464 Annabelle Böttcher
of the same broad target group. In the following, less attention is paid
to the contents of their writings and more to factors such as the politi-
cal environment and participation, respect for human rights, religious
legitimacy of the ruling elite, the overall economic situation, and its
effects on the everyday life of the people. In order to find out how
these external factors influence a Salafi’s interest in turning to Ibn
Taymiyya and/or Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, I have focused on two
fundamentally different settings: one of political stability and security,
the other one of conflict or even violence. In the first setting, Salafis
live as recognized citizens in a democratic European country, where
they are able to pursue their activities and studies without being under
close scrutiny, let alone pressure from any state institution or reli-
gious competitor. A Salafi community in the eastern German city of
Leipzig has been chosen. Salafis, like many other Muslims, have come
to occupy niches within the German Islamic topography, where they
seem to feel relatively comfortable and are able to design their own
world. The depicted Salafi community in Leipzig is led by a German
Salafi couple of Syrian descent (like Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim
themselves). Interestingly, political pressure on this particular group
has been mounting since the research period from 2003 to 2008. The
research also considers the approach to religious authority within a
strictly gender segregated network. The second setting, in contrast,
shows Salafis in situations of intense pressure from outside, either
under persecution or in detention. This might be inflicted by a ruling
political power and its coercive apparatus or by raging battles in a war
zone like Iraq, Afghanistan, or Somalia. Under such circumstances,
Salafis can be arrested, detained, tortured, and kept without a trial for
longer durations. Such forms of intense pressure strongly affect their
mode of recourse to their Salafi teachings, notably the works of Ibn
Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya.
These two fundamentally different settings represent two important
poles around which Salafi references to Ibn Taymiyya and co. often
develop and evolve nowadays. Taking the social conditions of Salafi
adepts into closer consideration means transcending the realm of mere
ideas and challenging the often essentializing statements about what
the authors in question represent. A serious intellectual history of the
modern impact of Ibn Taymiyya or Ibn al-Qayyim should include
such dimensions.
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