According to Anas Khalifa, Salafism is a viable movement with several popular preachers who affect many Muslims in Sweden, directly or indirectly.
- I would say that it affects the most.
I have no statistics on that but I have lived in this sphere for a very long time.
The most charismatic, charming, talented, but perhaps not the most knowledgeable - they are the Salafists, he says.
- They are everywhere online, they have hundreds of thousands of followers.
I'm probably the only non - Salafist who has 60-70 thousand followers.
Attracts young people
Anas Khalifa says that his young, Swedish followers tagged radical preachers in his feeds on social media when he presented liberal ideas, such as tolerance and human rights.
- These are ordinary young people who were born and raised in Sweden, he says.
According to Anas Khalifa, there are Salafists and their ideas in all mosques in Sweden.
- I have traveled from Boden to Ystad, lectured in associations and mosques for several years, and I have always found someone who is a Salafist there.
According to him, these people negatively affect other visitors.
- Some people think it is an extreme headache to meet such people in the mosque.
There is a lot of condemnation, a lot that this is wrong and this is right, that this is how you should live.
However, it is not only in the mosque that Salafists remind themselves of other Muslims.
- They walk around and are some kind of harampolis, pointing finger, says Anas Khalifa.
"Blood on my hands"
A large number of people have traveled to the Middle East from Sweden to join, among others, the terrorist group IS.
Ana Khalifa claims to have been in contact with every single one as a preacher.
He was for a long time an entrance for young people who wanted to travel down to fight.
He wanted them to sacrifice their lives as martyrs.
- I have blood on my hands, that's how I feel.
It is something I live with every day and use as fuel for my compensation, says Anas Khalifa.