Striving for Allah : Purification and Resistance among Fundamentalist Muslims in the Netherlands

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 fills in the blanks by presenting primary data from in-depth qualitative research in the Netherlands and, to a lesser extent, Britain. First, the book compares orthodox, radical, and extremist groups - regarding attitudes, motives, reasons, and behavior - within Islamic fundamentalism. Then it presents an innovative theoretical framework that contributes to the understanding of the attraction of Islamic fundamentalism to converts, an important group that is often overlooked. The book finds that Dutch Muslim fundamentalists are not as 'other' as is commonly assumed. Instead, the research demonstrates that Islamic fundamentalism among the Dutch and other Western Muslims is, to a large extent, a Western phenomenon. Islamic fundamentalism is hence a truly global phenomenon. "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 compares orthodox, radical and extremist groups regarding attitudes, motives, reasons, and behaviour, within Islamic fundamentalism. Secondly, it presents an innovative theroretical framework that contributes to the understanding of the attraction of Islamic fundamentalism to individuals from Muslim families and to converts, an important group that is often overlooked."--Page 4 de la couverture