Religious conflicts of interpretation and outbidding in the global field of Salafism (Power of Interpretation / Deutungsmacht)

The project Power of Interpretation examined the forms and transformations of intra-Islamic religious contestation, using Salafism as a case study. Salafist actors engage in these struggles globally, often employing an aggressive and polemical competitive strategy against both institutional and non-institutional Muslim counterparts. This strategy relies on deliberate escalation and aims to outdo rivals by any means – legal or illegal. According to the project’s central thesis, this not only fuels the conflict potential of Salafist competition but also contributes to broader social polarisation and religious radicalisation. The research was therefore guided by the question of how – and under what conditions – such Salafist escalation strategies lead to conflict and foster radicalisation. 

These questions were investigated through a sociological discourse analysis (SDA) grounded in Field Theory, applied in two distinct contexts: Morocco and Germany. The analysis focused on selected Salafist debates between 1990 and 2024, aiming to reconstruct their content and interpretations to reveal the dynamics of competitive outbidding within Salafist discourse. The comparison between Germany and Morocco was carried out to better assess the role of local characteristics versus global influences in the emergence of Salafist outbidding discourses.

Main Findings:

1. At the level of fundamental sociological research, the term outbidding was introduced into radicalisation research, justified in terms of religious sociology and field theory and operationalised for the project’s own empirical analyses of the phenomenon.
2. The discourse analysis revealed when and how Salafist outbidding strategies emerge, how they function discursively, and which interpretive patterns, narratives, and emotional structures support them. Central to the appeal of these discourses are Salafist narratives of loss (of one’s own religion) and salvation. Across nearly all debates analysed, a strong link was found between perceptions and emotions of loss – such as fear, bitterness, hatred, and anger – and outbidding strategies, which emerged as a key driver of religious radicalisation.
3. Salafist discourses of exaggeration foster radicalisation by using polemical forms of counter-speech. These strategies often go unrecognised as radicalising by followers of Salafist “preachers of loss” and can only be identified as drivers of radical discourse through in-depth interpretive analysis.
4. Outbidding discourses also serve a compensatory function, as they temporarily grant Salafist actors a form of religious authority in the eyes of their followers, positioning them as equals to institutional religious figures within the Islamic field.
5. The comparative analysis of Morocco and Germany revealed that while the specific themes of Salafist outbidding vary by context, their underlying mechanisms and effects are consistent across both countries.

Recommendations:

1. It is crucial to raise awareness among educators and prevention practitioners about Salafist discourses of exaggeration, especially within schools and community-based prevention efforts.
2. At the level of religious policy and academia, stronger and more sustainable support for the institutionalisation of Islam in Germany is recommended to counter the politicisation of Islam by Salafist (and other Islamist) actors.
3. The academic establishment of Islamic theology plays a key role in this effort. In particular, promoting a theology of moderation and balance (Wasaṭīya), which has a strong foundation within Islam, should be encouraged in the German and broader European context. This could serve as a long-term counterweight to Salafist outbidding theology.