Traditionalist Salafi Muslims in the Netherlands disapprove of violence and reject it as a means of spreading their belief, according to research published by the University of Amsterdam.
Researchers at the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies found that Salafis constitute "an average orthodox movement". Although their world view, according to the academics, is "rigid and one-sided" they are not aspiring to fight Dutch society.
They are in fact trying to find a place within society, which, hampered by the orthodox nature of their beliefs, is difficult to combine with a job or higher education.
Politics
Salafis are Sunnis who follow the example of the first three generations of Muslims. They hold the view that Islam became corrupted by changes made after the third generation. They tend to shun politics and many Salafi scholars have spoken out against jihad.
Salafi associations and mosques in the Netherlands often very actively spread their teachings. They organise plenty of lectures and courses, usually in the Dutch language, which attracts young people. Dutch Salafi include young people of Moroccan origin, as well as Somalis and Muslims of Dutch extraction.
Extremist young Muslims, whose expressed aim is jihad, are operating outside of the Dutch Salafi organisations.
Estimates
The Amsterdam University researchers say it is hard to say how many Salafis there are in the Netherlands, as the orthodox Muslims often refuse to participate in polls. The academics did manage to estimate the total number of orthodox Muslims including other groups besides the Salafi at 40,000 to 65,000. That is some 5 percent of all Dutch Muslims. The entire group is decribed as "receptive to Salafism".
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide
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It's deceiving to regard rejecting violence through jihad is enough! Do we then abandon other forms of unacceptable and primitive violence as sanctioned by Islam through the Koran, especially towards women/girls (including in Sharia-sanctioned 'honour' killing, polygamy and child-bride/rape), gays and converts from Islam? Thus, progressive Muslims can only be labelled so, if they truly reformed the Sharia 'laws' internally - thus renouncing all forms of violence, not just jihad violence! After all, the real truth is, Islam is founded on evilness right from the beginning, on the continuous rape, brutality (Mohammed’s own child-‘bride’ was only 6 years old!) and enslavement (especially sexual enslavement – thus polygamy, veiling of women/girls and child-‘bride’ were created) of children, women and mass murder of the Jews/non-Muslims by the Arabic Mohammed & his army! In order to assert primitive Arabic racial, cultural and political ideology (i.e. Islamism) and dominance, through creating a 'religion' called Islam, by Mohammed. A reformed Islam must acknowledge this historical facts truthfully and to reform Islam from an Arabic hegemonic form of religion into a universal religion with direct personal relationship with God - not through false and brutal Arabic-led 'prophets' or sharia 'laws'!