Religious Extremism

Attack on Salman Rushdie Highlights Dangers of Islamist Position on Blasphemy Laws

August 15, 2022

According to the Times of Israel, the knife attack last week on British author Salman Rushdie by a New Jersey man whose social media activity indicates sympathies for Iran’s Islamist regime underscores the active dangers of Islamic blasphemy laws that criminalize free speech in the name of preventing insults to Islam.
Leadership of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Remains Defiant Against International Law

August 10, 2022

The leadership of Afghanistan’s Islamic Emirate has reiterated that the regime remains committed to sharia law and, therefore, will continue to reject any compromises in governance, human rights, economic development, and security that require Islamist conformity with in international law in the geopolitically crucial South Asian country.
Islamists Regaining Power in Sudan

August 09, 2022

Islamists in Sudan are regaining power in state positions and politics with Islamists returning to key positions in the military, intelligence, and diplomatic services, forming a new umbrella political coalition known as the “Broad Islamist Current”, and turning the strategically located East African country away from its brief, recent course of integration into international organizations.
Islamist Destabilization of Somalia Continues With Al-Shabab Islamist as Minister of Religious Affairs

August 09, 2022

Somalia’s Prime Minister announced the appointment of a former al-Shabab founder and spokesperson as the country’s new Minister of Religious Affairs, in a controversial move reflecting the new governments efforts to resolve the destabilization of the geostrategically located Horn of Africa country that has resulted from the ongoing, 15-year jihadist war waged by al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab.
Global Muslim Brotherhood Secures EU Funds for Islamist Influence Operations

August 04, 2022

The international network comprising the globalized Muslim Brotherhood (GMB) systematically pursues a strategy of influence-building in Europe via activities that block integration of religious minorities and foster Islamist radicalism and violence, and recent think-tank analysis of funding streams to the GMB suggest the organization’s success in lobbying by the GMB’s Federation of Islamic Organizations of Europe (FIOE) and other pan-European GMB bodies to securing funding from a collection of European Union (EU) and Council of Europe.
Turkey’s Neo-Ottoman Islamism Uses Influence-Building & Partnerships for Transnational Impact

August 03, 2022

Turkey’s neo-Ottoman geopolitical strategy turns on Islamism to reconfigure the country’s domestic sociopolitical orientation against the West and towards authoritarian like regimes like Russia and China, as well as to partner with radical Islamist groups like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in order to build influence in Europe, the Mideast, the Caucasus, and Africa.
Hamas Leadership Calls for Alliances with Rogue States as Path to Palestinian Sovereignty

July 27, 2022

Senior political leadership of the Islamist extremist group Hamas used a recent university conference in Gaza as a platform to call on the world Islamic community (ummah) to form alliances with the rogue states of Russia, China, and Iran, in order to further the cause of Palestinian sovereignty.
Female Comic Caught in Web of Malaysia’s Blasphemy Laws

July 27, 2022

The extent of speech restrictions under Malaysia’s Islamic blasphemy laws are in full display in the current cases of a comedian charged with insulting Islam in her stand-up comedy act, a charge that brings up to two years imprisonment under conviction by the country’s Sharia High Court, and meanwhile, her partner has also been charged for social media posts deemed under the laws as “insulting to others.”
Turkey's State Is Colonized by Diverse Islamist Groups

July 20, 2022

NATO-member Turkey's state apparatus, including the key institutional environments of the judiciary, police, health services, and education, has been colonized by a diverse range of Islamist brotherhoods and affiliated extremist nationalist organizations, all in the wake of the 2013 Gezi Park anti-government protests and the 2016 coup attempt that produced the rupture between Turkey's ruling Islamist Justice and Development Party (JDP) and its former Islamist partner.
Resilience of Islamism Supported by Leadership’s Longterm Time Horizons

July 15, 2022

The defeat of Islamist political parties across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has not meant the elimination of Islamism as a threat, both because extremist actors have proven resilient as alternatives to the political repression and economic marginalization imposed by of huge authoritarian regimes of the MENA and because Islamist leaders work according to a long time horizon that allows for recovery, adaptation, and regeneration.