ABSTRACT
Representatives of political Islamic organizations in Europe have profited from Islamist terror since 9/11. The establishment of Islamist movements in Europe took place in three phases. After the first generation of the Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and Milli Görüş in the 1970s had established initial centers in Europe, the second generation in the 1980s increasingly directed the focus of political work to Europe and established a widely ramified network of associations and institutions. This was accompanied by a partial reinterpretation of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). Classical Islamic jurisprudence had divided the world into the area of Islam (dar al-islam) and the area of war (dar al-harb) or disbelief (dar al-kufr). Now it was expanded to include the area of mission (dar al-da'wa). After the turn of the millennium, the third phase began. It was triggered by the serious attacks (New York, Madrid, London) and the cartoon controversy. As politicians, churches, and civil society organizations sought Muslim partners in the wake of the Islamist terrorist attacks, the networks of political Islam were ready and able to offer themselves as partners in the fight against extremism and terrorism. While the world looks spellbound at Islamist terror, legalistic Islamists have set out to transform democratic societies from within. All they had to do, as former Muslim Brother Ahmed Akkari put it, was prove that they were not bin Laden.
