Cool Guy or Doing Shirk?

Abstract Since Andrew Tate's conversion to Salafism, the emergence of manosphere enthusiasts and influencers in Salafi discourse has sparked considerable debate among Salafis. Questions arise, including whether Andrew Tate and similar figures can be seen as welcome advertising promoting Islam, or if they are perhaps not true Muslims. This snapshot presents the latest field data to explore how these topics are discussed in segments of the Germanophone salafiyya . It shows how far-right, misogynistic, and populist movements like the manosphere reach out to hyperconservative and extremist religious groups and partially successfully fascinate their members – but partially fail to do so: not because of their extreme populist opinions, but rather because they lack theological competence and knowledge of the targeted religious groups.