How Muslim clerics turn jihadist
WHY pious and peaceable Muslims turn to ultraconservative and even violent versions of the faith is a subject of great interest for scholars and policymakers. But so far little effort has gone on studying the radicalisation of the clergy.
Now Rich Nielsen of Harvard University has examined the books, fatwas (religious rulings) and biographies of 91 modern Salafi clerics, as well as of 379 of their students and teachers. He found that the main factors behind radicalism are not poverty or the ideology of their teachers (as might be assumed) but the poor quality of their academic and educational networks
Categories: Discrimination, Islamism, Islamists, Terrorism, United States