The effects of Neo-Salafist organisations on the increase of Islamophobia in Germany

Islamophobia, which means fear and hostility towards Muslims, has become an international problem today. The basis of this problem dates back to the establishment of the Andalusian Umayyad State, and it experienced a breaking point especially with the September 11, 2001 attacks. After this date, the concepts of "Islam" and "terrorism" began to be used side by side in the West, and efforts were made to keep the stigma of Muslims as "terrorists" on the agenda. In this study, the concept of Islamophobia; The advancement of the Ottoman Empire, which was identified with Islam, into Europe, the migration movement from Islamic countries to Europe with the prejudices that already existed due to events such as the Crusades, the Munich massacre, the Iran hostage crisis and the Berlin discotheque bombing, the negative impact of Muslim refugees escaping from wars and the influence of racist parties on Islam. His conversations about religion and Muslim immigrants combined and turned into a phobia. This concept, which has no longer been a fear but turned into hatred and hostility, is today an Islamophobic problem waiting to be solved. It has been determined in our research that Neo-Salafism, which we think is related to this and has an impact on the increase of Islamophobia, has an undeniable reality. Salafism, on the other hand, dates back to the early periods with its roots and is based on the Hanbali sect and Ahmed b. The Hanbali mentality, which is based on Hanbal, forms the basis of Salafi movements today. In this context, although people and groups who present themselves as 'Salafis' emerged in comparison to the early Salafis, radical religious groups such as Al-Qaeda and ISIS (DAESH), which are in the exact opposite direction of the "Golden Age" mentality of Islam, have emerged. In this master's thesis study, the effective factors in the increase of Islamophobia in the West and the relationship between Islamophobic actions and Salafism/Neo-Salafism as an anti-Islamist attitude in Germany, which was specifically selected in our study, are examined and the discourse, actions and activities of Neo-Salafi structures are examined. It will be tried to determine what effect it has on the increase of Islamophobia in the theological context.