reform
Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generations of Muslims, who are believed to exemplify the pure form of Islam. Those generations include the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...
and his companions, whom he himself taught (the ); their successors (the ); and the successors of the successors (the ). In practice, Salafis maintain that Muslims ought to rely on the
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
, the and the (consensus) of the , giving these writings precedence over later religious interpretations. The Salafi movement aimed to achieve a renewal of Muslim life and had a major influence on many Muslim thinkers and movements across the Islamic world. Since its inception, Salafism has been evolving through the efforts of numerous Islamic reformers, whose interpretations have spread within various regions.
The Salafist doctrine is based on looking back to the early years of the religion to understand how contemporary Muslims should practice their faith. Salafi Muslims reject religious innovation or and support the implementation of (Islamic law). In its approach to politics, the Salafi movement is sometimes divided by Western academics and journalists into three categories: the largest group being the purists (or quietists), who avoid politics; the second largest group being the
activists
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
, who maintain regular involvement in politics; and the third group being the
jihadists
Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...
, who form a minority and advocate armed struggle to restore the early Islamic movement. In legal matters, Salafi Muslims are divided between those who, in the name of independent legal judgement (), reject strict adherence () to the four Sunni schools of law () and those who remain faithful to them, namely, the Saudi scholars, who do not follow any specific ''madhhab''.
In the contemporary era, Salafism refers to a cluster of different Sunni renewal and
reform
Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
movements inspired by the teachings of classical theologians like Taqi al-Din ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328 CE/661–728 AH). The contemporary formed as a revivalist movement across the Muslim world during the late 19th century in the context of
European imperialism
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
and has remained a significant trend in Islamic thought for more than a century.
Syrian
Islamic scholar
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
Muhammad Rashid Rida
Muḥammad Rashīd ibn ʿAlī Riḍā ibn Muḥammad Shams al-Dīn ibn Muḥammad Bahāʾ al-Dīn ibn Munlā ʿAlī Khalīfa (23 September 1865 or 18 October 1865 – 22 August 1935 CE/ 1282 - 1354 AH), widely known as Sayyid Rashid Rida ( ar, ...
(d. 1865- 1935) is widely regarded as the most influential scholar who championed conservative Salafi themes in the early twentieth century. Rida's religious orientation was shaped by his association with Syrian
Hanbali
The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools (''madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal ...
and Salafi scholars who preserved the tradition of Ibn Taymiyya; these ideas would be popularised by Rida and his disciples, immensely influencing numerous Salafi organisations in the
Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
. Some Orientalist scholars of the early 20th century also described rationalist scholars of non-Salafi orientation such as
Muhammad 'Abduh
; "The Theology of Unity")
, alma_mater = Al-Azhar University
, office1 = Grand Mufti of Egypt
, term1 = 1899 – 1905
, Sufi_order = Shadhiliyya
, disciple_of =
, awards =
, in ...
and Jamal al-Din Afghani as part of ''Salafiyya'', but this usage has become obsolete today, mainly because the rationalist scholars did not themselves adopt Salafi identity or its doctrines. Some of the major Salafi reform movements in the Islamic world today include the '' Ahl-i Hadith'' movement, inspired by the teachings of Shah Waliullah Dehlvi and galvanized through the South Asianjihad of Sayyid Ahmad Shahid; the
Wahhabi
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...
movement of the
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
that quotes Muhammad saying, "The best of my community are my generation, the ones who follow them and the ones who follow them." as a call to Muslims to follow the example of those first three generations, known collectively as the , or "pious Predecessors" ( ar, السلف الصالح, as-Salaf as-Ṣāliḥ). The salaf are believed to include Muhammad himself, the "Companions" (), the "Followers" (), and the "Followers of the Followers" (). Historically, the term ''Salafi'' as a proper noun and adjective had been used during the classical era to refer to the early theological school of .
Tenets
According to Bernard Haykel, "temporal proximity to the Prophet Muhammad is associated with the truest form of Islam" among many Sunni Muslims.
Salafis are first and foremost religious and social reformers engaged in creating and reproducing particular forms of authority and identity, both personal and communal. They define heirreformist project first and foremost through creedal tenets (i.e., a theology). Also important in its ''Manhaj'' (Arabic: منهج i.e. Methodology) are certain legal teachings as well as forms of sociability and politics.
The Salafi ''
da'wa
Dawah ( ar, دعوة, lit=invitation, ) is the act of inviting or calling people to embrace Islam. The plural is ''da‘wāt'' (دَعْوات) or ''da‘awāt'' (دَعَوات).
Etymology
The English term ''Dawah'' derives from the Arabic ...
