A rising number of young German women are being converted to Islam through hardline Salafist outreach on social media, according to Berlin’s domestic political intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). The fundamentalist Salafism branch of Sunni Islam is making gains in Germany through increased proselytising on social media. According to figures shared with Die Welt, the number of Salafist followers in Germany in 2023 stood at 10,500. This rose to over 11,000 last year, nearly three times the number recorded in 2011. In addition to the growing radicalisation of some German natives towards hardline Islam, Germany is also facing a significant issue with imported radicals. According to recent research from the University of Münster, there are over a million Muslims with a “migrant background” — either foreigners or those with at least one migrant parent — who are at risk of becoming Islamic extremists in Germany.
