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This paper is based on ethnographic fieldwork in three mosques and three Islamic institutes with a Moroccan background in the region of Brussels. Between May 2013 and June 2015, I have followed their Islamic courses for adults in traditional Islamic sciences, which they provide in the light of an Islamic pious reform. Following Talal Asad (1986: 16), it is no surprise that in such environments where correct practices and beliefs are being taught, internal debates regularly (re-)flourish. In this paper, I complement these findings with a discourse analysis of the reactions in the field after the 13/11 Paris attacks in 2015. The latter brought momentum to a number of underlying discussion that slumbered during fieldwork, and that build upon ongoing theological and juridical debates within the Islamic discursive tradition. After the Paris attacks, I was able to discern among my respondents two different discourses that dealt with the ‘radicalist’ and ‘salafist’ sites of contestation, which were brought in direct relation to the resurgence of terrorism. On the one hand, the cause was placed in the lack of knowledge from the ‘adab (ethics) of divergence, which may lead to ‘radicalism’ understood as extremely exclusivist behavior and dehumanization of non-Muslims and Muslims alike, possibly resulting in violence. On the other hand, the cause of exclusivist behavior was looked for in the maintenance of a different ‘usul, or hermeneutical understanding of the Islamic sources, proclaimed by what they described as Salafism. I reflect on both positions through ethnographic examples from teachers, fellow students and debates that clarify both lines of thinking.