'' is a methodology, but it is not a ''
madhhab
A ( ar, مذهب ', , "way to act". pl. مَذَاهِب , ) is a school of thought within ''fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence).
The major Sunni Mathhab are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali.
They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries CE a ...
'' (school) in ''
fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...
'' (jurisprudence) as is commonly misunderstood. Salafis can come from the
Maliki
The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...
,
Shafi'i
The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...
,
Hanbali
The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools (''madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal ...
,
Hanafi
The Hanafi school ( ar, حَنَفِية, translit=Ḥanafiyah; also called Hanafite in English), Hanafism, or the Hanafi fiqh, is the oldest and one of the four traditional major Sunni schools ( maddhab) of Islamic Law (Fiqh). It is named a ...
or
Zahiri
The Ẓāhirī ( ar, ظاهري, otherwise transliterated as ''Dhāhirī'') ''madhhab'' or al-Ẓāhirīyyah ( ar, الظاهرية) is a Sunnī school of Islamic jurisprudence founded by Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī in the 9th century CE. It is chara ...
te law schools of Sunni ''Fiqh''. In theology, Salafis are highly influenced by Hanbali doctrines.GlobalSecurity.or "Salafi Islam" Global Security website The followers of Salafi school identify themselves as '' Ahlul Sunna wal Jama'ah'' and are also known as ''
Ahl al-Hadith
Ahl al-Ḥadīth ( ar, أَهْل الحَدِيث, translation=The People of Hadith) was an Islamic school of Sunni Islam that emerged during the 2nd/3rd Islamic centuries of the Islamic era (late 8th and 9th century CE) as a movement of hadith ...
''. The ''Salafiyya'' movement champions this early Sunni school of thought, also known as traditionalist theology.
Salafis place great emphasis on practicing actions in accordance with the known '' sunnah,'' not only in
prayer
Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified ...
but in every activity in daily life. For instance, many are careful always to use three fingers when eating, to drink water in three pauses, and to hold it with the right hand while sitting.
Views on ''Taqlid'' (adherence to legal precedent)
The Salafi thought seeks the re-orientation of ''
Fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...
'' (Islamic Jurisprudence) away from ''
Taqlid
''Taqlid'' (Arabic تَقْليد ''taqlīd'') is an Islamic term denoting the conformity of one person to the teaching of another. The person who performs ''taqlid'' is termed ''muqallid''. The definite meaning of the term varies depending on con ...
'' (adherence to the legal precedent of a particular ''
Madhhab
A ( ar, مذهب ', , "way to act". pl. مَذَاهِب , ) is a school of thought within ''fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence).
The major Sunni Mathhab are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali.
They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries CE a ...
'') and directly back to the
Prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
Salaf
Salaf ( ar, سلف, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of "al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ" (, "the pious predecessors") are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims. This comprises Muhamm ...
''. This preferred return to the pure way of the Prophet is termed "''Ittiba''" (following the Prophet by directly referring to the Scriptures). In legal approach, Salafis are divided between those who, in the name of independent legal judgement ('' ijtihad''), reject strict adherence (''taqlid'') to the four schools of law (''madhahib'') and others who remain faithful to these.
Although
Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab ibn Sulayman al-Tamimi ( ar, محمد بن عبد الوهاب بن سليمان , translit=Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Sulaymān al-Tamīmī; 1703–1792) was an Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, ...
(d. 1792 C.E/ 1206 A.H) had personally rejected the practice of ''Taqlid'',
Wahhabi
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...
scholars favoured following the
Hanbali
The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools (''madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal ...
''madhhab'' and generally permit ''Taqlid'' in following '' Fatwas'' (juristic legal opinions) and encourages following the ''madhhabs''. While they doctrinally condemned ''Taqlid'' and advocated ''Ijtihad'', historically the Wahhabi legal practice was grounded mostly within the confines of Hanbali school, until recently. The doctrinal rejection of ''Taqlid'' by Wahhabis would lead to subsequent emergence of prominent Wahhabi ''
ulema
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
Ibn Baz
Sheikh Abd al Aziz ibn Abdullah ibn Baz ( ar, عبد العزيز بن عبد الله بن باز, ʿAbd al ʿAzīz bin ʿAbdullāh bin Bāz, 21 November 1912 – 13 May 1999) was a Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar who served as the Grand Mufti of ...
, etc.; who would depart significantly from
Hanbali
The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools (''madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal ...
law.
