Young Islam

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Today, two-thirds of Arab Muslims are under thirty, and the competition for their support is evolving. This work explores the dynamics not just between Islamism and secularism, but among various conflicting visions of Islam itself. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research in Morocco, the author reveals how Islamist movements face unexpected opposition from one another. In vivid detail, the text describes the conflicts that arise as these groups compete for recruits and the fragmentation that occurs as members dispute over a shared urban base. By examining how political Islam is lived and understood by young people, the author shifts the focus from traditional top-down analyses to the interactions among Islamist actors. He argues that these actors are more influenced by their relationships with each other than by the state or religious ideology. By highlighting the voices of diverse and sophisticated Muslim youths alongside the texts of aging elites, the work exposes the contested nature of contemporary Islamist movements. It uncovers how these movements are being reimagined from the ground up, revealing the rivalries that are shaping the next generation of political Islam in the Middle East and North Africa.