Introduction

Since the attacks on New York and Washington in September 2001, the train bombings in Madrid in May 2004 and the London bombings in July 2005, radical Islam has been at the centre of media, academic and political debate in the West and the wider world. This debate has been dominated by a decontextualised approach which portrays Islamic political radicalism as a homeless global force, disconnected from real people, places and histories and coordinated from international Islamist1 and jihadist2 centres. Radical Islam and wider fundamentalist Salafi 3 Islam have been increasingly associated with militancy, political extremism and terrorism. In reality, however, radical Islam, like Islam in general, has different forms that are rooted in the distinctive local and ethnic cultures, traditions, ways of life, political and social structures of various Muslim communities. Islamic radicalism also manifests itself in moderate and peaceful, as well as militant and violent, forms.