Other Salafi movements, however, believe that ''taqlid'' is unlawful and challenge the authority of the legal schools. In their perspective, since the ''madhhabs'' emerged after the era of '' Salaf al-Salih'' (pious predecessors); those Muslims who follow a ''madhhab'' without directly searching for Scriptural evidences would get deviated. These include the scholars of '' Ahl-i Hadith'' movement, Muhammad Nasir Al-Din al-Albani (d. 2000), Muḥammad Ḥayāt al-Sindhī (d. 1163) Ibn 'Amir al-Ṣanʿānī (d. 1182), al-Shawkānī (d. 1250), etc.; who completely condemn ''taqlid'' (imitation), rejecting the authority of the legal schools, and oblige Muslims to seek religious rulings (''fatwa'') issued by scholars exclusively based on the '' Qur’an'' and ''
Hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
''; with no intermediary involved."From there he lbanilearned to oppose taqlid in a madhab." Bennett, ''The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies'', p. 174. "Al-Albani had denounced Wahhabi attachment to the Hanbali school." Stephane Lacroix, George Holoch, ''Awakening Islam,'' p. 85 The ''Ahl-i Hadith'' ''ulema'' would distinguish themselves from the Wahhabis who followed the Hanbali school while they considered themselves as following no particular school. In contemporary era, Albani and his disciples, in particular, would directly criticise Wahhabis on the issue of ''Taqlid'' due to their affinity towards the Hanbali school and called for a re-generated Wahhabism purified of elements contrary to doctrines of the Salaf.
Other Salafi scholars like Sayyid Rashid Rida (d. 1935) follow a middle course, allowing the layperson to do ''Taqlid'' only when necessary, obliging him to do ''Ittiba'' when the Scriptural evidences become known to him. Their legal methodology rejects partisanship to the treatises of any particular schools of law, and refer to the books of all ''madhhabs''. Following Ibn Taymiyya and
Ibn Qayyim
Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb al-Zurʿī l-Dimashqī l-Ḥanbalī (29 January 1292–15 September 1350 CE / 691 AH–751 AH), commonly known as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya ("The son of the principal of he school ...
, these scholars accept the rich literary heritage of Sunni ''Fiqh'' and consider the literature of the four Sunni law-schools as beneficial resources to issue rulings for the contemporary era. At the far end of the spectrum, some Salafis hold that adhering to ''taqlid'' is an act of '' shirk'' (polytheism).
Contemporary Salafis generally discard the practice of adhering to the established rulings of any particular ''Madhhab'', condemning the principle of ''Taqlid'' (blind imitation) as a ''
bid'ah
In Islam, bid'ah ( ar, بدعة; en, innovation) refers to innovation in religious matters. Linguistically, the term means "innovation, novelty, heretical doctrine, heresy".
In classical Arabic literature ('' adab''), it has been used as a for ...
'' (innovation) and are significantly influenced by the legal principles of the
Zahiri
The Ẓāhirī ( ar, ظاهري, otherwise transliterated as ''Dhāhirī'') ''madhhab'' or al-Ẓāhirīyyah ( ar, الظاهرية) is a Sunnī school of Islamic jurisprudence founded by Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī in the 9th century CE. It is chara ...
te school, historically associated with anti-''madhhab'' doctrines that opposed the canonization of legal schools. Early Zahirite scholar Ibn Hazm's condemnation of ''Taqlid'' and calls to break free from the interpretive system of the canonized schools by espousing a ''Fiqh'' directly grounded on ''Qura'n'' and ''Hadith''; have conferred a major impact on the ''Salafiyya'' movement. Salafi legalism is most often marked by its departure from the established rulings (''mu'tamad'') of the four Sunni ''madhahib'', as well as frequently aligning with Zahirite views mentioned by Ibn Hazm in his legal compendium ''
Al-Muhalla Kitab al-Muhallā bi'l Athār, also known as Al-Muhalla ("The Sweetened" or "The Adorned Treatise," ) is a book of Islamic law and jurisprudence by . It is considered one of the primary sources of the Zahirite (lit. apparent, manifest) school within ...
''.
Scholarly Hierarchy
Bernard Haykel notes that due to the peculiarity of its methodology, Salafis enjoy a relatively less rigid scholarly hierarchy of authorities ( ''ulema''). Most Salafis unlike other traditional and pre-modern Muslims do not subscribe to a hierarchy that rigorously "constrains and regulates... the output of opinions". As an interpretive community, Salafi tradition, "in contrast to other Muslim traditions of learning", is "relatively open, even democratic".
