Migration and islamic fundamentalism in the context of discourse of postmodernism

Abstract

The article analyses the reasons for the choice of radical Islam by young Muslims in the European countries. Islam became a Western religion as a result of the migration of millions of Muslims. The authors provide a number of indications of the formation of a new global religious system. The new religious cross-border communities constitute a globalised network. Their dynamic nature and partial virtualisation of their activities weaken the state control. The activities of “parallel societies” are associated with Muslim immigrants. Their parallel system of leadership and law creates real competition for the state governance structures. The fundamentalist version of Islam becomes attractive to Muslims who have endured its de-territorialisation. Their religious identity is formed under the influence of new interactions, media resources and participation in a global network of like-minded people. Islamic fundamentalism does not naturally emerge from Islam. This is the result of the secularisation of Islam, when the priority of politics over religion uses the latter as a resource for legitimising its social and political protest. It is also a reaction to the search for an identity that is relevant in a new environment. The attitudes inherent in fundamentalism, such as distrust of the values of European civilisation, the call for radical measures in their denial, the construction of a private version of the tradition and its idealisation, are based on modern problems. This represents fundamentalism as a postmodern phenomenon.