Salafism and/in the Islamic State - Joas Wagemakers

Afro-Middle East Centre hosted an International Conference '(Re)assessing the Islamic State group and its futures' on the 23 to 24 August 2016, at the Premier hotel. The panel titled Ideological foundations included the following speakers Omar Shaukat, Shahid Mathee and Joas Wagemakers. Joas Wagemakers presented his paper on 'Salafism and/in the Islamic State'. The Islamic State group (IS) follows other Islamist revivalist movements which claimed to follow Islam’s fundamentals. This paper will expound on what Salafism means, and how it has evolved as an ideology. It will also assess how IS has interacted with and used Salafi ideology to legitimise itself and buttress its claim of being the sole representative of ‘true’ Islam. While illustrating how Salafi ideology influences the group, it will expand on how IS has engaged with and appropriated modern state and societal concepts and its justifications for doing so. Last, it will touch on how these influences have shaped its interactions with other Salafi groups, and other groups in general.