Differences from Kalam Theology
Modern-day proponents of the Athari school of theology largely come from the Salafi movement; they uphold the ''Athari'' works of Ibn Taymiyyah.Halverson, ''Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam,'' 2010: 38–48 Ibn Taimiyya himself, a disputed and partly rejected scholar during his lifetime, became a major scholar among followers of the Salafi movement credited with the title '' Shaikh al-Islam''. Other important figures include major scholars important in Islamic history, such as
Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Dhuhli ( ar, أَحْمَد بْن حَنْبَل الذهلي, translit=Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal al-Dhuhlī; November 780 – 2 August 855 CE/164–241 AH), was a Muslim jurist, theologian, ascetic, hadith traditionist, and ...
.Michael Cook, ''On the Origins of Wahhābism'', Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 2, No. 2 (July, 1992), p. 198
Followers of the Salafi movement regard the primary sources ''
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
'' and '' Sunnah'' as self-explanatory, disregarding the use of interpretation and human reasoning. Salafis favor practical implementation as opposed to disputes with regards to meanings, meaning may be considered either clear or something beyond human understanding. They believe that to engage in speculative theology (''
kalam
''ʿIlm al-Kalām'' ( ar, عِلْم الكَلام, literally "science of discourse"), usually foreshortened to ''Kalām'' and sometimes called "Islamic scholastic theology" or "speculative theology", is the philosophical study of Islamic doc ...
)'', even if one arrives at the truth, is absolutely forbidden.Halverson, ''Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam,'' 2010: 36 "For the Atharis, the “clear” (i.e., zahir, apparent, or literal) meaning of the Qur’an and especially the prophetic traditions (ahadith) have sole authority in matters of belief, as well as law, and to engage in rational disputation (jadal), even if one arrives at the truth, is absolutely forbidden. A strictly literal, or perhaps amodal, reading of the Qur’an, as opposed to one engaged in ta’wil (metaphorical interpretation), or an attempt to rationally conceptualize its meanings, cannot be questioned and the “real” meanings should be consigned to God." Atharis engage in strictly literal and amodal reading of the ''Qur'an'' and ''hadith'' (prophetic traditions) and only their clear or apparent meanings have the sole authority in creedal affairs. As opposed to one engaged in '' Ta'wil'' (metaphorical interpretation), they do not attempt to conceptualize the meanings of the ''Qur'an'' rationally; and believe that the real meanings should be consigned to God alone (''
tafwid
Tafwid ( ar, تفويض) is an Arabic term meaning "relegation" or "delegation", with uses in theology and law.
In theology
In Islamic theology, ''tafwid'' (or ''tafwid al-amr li-llah'', relegation of matters to God) is a doctrine according to ...
'').Halverson, ''Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam,'' 2010: 36–7 "For the Atharis, the “clear” (i.e., zahir, apparent, or literal) meaning of the Qur’an and especially the prophetic traditions (ahadith) have sole authority in matters of belief, as well as law, and to engage in rational disputation (jadal), even if one arrives at the truth, is absolutely forbidden. A strictly literal, or perhaps amodal, reading of the Qur’an, as opposed to one engaged in ta’wil (metaphorical interpretation), or an attempt to rationally conceptualize its meanings, cannot be questioned and the “real” meanings should be consigned to God." Following the Salafi hermeneutic approach, Salafis differ from that of non-Salafis in some regards of permissibility.
Many folk rituals related to the spiritual world practised by Muslims in some localites and regions, are considered '' shirk'' by followers of Salafism. Followers of the Salafi movement regard a number of practises related to
jinn
Jinn ( ar, , ') – also romanized as djinn or anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources)
– are invisible creatures in early pre-Islamic Arabian religious systems and later in Islamic mytho ...
or
spirits
Spirit or spirits may refer to:
Liquor and other volatile liquids
* Spirits, a.k.a. liquor, distilled alcoholic drinks
* Spirit or tincture, an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol
* Volatile (especially flammable) liquids, ...
bid'ah
In Islam, bid'ah ( ar, بدعة; en, innovation) refers to innovation in religious matters. Linguistically, the term means "innovation, novelty, heretical doctrine, heresy".
In classical Arabic literature ('' adab''), it has been used as a for ...
'' and ''shirk''. The wide range of beliefs about spirits and
angels
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles incl ...
commonly accepted in Classical Islam is reduced to a limited scope of quotes from ''Qur'an'' and ''hadith'', without further exegetical material and missing any reference to anecdotal experiences.
Teachings of Ibn Taymiyya
The followers of the ''Salafiyya'' school look to the medieval jurist Ibn Taymiyyah as the most significant classical scholarly authority in theology and spirituality. Ibn Taymiyya's theological treatises form the core doctrinal texts of
Wahhabi
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...
