Swedish Puritan Salafism: A Hijra Within
Issue: Vol 8 No. 1-2 (2012)
Journal: Comparative Islamic Studies
Subject Areas: Religious Studies Islamic Studies
Abstract:
This article focuses a Swedish puritan Salafi group that advocates a clear stance against the immorality and impurity that they perceive the surrounding Swedish (or “Western”) society to represent. “Members” advocate a puritan Islamic lifestyle, based on what they perceive to be the examples of the prophet Muhammad and the “pious predecessors”. The article analyzes issues pertaining to segregation/integration and emigration (hijra), according to the official ideology, and attempts to probe into how the group negotiates their particular minority situation being Swedish Salafis. Questions often touched upon, more or less explicit, concern whether a Salafi at all should live in Sweden and how he or she should relate to the surrounding Swedish society and to “others”, those not considered part of the in-group. The article analyses ideological and normative claims and frames this within the contemporary Swedish setting and the presumed growth of Salafism.
Author: Susanne Olsson
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