Mohamed-Ali Adraoui - Salafism Goes Global: From the Gulf to the French Banlieues

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Adraoui, Mohamed-Ali, author.

Title: Salafism goes global : from the Gulf to the French banlieues / Mohamed-Ali Adraoui.

Other titles: Du Golfe aux banlieues, le salafisme mondialise. English

Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2020. |

Series: Religion and global politics | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

Translated from French.

Identifiers: LCCN 2019042375 (print) | LCCN 2019042376 (ebook) |

ISBN 9780190062460 (hardback) | ISBN 9780190062484 (epub) | ISBN 9780190062491 (online)

Subjects: LCSH: SalafiyahFrance. | IslamFrance. |

MuslimsFranceAttitudes.

Classification: LCC BP195.S18 A3513 2020 (print) | LCC BP195.S18 (ebook) |

DDC 297.8/1dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019042375

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019042376

Gilles Kepel

Gilles Kepel

More often than not, those who speak of Salafism know it only superficially, and they readily take offense at the monstrous appearance of this practice in contemporary Islam, buttressed by taking at face value the ritual and mimetic implementation of the Prophets teachings. The phenomenon appears all the more bewildering in the French context, inasmuch as its practicants are products of the Republics rationalist, secular schools. It reaches a fever pitch when it involves converts to Islam, often emerging from the suburban working class and socialized with a mostly Muslim youth. Here the Salafist commitment displays affinities with recruitment by sects laying claim to other beliefs but adopting similar paths: a break with the cultural background, resocialization, change of name, of dress and physical appearance, etc. Usually the distress of friends and relatives is extreme, as has been widely documented. Finally, although most Salafis stay away from politics and violent militancy and concentrate instead on proselytizing while vowing strict obedience to the great, mostly Saudi, Islamic scholars (or ulemas), and make of this interpretation of belief a church of sorts that is unknown in historical Sunni Islam, some individuals have gone beyond this engagement to cross over into jihad. The example of greatest concern in this regard is Mohammed Merah; since the drama that ensued after his crimes, he has cast a shadow over Islams recent history in France.

Between its roots in the working-class suburbs of Islam, where young people who have lost their bearings turn to an identity that corsets their faith and locks them in a citadel of certainties, and its signing onto the internet, where the fatwas of the Gulf ulemas circulate to circumscribe consciousness and feed dreams of emigrating from an impure France to leading a pure and heroic Islamic life, Salafism constitutes an extreme case of de-integration. It registers in opposition to the French national narrative, whose credo is the integration of immigrants. Not only is integration detested here, but we also have the detachment of a certain number of young people alienated from their home country and their inherited culture.

Mr. Adraouis rich study, conducted following numerous interviews in France, the Maghreb, Middle East, and Gulf, for the first time re-creates the complex journeys of Frances Salafis. It pays a great deal of attention to their social, economic, political, and religious dimensions, and it exposes many of the everyday contradictions. This is indispensable reading for anyone who wishes to analyze developments of Islam in France today and those who, day by day, must deal with the social problems in the working-class suburbs where Islams presence is crucial. This work makes a major contribution to the debate that promises to illuminate it decisively.

Gilles Kepel is a university professor at Sciences Po and a member of the Institut Universitaire de France.

This work draws on a doctoral thesis that I had the honor of writing and defending in 2011, supervised by Gilles Kepel and Catherine Withol de Wenden at Sciences Po in Paris. It would certainly not have seen the light of day had it not been for the sage counsel and patience of these two individuals, who have never spared their efforts when it comes to their students. I also benefited greatly from a research allowance from Sciences Pos Mediterranean Middle East Studies Chair, where brilliant specialists in the Muslim world have been educated and contributed to the renaissance of studies in this field.