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Wahhabis and Salafis, daije and alimi: Bosnian neo-Salafis between contestation and integration

Publication at Faculty of Arts |
2021

Abstract

Is there 'a Salafi community' in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and is it a threat to moderate and tolerant Islam in Bosnia? This article intends to critically question the category of Salafism and explore the broader phenomenon of Islamic militancy in the religious and political context of postwar Bosnia. The aim is to depart from a securitizing framework by avoiding defining it in ideological terms and by choosing to look at Salafism as a relational and social phenomenon.

The argument starts with a revision of the problem and of the terms used to describe it and proceeds by proposing a genealogy of the various militant Islamic groups and an analysis of Salafi relations to the religious establishment.