Salafi Jihadism, Disengagement, and the Monarchy: Exploring the case of Morocco

Abstract

What meanings have formerly engaged (radicalized) Salafists ascribed to their disengagement and how have they become embedded in their everyday lives? There are two narratives that can explain this question. On the one hand, there is a central inclusive narrative that suggest the institutionalization of the religious terrain in Morocco through the Institution of the Commander of the Faithful (mou’assassat imarat al mou’minine) or ICF, which allows the Monarchy to play the king-religious role as the guarantor of religion and other faiths. On the other hand, Salafi Jihadists represent the second exclusive narrative through a religious concept that has taken a violent understanding called “loyalty and disavowal” (Al Wal’a wal Bar’a) or WB. The power of this narrative lies in the ability to divide society into a near and far enemy. Put it another way, to ask how those very meanings affect their everyday lives, a change in Salafi worldview for example allows them to live lives that seemed not possible before far from violence. As a result, there is no one picture of disengagement. Disengagement happens very differently in each case. Specifically, we argue that Salafi Jihadists’ disengagement has been informed, and shaped, by the meanings they attribute to their experiences in the everyday life. As such, this thesis is not about process, or pathways, or models of engagement and disengagement it is about meanings each one assigns to his or her experience. In addition to advancing theories of violent radicalization and disengagement from violence, this thesis makes a methodological contribution to the study of the meanings of disengagement through an ethnographic fieldwork in Morocco and Jordan.