Austria’s ruling coalition, led by the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) under Chancellor Christian Stocker, is seeking to ban “political Islam” after reversing its position and adopting a resolution proposed by the opposition FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria) that it had previously opposed.
“If Islam is interpreted in a political sense, it is incompatible with our democracy and our Western values,” Stocker told the Austrian newspaper Heute on August 28. “We uphold freedom of religion—everyone can believe what they want and practice their faith. But when religion is used politically, we must oppose it with the utmost resolve.”
If ‘political Islam’ is used as a synonym for Islamism, it therefore needs to be clearly defined.”
“I am therefore in favor of banning political Islam through a constitutional law,” Stocker announced. “We are a center-right party. What we stand for: anyone who comes to Austria must respect the rules that apply here and contribute to society.”
“I am saying quite clearly: I do not want our children and grandchildren to grow up in an Islamic state,” the Chancellor later posted on X. “Just as we protect the practice of religion, we must also protect our democracy.”
Following pushback over the recent ban on headscarves in Austrian schools, Stocker noted that Muslims already dominated Vienna’s schools. “Will these girls and boys grow up to be democrats who accept, uphold, and live within our legal order and our society? Or will they become Islamist and politically influenced? I want them to become democrats,” he noted.
Announcing that she would draft a proposal for coalition partners, Claudia Bauer, Federal Minister for Europe, Integration and Family, backed Stocker, noted: “I don’t want anyone in Austria who’s free to spread radical ideologies, undermine our society, and wants to turn the state into a caliphate. The current legal situation isn’t enough.”
Opposition Attacks Government for Blocking Its Proposals on Islamism
Herbert Kickl.
(C.Stadler/Bwag via Wikimedia)
FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl blasted the ÖVP in a press release, accusing Stocker of blocking similar demands the FPÖ has been making over the years and mocking him as a chancellor who “sleeps through everything.”
Following a jihadi mass stabbing in Villach on February 15, 2025, in which a Syrian killed a 14-year-old boy and injured five others, the FPÖ submitted a resolution calling on parliament to “initiate a comprehensive ban on political Islam.”
The resolution calls for an Omnibus Act against political Islam to prohibit and criminalize certain dangerous acts, including the public approval or justification of crimes like honor killings, female genital mutilation, and Islamist terrorism, as well as the public call for the establishment of Sharia, insofar as this is incompatible with the Austrian legal system.
The resolution also called for a ban on the dissemination of Islamist propaganda, insofar as it expresses the denigration of women, the lack of recognition of the rights and freedoms of others (e.g., sexual orientation or integrity), the rejection of the Austrian legal system or the rejection of the right of the State of Israel to exist.
The FPÖ proposal demanded the introduction of a hate preacher register, police enforcement of the burqa ban, including heavy penalties for lawbreakers, a review of Islamic textbooks through approved procedures, and the creation of a National Action Plan against political Islam.
“Our motion is longstanding: the ÖVP should stop talking and implement it,” FPÖ General Secretary Michael Schnedlitz said. “Stocker’s credibility on this demand is nonexistent.” Accusing the ÖVP of only now jumping on the FPÖ’s bandwagon, he added: “We don’t need cheap copies, but the original, libertarian version.”
Proposal Triggers Debate Over Definition of ‘Political Islam’
The government’s proposal has sparked a heated debate over the definition and validity of the term “political Islam.”
The Islamic Religious Community in Austria (IGGÖ), which serves as the official representative organization for Muslims in the country, stressed that “it considers the term ‘political Islam’ unsuitable for a specific legislative proposal.”
IGGÖ president Ümit Vural slammed the government’s proposal on the news channel Zeit im Bild, arguing that laws to tackle extremism already existed. “If this means that every extremist movement will be combated, then we are clearly on the side of the rule of law,” he remarked, alluding to far-right extremism that is seeking to combat the rise of Islamism.
The Austrian Fund for the Documentation of Religiously Motivated Political Extremism said it defined “political Islam” as “a ruling ideology that seeks to transform or influence society, culture, state, or politics based on values and norms that its proponents consider Islamic, but which contradict the principles of the democratic rule of law and human rights.”
“If ‘political Islam’ is used as a synonym for Islamism, it therefore needs to be clearly defined,” Yana Grinshpun, senior lecturer at the Sorbonne University and author of The Making of Contemporary Propaganda Discourse: How and Why Does It Work?, told FWI. Grinshpun explained that “the ambiguity surrounding the terms Islam, political Islam, and Islamism has important consequences for the way the issue is understood.”
“Many scholars reject the distinction between Islam as a religion and Islam as a political and legal system, arguing that the distinction between “Islam” and “political Islam” is artificial because, from its origins, Islam has included not only religious and theological aspects but also legal, social, and political ones,” Grinshpun, a researcher at the Transatlantic Institute for the Study of Contemporary Ideologies (TISCI) noted.
“Islamists ultimately seek the implementation of an Islamic legal order based on Sharia, although they may differ considerably in their methods and political strategies. This definition also allows us to distinguish Islamism from the broader category of political extremism,” Grinshpun noted.
“Describing Islamism simply as another form of extremism, whether from the far right or the far left, risks overlooking what is specific to it. Islamist movements may share certain characteristics with other extremist movements, but Islamism is based on a particular conception of the authority of Islamic law and of the relationship between religion, politics, and law,” she stressed.
European Far-right Parties Join Hands to Combat Islamism
In a move that could have ramifications for legislation in Europe, the FPÖ has signed a joint declaration with the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) to reinforce their battle against Islamism. The declaration was drafted following jihadi attacks in Vienna and Berlin, especially after Abdul Ballout attacked the Berlin Pride Parade, injuring 29 people and killing a woman in July.
“Berlin and Vienna face very similar challenges. Both major cities have experienced massive immigration over the years and are now struggling with the consequences of parallel societies and Islamist structures,” Vienna FPÖ state party chairman Dominik Nepp said. “That’s why we want to exchange our experiences more intensively in the future and learn from each other.”
In September 2025, the FPÖ announced it would take decisive action to amend the Islam Act of 1912, which made Islam an official religion in Austria, after a Viennese court faced backlash for recognizing Islamic law as a legitimate basis for civil arbitration in a contractual dispute between two Muslims, FWI reported.
Austria’s Islam Act (Islamgesetz) recognized Islam as a religious denomination under public law in the early 1900s, granting it official status within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The law was amended in 2015 to allow for the celebration of religious holidays while also banning the foreign funding of mosques in the country.
