Despite its modest spreading in numbers, the Salafist movement is considered to be the fastest growing Muslim movement in Germany, posing a challenge to the society as a whole. Albeit Salafism being an omnipresent theme in parliamentary debates and news broadcasts, the precise meaning and context of this term remains questionable.
While the well-known preachers are adults, their followers consist mostly of teenagers and young adult, descending from all walks of life, regardless of their citizenship, migration background, socio-economic status, educational background, sex or original belief. But what constitutes the rapid growth of this movement? Why are young people so amenable to this ideology? What measures should be taken?
The latest HSFK-Standpunkt 1/2015 „Nicht nur eine Frage der Sicherheit. Salafismus in Deutschland als gesamtgesellschaftliche Herausforderung“, written by Janusz Biene, Priska Daphi, Maik Fielitz, Harald Müller and Irene Weipert-Fennerexamines this phenomenon by identifying possible causes. Beginning with a conceptual definition, analyze and differentiation between religious educators, political missionaries and radical jihadists, the authors aim at giving guidance as well as illustrating integration and prevention measures in order to achieve de-radicalization and de-mobilization.
Further research findings concerning this topic are being provided by the HSFK’s research project “Salafism in Germany: State of the art and knowledge transfer”, lead by Prof. Dr. Christopher Daase and Prof. Dr. Harald Müller and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.