MOSCOW, September 25 (RIA Novosti) - While Europe looks on in dismay as young European Muslims are joining the ranks of the Islamic State (IS), LSE Associate Professor Esra Özyürek offers an overview on what lies behind the eagerness of young Muslims to join various extremist groups.
Özyürek, writing for The Conversation, analyzes Salafism as an Islamic school of thought and examines its influence on Europe's Muslims. She concludes that the basic tenets of Salafism and its isolationist nature provide it with the “perfect opportunity for jihadists to recruit young and impressionable new Muslims.”
“Because Salafi communities prize leading a lifestyle cut off from non-Muslims and other branches of Islam, newcomers to religion often turn their back on their families and friends and are more easily impressed by the new people they meet, even when they promote radical ideas,” she writes.
“European Muslim converts are an excellent opportunity for jihadists, as they come with valuable resources such as money, mobility, linguistic ability and access to technology.”
The political anthropologist argues that the emergence of Salafism in Europe appears to be a consequence of the crisis of political representation and subsequently concludes that the rise of Salafism is a response to the failure of political Islam.
For decades, she writes, many European governments have made life difficult for European Muslims, treating individuals or groups that promoted Islam with suspicion.
Instead, they have supported mosques that center around one or another distinct national group.
“Rather than making it possible for people to receive Islamic education in their local context and local language, governments have enabled Imams who do not speak the local language and know nothing of local culture or issues to carry on as they were, rather than adapting.”
These policies have ensured that most mosques do not speak to the realities of young people in their areas.
“Despite their isolation from other branches of Islam and Western culture, Salafi mosques have stood apart in this respect. They reject the Western way of life but are keen to recruit more people away from it at the same time. They are streets ahead of national mosques in tuning into European culture and life and are an appealing option as a result.”
Özyürek therefore offers her own solution and an answer to radicalization. She calls for the European governments to show more support for Islamic education in the local language, gradually integrating it into “mainstream society”, so that young Muslims may not feel isolated and become an easy target for jihadists.
