Detail News

As part of the public debate on political Islam, DPI Director Lisa Fellhofer and Deputy DPI Director Ferdinand Haberl spoke to the media outlets Kurier, Standard and Profil about the challenges and trends in this area.

Kurier interview on the methods and aims of Islamist influencers

Islamist influencers are increasingly tailoring their content to the lived realities of their target audience. For example, content aimed at teenage boys focuses on fitness and images of masculinity, whilst content aimed at young women emphasises issues such as social pressure. Particularly successful in this regard are influencers who adopt a more subtle approach, combining serious topics and real-life experiences of discrimination with entertainment in order to offer an Islamist alternative model. The aim of Islamist influencers is to spread their own ideology, thereby building up as large a following as possible and gaining social and religious interpretative authority.

Kurier, 08.09.2026: Influencer der Islamisten in Österreich: Wie Extremisten den Staat untergraben

Standard opinion piece on the possible ban on political Islam: Freedom does not defend itself

In this guest commentary, DPI Deputy Director Haberl addresses the question of whether a ban on political Islam is compatible with liberal principles. He refers to the philosopher John Stuart Mill, who considered it reasonable to restrict individual freedom where one’s actions infringe upon the freedom of others.

Building on this, Haberl sets out the case for a debate on banning political Islam. In his opinion piece, Haberl emphasises that the liberal state responds not to individual beliefs, but to behaviour. The state must not criminalise lawful religious practice, but nor should it, through inaction, simply allow Islamist actors to operate unchecked.

Der Standard, 06.09.2026: Verbot des politischen Islam: Freiheit verteidigt sich nicht von selbst

Profile Interview: Rising Radicalisation and its Causes

According to Haberl, Deputy Director of the DPI, movements are increasingly attempting to draw young people into parallel societies and dissuade them from participating in democracy. This trend is fuelled by mutual radicalisation with right-wing extremism, a real and existing hostility towards Muslims, and international conflicts such as the one in the Middle East that has been ongoing in Israel since 7 October 2023. Social media plays a particularly significant role in the context of radicalisation, as young people quickly come across radical preachers whilst searching for religious content. According to Haberl, organisations such as the Muslim Brotherhood aim to replace democratic, pluralistic structures with their own vision of society.

In conclusion, Haberl warns against viewing deradicalisation as a stand-alone measure. Radicalised individuals have often built their entire identity upon a deeply entrenched ideological worldview, which cannot be dismantled through training programmes alone. It is therefore important to focus not only on deradicalisation but also on prevention, the work of security agencies and academic research.

Profil, 04.09.2026:Verbot des politischen Islam: „Religion wird für diesen Zweck missbraucht“