Being and Belonging in Transnational Salafism: Informality, Social Capital and Authority in European and Middle Eastern Salafi Networks

Abstract

This article is an inquiry into how the transnational networks of Salafism in Europe and the Middle East are structured by looking at two case studies: one about a Lebanese-Palestinian preacher in Sweden and one about a Dutch preacher in the Netherlands and the UK. By presenting these case studies we explain the predominance of informality in these networks, and highlight the different ways in which they link European Salafi preachers to the Middle East, yielding different types of social capital. Our findings are based on ethnographic fieldwork in Lebanon, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK between 2007 and 2012.