Criminological Analysis of the Wahhabi Movement from the Perspective of Social Prevention



Abstract

Responding to the activities and actions of the Wahhabi movement as a criminal phenomenon requires adopting a well-considered criminal policy related to criminological teachings, as well as utilizing its various tools, including community-oriented action responses, which are addressed in the present study using a descriptive-analytical method. The findings confirm that despite the lack of coherent patterns in community-based responses, in relation to the criminal phenomenon of Wahhabism, a variety of community-based proactive responses can be designed and implemented, in accordance with the factors and contexts of tendency towards it. The most important of them are persuasion-based responses such as face-to-face dialogue and scientific-belief debate, dignity-based responses such as preserving human dignity in reducing the scope and forms of this criminal phenomenon, education-based responses such as education in resolving family discord and adjusting the perpetrator's skills in justifying the criminal phenomenon, and media responses such as creating a competitive media environment and simultaneously utilizing the capacity of the national media. The results indicate that the lack of a participatory approach, lack of attention to local considerations, and lack of coherence in the legal duties of the responsible institutions are among the most important shortcomings of Iran's current criminal policy regarding community-based proactive responses to the Wahhabism movement.

Keywords: community-based response, criminal phenomenon, criminal policy, Mutawalli, Wahhabism.