Religious Extremism

Turkey's Erdogan Continues Quest for Recognition as Leader of Global Islam

February 18, 2015

Turkey's Islamist President continued his efforts to position himself as the leader of the world's Muslim community, or ummah, offering on his recent diplomatic junket to Latin America for Turkey to fund mosque constructions in the Western hemisphere and criticizing the United States for Islamophobia in the wake of the killing of three Muslim students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Turkey Projects Soft Power and Pushes Islamization through Mosque-Building Policy

February 18, 2015

The Turkish state agency called the Directorate of Religious Affairs has become a foreign policy platform for funding and operating mosques worldwide, toward the goal of building Turkey's soft power concomitant and establishing the county's lead role in the globalization of political Islam.
Controversy Swirls over Renowned Islamic University's Mixed Signals on ISIS

February 16, 2015

Al-Azhar University in Egypt, internationally renowned as the authoritative intellectual voice of mainstream Sunni Islam, is at the center of an increasingly intense controversy among scholars of Islam for the university leadership's mixed signals about support versus rejection of the extremist religious ideology and programmatic violence of the Islamic State ("IS").
Saudi Arabia's Battle with IS at Odds with Wahabbist Extremist Ideology

February 16, 2015

The formal commitment of Saudi Arabia to the international coalition committed to combatting the violent jihadist Islamic State ("IS") stands sharply at odds with the Saudi regime's claims of legitimacy based on the extremist Islamist ideology of Wahhabism and the Kingdom's longstanding support for the globalization of Wahhabism through terror groups such as al Qaeda.
Role of Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan Reflects Shifting, Complex Players in Global Political Islamism

February 04, 2015

The Jordanian monarchy is facing competing domestic and external pressures in its dealings with the country's Muslim Brotherhood ("MB"), long a source of tacit support and legitimacy for the monarchy, but now viewed by domestic political opponents and Arabian Gulf regimes as a potential standard-bearer for violent, extremist Islamism committed to regional and global jihad.
Military Versus Muslim Brotherhood Rivalry Reflects Fragile State in Egypt

January 28, 2015

The past four years of political and social upheaval that have characterized Egypt's Arab Spring experience signal the serious fragility of the Egyptian state, whose endemic corruption and widespread capacity failures have made for an exhausted but still-restive citizenry polarized by the ongoing power struggle between the secular authoritarian al-Sisi government and the sharia-model Muslim Brotherhood.
New Saudi King Faces Pressure to Support Islamic Fundamentalist Agenda Against Rights and Freedoms

January 28, 2015

The ascension of King Salman to the leadership throne of Saudi Arabia is provoking social commentary about the pressures that the new king will confront from fundamentalist political and religious leaders, led by Interior Minister Prince Naïf, who are committed to an extremist interpretation of Islam.
Extremist Wahhabi Religious Establishment May Gain Strength in Saudi Arabia with New Saudi

January 28, 2015

Saudi Arabia's new ruler, King Salman, is known for his loyalty to the fundamentalist-extremist Wahhabi religious establishment, and many political analysts suggest the real possibility of a revitalized symbiosis between the Saudi royal family and the Wahabbi clerics, with anti-reformism at home and export of Islamist extremism abroad.
Turkey Blocks Facebook Images as Blasphemous

January 28, 2015

Courts in Turkey have ordered the blocking of Facebook pages depicting images and commentary deemed "blasphemous" to Islam, signaling the expanding use of Islamist justifications to limit media and speech freedoms under the country's Islamist government.
Pakistan Pro-Blasphemy Rally Hails Paris Attackers

January 16, 2015

A small-scale prayer rally in Peshawar, a key Pakistani city bordering Afghanistan, lauded the Islamist Attacks on Charlie Hebdo, a reminder of the fact that Pakistan imposes draconian Islamist blasphemy laws.