Striving for Allah

Islamic fundamentalist movements such as Salafism are of great concern to Western societies like the Netherlands, yet much remains unknown about these phenomena. Striving for Allah aims to fill in the blanks by presenting primary data from indepth qualitative research in the Netherlands and, to a lesser extent, Britain. Firstly, this study compares orthodox, radical and extremist groups regarding attitudes, motives, reasons, and behaviour, within Islamic fundamentalism. Secondly, it presents an innovative theoretical framework that contributes to the understanding of the attraction of Islamic fundamentalism to converts, an important group that is often overlooked. The author finds that Dutch Muslim fundamentalists are not as `other as is commonly assumed. Instead, this research demonstrates that Islamic fundamentalism among Dutch and other Western Muslims is to a large extent a Western phenomenon. Islamic fundamentalism is hence a truly global phenomenon.