted this PhD study on fundamentalist Muslims at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Her dissertation ‘Purification and resistance: Glocal meanings of Islamic fundamentalism in the Netherlands’ was awarded a shared second place for the Willem Nagelprijs 2014, a three-annual prize for the best doctoral dissertation in Criminology in the Netherlands and Flanders.
"Radicalization is a complex area of study and few researchers get it right from stem to stern. Fiore Geelhoed is a welcomed exception. Her analysis is theoretically nuanced, empirically rigorous, and exceptionally humane" - Mark S. Hamm, Professor of Criminology at Indiana State University, and author of 'The Spectacular Few. Prisoner Radicalization and the Evolving Terrorist Threat'.
"Finally, a book that cuts through the deceiving polemics about Muslim fundamentalism through fieldwork and actually talking to orthodox, radical and extremist Muslims. Its sober analysis and tone will raise the discourse about this issue in Western societies." - Marc Sageman, author of 'Understanding Terror Networks' and 'Leaderless Jihad'.
... Push-factoren betreffen omstandigheden op sociaal, politiek en cultureel niveau die een individu vatbaar maken voor extremistische denkbeelden (Hassan, 2012). Op individueel niveau is de behoefte aan zin-en betekenisgeving waar moslimjongeren mee zouden worstelen een veelgenoemde push-factor (Geelhoed, 2014;Schmid, 2015;De Koning, 2015;Weggemans, Bakker & Grol, 2015), evenals het verlangen deel uit te maken van een groep (belonging) (Geelhoed, 2014;Hassan, 2012;De Koning, 2015;Schuurman et al., 2016;Vidino & Hughes, 2015). Andere voorbeelden van push-factoren op individueel niveau zijn de zoektocht naar een identiteit als individu, traumatische ervaringen, problemen op school of werk, het verlangen naar spanning en avontuur en de behoefte aan antwoorden op religieuze vraagstukken (Bakker & De Bont, 2016;Bakker & Grol, 2015;Coolsaet, 2015;Geelhoed, 2014;Schmid, 2015;Vidino & Hughes, 2015). ...
... Push-factoren betreffen omstandigheden op sociaal, politiek en cultureel niveau die een individu vatbaar maken voor extremistische denkbeelden (Hassan, 2012). Op individueel niveau is de behoefte aan zin-en betekenisgeving waar moslimjongeren mee zouden worstelen een veelgenoemde push-factor (Geelhoed, 2014;Schmid, 2015;De Koning, 2015;Weggemans, Bakker & Grol, 2015), evenals het verlangen deel uit te maken van een groep (belonging) (Geelhoed, 2014;Hassan, 2012;De Koning, 2015;Schuurman et al., 2016;Vidino & Hughes, 2015). Andere voorbeelden van push-factoren op individueel niveau zijn de zoektocht naar een identiteit als individu, traumatische ervaringen, problemen op school of werk, het verlangen naar spanning en avontuur en de behoefte aan antwoorden op religieuze vraagstukken (Bakker & De Bont, 2016;Bakker & Grol, 2015;Coolsaet, 2015;Geelhoed, 2014;Schmid, 2015;Vidino & Hughes, 2015). ...
... Op individueel niveau is de behoefte aan zin-en betekenisgeving waar moslimjongeren mee zouden worstelen een veelgenoemde push-factor (Geelhoed, 2014;Schmid, 2015;De Koning, 2015;Weggemans, Bakker & Grol, 2015), evenals het verlangen deel uit te maken van een groep (belonging) (Geelhoed, 2014;Hassan, 2012;De Koning, 2015;Schuurman et al., 2016;Vidino & Hughes, 2015). Andere voorbeelden van push-factoren op individueel niveau zijn de zoektocht naar een identiteit als individu, traumatische ervaringen, problemen op school of werk, het verlangen naar spanning en avontuur en de behoefte aan antwoorden op religieuze vraagstukken (Bakker & De Bont, 2016;Bakker & Grol, 2015;Coolsaet, 2015;Geelhoed, 2014;Schmid, 2015;Vidino & Hughes, 2015). Wat betreft push-factoren op meso-en macroniveau wijst de wetenschappelijke literatuur onder meer op de invloed van de peergroup (De Koning, 2015;Schmid, 2015) en in-en out-group processen (Doosje et al., 2016). ...
How IS-glossy Dabiq is winning the hearts and minds of Western Muslims
IS propaganda is assumed to contribute to radicalization of Western Muslims. How IS propaganda reaches the hearts and minds of Western Muslims and consequently fuels radicalization is nonetheless an understudied topic. Through content analysis of all fifteen issues of IS-glossy Dabiq this article demonstrates how IS propaganda works in Dabiq . First, IS attunes in Dabiq to factors that foster radicalization according to the literature. IS does so by its discussion in Dabiq of injustice done to Muslims worldwide, the image of the Western enemy, and its positive presentation of the individual and group identity of IS fighters. Second, in Dabiq IS paves the way for embracing violent means, such as terrorist attacks on Western civilians through a discourse of ‘denial’.
