This week’s Fathom Highlight is Shiraz Maher, author of Salafi-Jihadism: The History of an Idea (Hurst, 2016), and Deputy Director at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College London. His expert mapping of contemporary Salafi-Jihadism was presented to a Fathom Forum on 28 July 2016 and ranged over the three forms it takes today (quietist, reformist, jihadist), its non-normative interpretation of the foundational concepts of Jihad, Takfir, Tawhid, al-wala wal-bara, and al-hakimiyya, and the origins of contemporary Salafi-jihadism in the post 9/11 conjuncture. Maher also responded to questions from policy-makers and opinion formers.

Our voice of the week is Ari Shavit’s keynote address to the Haaretz London conference, 3 July 2016.

Our image of the week is Palestinian rescue workers taking part in an emergency simulation exercise in the border city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on 1 August 2016. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib.

Shiraz Maher | Mapping contemporary Salafi-Jihadism

by Shiraz Maher