TAF PUBLISHING

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the role of religious Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and the proliferation of different religious narratives in creating an enabling environment for the penetration of radical in- terpretations of Islam and thereby contribute to the radicalization of vulnerable individuals. Furthermore, it also addresses the lack of action and balancing counter-religious narratives from concerned official authorities and moderate religious scholars. The Maldives is experiencing a rise in non-violent and violent forms of Islamic radi- calization and the task of dealing with returning Jihadists. Despite the paucity of existing literature on the subject and the sensitivity of the subject at the national level, this study attempts to explore the role of religious NGO's and the proliferation of different religious narratives in creating an enabling environment for the penetration of radical interpretations of Islam. Thus this study uses a simple qualitative research method to analyze how these factors contribute to the radicalization of vulnerable individuals in the Maldives. The findings of the study reveal that in the context of the Maldives, fragmentation of religious narratives, lack of balancing counter-arguments against radical ideologies, lack of monitoring of content with extreme views, and relevant action against local religious networks disseminating such views create an enabling environment for radical religious ideologies to flourish.