The necessary laws exist — but they’re not enforced. As a result, hate-preaching imams are free to enter countries and operate actively within Islamic associations.

„Fifteen years ago, many politicians didn’t even know what political Islam was. Today, it’s not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of courage,” said Austrian politician Efgani Donmez in an interview.

“We don’t need more studies,”

Donmez told exxpress.at, arguing that political Islam is often downplayed because it doesn’t always manifest in overt violence like jihadism. But its goal is clear: to transform our society from within over the long term.

“It starts with language, spreads to education, culture, community life, and even school meals. In schools, we’re seeing Muslim children pressured if they don’t fast, and girls who don’t wear headscarves are shamed. This has become a daily reality,”

he emphasized.

Donmez reflected on how, 30 years ago, pork on school menus, swimming lessons, and girls also going on school trips were normal. Today, all of that is being questioned — because Islamist groups deliberately position themselves as spokespersons for entire communities.

About one-third of Austrian Muslims align with the ideology of political Islam. These groups are well-organized, ideologically driven and expertly networked — forming fertile ground for radicalization, the politician points out. “I’ve never heard of a Chinese suicide bomber, a Serbian ISIS fighter, or a Vietnamese knife attacker acting out of religious motives. This violent potential comes from a specific ideological environment — and it’s time we finally talk about it openly,”

Donmez said, noting that the problem has been identified, but action is still missing.

Although institutions to counter political Islam have been created, Donmez points out they’re often just for show — producing studies instead of taking real action. “Real experts? There are none. Long-term strategies? Also missing.”

As an example, Donmez pointed to Austria’s government making public commitments to act against hate-preaching clerics, only for those same clerics to be invited by major Islamic organizations and to be granted visas.

“It happens regularly — and our authorities often don’t even know about it. Intelligence services fail to detect some of these networks, especially the smaller ones,”

he stressed. Although Islamists remain a minority, Donmez warned that they are exploiting the right to associate, political parties and schools to gain influence.