Religious Extremism

Experts Consider Mechanisms of Gradual Islamization in Europe

August 24, 2016

Experts from Europe's security, political, and civil society establishment are voicing concerns about the mechanisms and goals of a "quiet Islamist conquest" underway in Europe, evidenced in Saudi and Qatari funding for Islamic education, national election candidates with Islamist sympathies, and the establishment of parallel Islamic justice institutions.
Rebranding of Tunisian Islamism Raises Questions

August 08, 2016

Despite the renunciation by the leader of Tunisia's Islamist Ennahda Party of "political Islam" in favor of "Muslim democracy," the party's extensive grassroots network of support from a conservative rural base favorable to sharia law, plus the high number of Tunisians among the Islamic State's foreign fighters, raise questions about the future direction of Tunisia's fragile democratization efforts.
Egypt Focuses on Mosque Sermons to Combat Islamist Extremism

July 25, 2016

Recognizing that weekly mosque sermons are a frequent source for radical Islamist teachings and incitements to violence, Egypt’s Ministry of Religious Endowments has launched a new policy requiring Muslim clerics to deliver a standardized, state-approved Friday mosque sermon.
Turkey Demands Pakistan Close Gulenist Schools

July 25, 2016

Turkey's demand that Pakistan shut down primary schools run by the movement of Turkish Islamist preacher Fetullah Gulen has laid bare the bigger problem of globalized, radical Islamist penetration, especially by Saudi Wahhabis, of Pakistan's education system.
Islamism and Populism Ascend in Turkey Coup Aftermath

July 18, 2016

Islamism and populism are the winners - and democracy is the loser - in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt in Turkey, as President Erdogan's Islamist government has arbitrarily detained 6,000-plus "coup plotters" in the judiciary, armed forces, and police, many of whom belong to the country's competing Islamist movement led by Pennsylvania cleric Fetullah Gulen.
Saudi Arabia's Islamism Faces Internal Tensions and Dominant Extremism

July 18, 2016

The story of a former top-member-turned-reformer of Saudi Arabia's notorious Islamist religious police, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, reveals the rigid extremism, internal pressures, and limits for reform inherent in the country's state-enforced and globally exported brand of Sharia.
Congressional Report Reveals Saudi Arabia as State Sponsor of Terror

July 18, 2016

Release of the previously classified sections of the congressional inquiry into the 9/11 Islamist terror attack against the US reveals the Saudi Arabian regime's consistent moves to impede Washington's efforts to counter the globalization of al-Qaeda extremism and violence, as well as myriad connections between Saudi state officials and the 9/11 perpetrators.
Failed Coup Attempt in Turkey Bares Country's Roiling Islamist Groups

July 18, 2016

Turkey's autocratic Islamist government's blaming of Pennsylvania-based Turkish Islamist cleric Fetullah Gulen for a failed coup attempt lays bare the deep rupture that has developed between the governing Islamist AK Party and the vast, wealthy, grassroots network of Gulenist religious schools and police and judicial actors credited with the initial success of the AK Party.
Small Events Signal Creeping Islamist Radicalization in Indonesia

July 11, 2016

The recent closure of a food shop in a provincial capital of Indonesia has provoked widespread discussion among local experts regarding the gradual, yet measurable, spread of radical Islamist ideas, parties, and laws opposed to socio-political and religious pluralism in the world's largest Muslim-majority country.
Islamists Use Cathedral of Aghia Sophia as Mosque

July 06, 2016

Demonstrating the NATO member's ongoing Islamization of Christian sites, Turkey's Islamist government approved the use of the 6th-century Byzantine Cathedral of Aghia Sophia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as a mosque for call to prayers at the close of Ramadan.