Purist Salafism in France

Abstract

Although Islam in France is composed of currents found in Muslim societies around the world, France is currently primarily affected by the assertion of purist Salafis, whose main concern is to bring Muslim believers back to the path of Islamic orthodoxy. Purist Salafi Muslims strictly differentiate themselves from non- Muslims and Muslims alike. They emphasize a break with society in order to return to Islam practiced in its “original” form, but their purist Salafism nonetheless retains some trappings of the modernity it shuns.