... Her research conducted between 2006 and 2009 was for her PhD and includes both men and women, converts and "born-again" Muslims. 15 Latterly, between February 2017 and May 2018, she has carried out work focused specifically on converts. 16 Her work has primarily been conducted in the Netherlands, with the exception of a three-month fieldtrip to the UK, and involves a combination of 62 biographical/life-course interviews, hundreds of informal conversations, observations and online content. ...
In 2019 waarschuwde de NCTV in de vijftigste editie van het Dreigingsbeeld Terrorisme Nederland voor het potentiële gevaar dat zou uitgaan van kinderen die opgroeien in een jihadistisch milieu (NCTV, 2019). De gedachte was dat kinderen uit een gezin waarin in ieder geval één van de ouders jihadistische denkbeelden aanhangt, op de langere termijn deze ideeën zouden kunnen overnemen. Het doel van dit onderzoek is daarom meer inzicht te verwerven in de actuele kennis omtrent processen van intergenerationele overdracht van jihadistisch en breder extremistisch gedachtegoed binnen de gezinscontext. In deze verkennende studie staat de volgende onderzoeksvraag centraal: Wat is er bekend over de aard en omvang van intergenerationele overdracht van jihadisme en andere vormen van extremistisch gedachtegoed? Op de eerste plaats is gekeken naar wat er bekend is over de mate waarin dergelijke intergenerationele overdracht voorkomt. Daarnaast zijn de mechanismen bestudeerd die hieraan ten grondslag liggen, de beschermende en versterkende factoren die hiermee samenhangen, en de gevolgen van intergenerationele overdracht op langere termijn. Tenslotte is gekeken naar de interventiemogelijkheden om de intergenerationele overdracht van jihadistische en bredere extremistische denkbeelden binnen de gezinscontext tegen te gaan. In dit onderzoek is gebruik gemaakt van een systematische literatuurstudie en een reeks aan verdiepende interviews. INHOUD: 1. Inleiding, 2. Methodologie, 3. Kwalitatieve resultaten literatuurstudie, 4. Kwantitatieve resultaten literatuurstudie, 5. Interviewresulaten, 6. Discussie en conclusie
This study focuses on increasing our understanding of the different pathways converts take during conversion to Islam. It looks specifically at the following research question: "How do the pathways of converts involved in jihadist movements differ from those of converts who are not, in terms of their life prior to Islam, their conversion experience and the form of involvement with the Islamic community after conversion?" This question is addressed using semi-structured interviews with a diverse group of 26 Dutch converts to Islam. Results show that there are many similarities, yet also some differences in the pre-conversion lives of the converts we studied, in how they experienced the conversion itself and their involvement with Islamic communities after their conversion. The differences we found, emerged largely from how the respondents shaped and experienced their lives as Muslims. Here we noted not just the important role of the social milieu in which the converts find themselves, and how their surroundings react to their new identities, but also the influence of their own agency in terms of their reactions (or lack thereof) to perceived injustice and their efforts at self-study. Importantly, our study also highlights the fluidity and heterogeneity of the post-conversion experience. Just as Muslims should not be seen as a homogenous group, so too should care be taken to realise that converts' outlook on their religion can and does change over time, sometimes showing quite dramatic fluctuations from Salafi-Jihadist to non-believer. We hope that our study provides insights into conversion to Islam in general, that it helps address why some converts become involved with jihadist movements, but also that it underlines the importance of treating converts to Islam not as a potential security threat, but as a diverse group of individuals with different and evolving perceptions of their religion and their roles within it.
The responses of my colleagues provide a good representation of the extraordinarilydiverse views of Islam, Muslims, and Muslim politics that existtoday.Like it or not, we are stuck with the phrase moderate Muslim. Yet, as Iread our comments, I keep thinking that for too many, non-Muslims andMuslims alike, moderate means someone “like us.” Thus, moderate isequated with progressive or liberal Muslims but excludes conservatives ortraditionalists. Ariel Cohen, in his identification of several moderateMuslims, mentions Amina Wadud’s leading of a mixed-gender Fridayprayer. This underscores the problem with moderate, especially when theconcept is juxtaposed with extremist. If a woman leading an official prayerservice were a criterion for moderate, then many Christian and Jewishgroups, denominations, and their leaders (e.g., the recently deceased PopeJohn Paul II) would fail the test and not be moderates. But they certainlywould not be extremists either. Should we, then, add such other litmus testsas position on birth control, abortion, and gay rights?If we go down this road, I wonder how Jews and Christians would reactto Muslim countries or Muslim experts and political commentators whoattempted to set the definition of a moderate Jew or a moderate Catholic,with the implication that all others were extremists. If, as some non-Muslims have done with regard to Islam, Muslims established institutesand think tanks to define, monitor, or implement their notions of moderateJew or moderate Christian, how long would it be before they would beaccused of being anti-Semitic or anti-Catholic? Would we define a moderateJew vs. an extremist Jew as one who rejects scriptural justification forclaims to Israel, rejects the logic and creation of settlements by religiouslymotivated Jews, possesses an enlightened understanding of the origins ofJudaism and of the Hebrew scriptures; rejects all those biblical passages inwhich God commands acts of violence and warfare; and eschews any mixingof their faith with politics in Israel, with the support of fundamentalistor religious nationalist groups, schools, or settlements?
