Salafi-jihadist movement (broader, post-ISIS)
Broader Salafi-jihadist ideological movement encompassing al-Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, and successor cells. Designated terrorist by virtually every government; rejected by mainstream Sunni and Shia scholarship.
CLCI radar
BITE breakdown
+1 for documented terrorist designation across multiple jurisdictions.
Profile facts
In context
The Salafi-jihadist current includes al-Qaeda Central, regional affiliates (AQAP, AQIM), ISIS and ISIS-K, and Boko Haram. Heavily documented terrorism, mass civilian casualties, sexual slavery, and deviance from mainstream Islamic scholarship. The CLCI applies to recruitment and ideology, not Muslims generally.
Recovery resources
- Free Radicals Project — Christian Picciolini's organisation; disengagement support across violent extremist movements including Salafi-jihadist recruitment cases.
- HAYAT-Deutschland — German pioneering family-support service for relatives of people radicalised into Salafi-jihadist movements; operating since 2011.
- Inspire UK — UK Muslim-women-led counter-extremism organisation; works with families and communities affected by jihadist radicalisation.
- Hope Not Hate (UK) — UK anti-extremism organisation; covers Salafi-jihadist recruitment trends and offers family-support information.
- ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) — General referral and cult-aware therapist directory; ICSA has covered violent religious-extremist recruitment dynamics in conference proceedings.
See the full curated list at /resources.
Evidence by BITE axis
- Sexual slavery
- Universal terrorist designation
- Mass civilian casualties documented
- Recruitment via online radicalisation
- +1 for documented terrorist designation across multiple jurisdictions
Timeline
- 1988Al-Qaeda founded
- 2014–17ISIS territorial caliphate
Sources
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗ runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-05-20Source-density flags derived from existing free-text sources[]: academic sources. Heuristic auto-flag; subsequent editorial pass will populate structuredSources[] with reliability tiers.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
Key terms in this profile
Relevant hubs
Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.
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