Paper short abstract:

Applying a decolonial lens to expressions of Islamic maximalism in Europe: A short analysis focusing historical and contemporary examples from the discursive struggles of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hizb ut-Tahrir and Tablighi Jama`at.

Paper long abstract:

In my doctoral project “Discourse, Islam, and Decoloniality” I analyze the work of three maximalist Islamic movements; the Muslim Brotherhood, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and Tablighi Jama`at, from a decolonial perspective. My research focuses on what we can potentially learn about Islamic maximalism if we analyze it as an expression of decolonial thought. In this regard, the continued racialization of Muslims in global discourses today is highly relevant. In this presentation I will hence discuss, firstly, the effects of European imperial and missionary discourses leading up to the Second World War and how Muslims were, in effect, written out of their own history with regards, to, in particular, events in East Asia. Secondly, I will elaborate on how this fact has an effect still today by examining expressions of calling for Muslim unity in the discourses of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hizb ut-Tahrir and Tablighi Jama`at. All three movements are active in Europe, but their attempts to bring forward the relevance of their cultural heritages in a European context have met with very different responses.