The Neojihadist Cell as a Religious Organization: A Melbourne Jema’ah Case Study

Authors

  • Pete Lentini Monash University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.31615

Keywords:

Neojihadism, Religious Organisations, Terrorism in Australia, Operation Pendennis, Religious Leadership

Abstract

Notwithstanding significant macro-level research into neojihadist groups like al-Qaeda and DAISh, and their theology/ideology and tactics, there is significantly less information on micro-level actors, especially how they function as religious organizations. Drawing on rare (terrorism trial transcripts) and unique (listening device and telephone intercept transcripts of recorded terrorists’ conversations) primary source materials, this paper examines how religious authority structures and agency structures functioned within a Melbourne jema’ah (group or cell) that Australian authorities disrupted in 2004-05. The paper argues that the jema’ah was a stable vehicle for transmitting religious authority, but its agency structures were under-developed. In cases wherein the two clashed, the former always prevailed. Its findings suggest that while religious organizations require strong religious authority structures, they also need effective agency structures to increase their opportunities to achieve their objectives. The study intends to contribute to new, enhanced understandings of both neojihadism and religious organizations.

Author Biography

  • Pete Lentini, Monash University
    Pete Lentini, Associate Professor (BA, Rhode Island; PhD, Glasgow), is the Founding Director of the Global Terrorism Research Centre (GTReC), Monash University, and the Director of the Social and Political Sciences Graduate Research Program, Monash University. He has been involved in working with community groups and government agencies in Australia and abroad on measures to counter violent extremism and rehabilitate convicted terrorists, and has been active in numerous interfaith initiatives. Monash University has presented him with multiple commendations and awards for excellence in teaching, community-based research partnerships and postgraduate supervision. He is the author of Neojihadism: Towards a New Understanding of Terrorism and Extremism? (2013), and many other scholarly works on terrorism, extremism, and social cohesion in Australia, and politics and political violence in the former USSR. He is currently researching Russia’s countering violent extreme initiatives and responses to DAISh.

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Published

2017-07-19

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Lentini, P. (2017). The Neojihadist Cell as a Religious Organization: A Melbourne Jema’ah Case Study. Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 30(1), 22-51. https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.31615

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