Strategic Communication of Muslim Organizations in the Aftermath of Islamist Terrorist Attacks – a Qualitative Analysis from Germany

Research on crisis communication related to terrorism deals mostly with governmental institutions and states as actors, but little on non-state actors attempting to influence perceptions of Muslims in society. The present article scrutinizes crisis communication of Muslim organizations in Germany after terrorist attacks with Islamist background and Islamophobic attacks. We analyzed all publicly available statements as reported in press releases, social-media accounts, and newspaper quotations from Muslim organizations in response to attacks between 2015 and 2020. In total, 226 statements and eight different categories of responses were identified and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. When responding to Islamist attacks, Muslim organizations highlighted general responsibility of the society, and the ways in which Muslims are themselves victims of such attacks but avoided taking more direct responsibility. When responding to Islamophobic attacks, Muslim organizations gave more background information on the attacks. Press releases by more active organizations were taken up more frequently in newspapers than press releases by less active organizations. Overall, the strategies that Muslim organizations utilize to minimize harm to the reputation of their organization and Muslims as a group are in some respects like those employed by enterprises. More research into the effectiveness of these different strategies is needed.