, Ahl-i Hadith and various other Salafi movements. According to the monotheistic doctrine of Ibn Taymiyya, ''
Tawhid
Tawhid ( ar, , ', meaning "unification of God in Islam (Allāh)"; also romanized as ''Tawheed'', ''Tawhid'', ''Tauheed'' or ''Tevhid'') is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religion's central and single m ...
'' is categorised into two types: ''Al-tawḥīd al-rubūbiyya'' (Oneness in Lordship) and ''Al-tawḥīd al-ulūhiyya'' (Oneness in Worship). Ibn Taymiyya's interpretation of the ''
Shahada
The ''Shahada'' ( Arabic: ٱلشَّهَادَةُ , "the testimony"), also transliterated as ''Shahadah'', is an Islamic oath and creed, and one of the Five Pillars of Islam and part of the Adhan. It reads: "I bear witness that there i ...
'' (Islamic testimony) as the testimony to worship God alone "only by means of what He has legislated", without partners, is adopted by the Salafis as the foundation of their faith. In the contemporary era, Ibn Taymiyya's writings on theology and innovated practices have inspired Salafi movements of diverse kinds. The increased prominence of these movements in the twentieth century has led to a resurgence in interest of the writings of Ibn Taymiyya far beyond traditional Salafi circles. Salafis commonly refer to Ibn Taymiyya by the title '' Shaykh al-Islām''. Alongside Ibn Taymiyya, his disciples
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya
Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb al-Zurʿī l-Dimashqī l-Ḥanbalī (29 January 1292–15 September 1350 CE / 691 AH–751 AH), commonly known as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya ("The son of the principal of he school ...
Al-Dhahabi
Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Islamic historia ...
, etc. constitute the most referenced classical scholarship in Salafi circles.
The scholarly works of Ibn Taymiyya, which advocate Traditionalist Creedal positions and intensely critique other theological schools, embody the theology of the ''Salafiyya'' school. Ibn Taymiyya also cited a scholarly consensus (''Ijma''), calling on his acolytes to declare themselves as followers of the Salaf, stating:
"There is no shame in declaring oneself to be a follower of the salaf, belonging to it and feeling proud of it; rather that must be accepted from him, according to scholarly consensus. The madhhab of the salaf cannot be anything but true. If a person adheres to it inwardly and outwardly, then he is like the believer who is following truth inwardly and outwardly."
History
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
s and academics date the emergence of ''Salafiyya'' movement to the late 19th-century
Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
, an era when
European colonial powers
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their reli ...
were dominant. Notable leaders of the movement included Jamal al-Din Qasimi (1866-1914), 'Abd al-Razzaq al Bitar (1837-1917), Tahir al-Jazai'iri (1852-1920) and
Muhammad Rashid Rida
Muḥammad Rashīd ibn ʿAlī Riḍā ibn Muḥammad Shams al-Dīn ibn Muḥammad Bahāʾ al-Dīn ibn Munlā ʿAlī Khalīfa (23 September 1865 or 18 October 1865 – 22 August 1935 CE/ 1282 - 1354 AH), widely known as Sayyid Rashid Rida ( ar, ...
(1865-1935). Until the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, religious missions of the Salafi call in the Arab East had operated secretively. Following the First World War, the Salafi ideas were spread and established among the intelligentsia. Politically oriented scholars like Rashid Rida had also emphasized the necessity to establish an
Islamic state
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
that implements '' Sharia'' (Islamic law) and thus laid the intellectual foundations for a more conservative strand of ''Salafiyya'', which would also influence the ideologues of the Muslim Brotherhood in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
.
Salafis believe that the label "''Salafiyya''" existed from the first few generations of Islam and that it is not a modern movement. To justify this view, Salafis rely on a handful of quotes from medieval times where the term "Salafi" is used. One of the quotes used as evidence and widely posted on Salafi websites is from the genealogical dictionary of al-Sam'ani (d. 1166), who wrote a short entry about the surname "al-Salafi" (the Salafi): "According to what I heard, this urname indicates one'sascription to the pious ancestors and ne'sadoption of their doctrine adhhabihim" The scholar Henri Lauzière from
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
comments that, "al-Sam'ani could only list two individuals—a father and his son—who were known by it. Plus, the entry contains blank spaces in lieu of their full names, presumably because al-Sam'ani had forgotten them or did not know them."
Further, he states that "al-Sam'ani's dictionary suggests that the surname was marginal at best, and the lone quotation taken from
Al-Dhahabi
Shams ad-Dīn adh-Dhahabī (), also known as Shams ad-Dīn Abū ʿAbdillāh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿUthmān ibn Qāymāẓ ibn ʿAbdillāh at-Turkumānī al-Fāriqī ad-Dimashqī (5 October 1274 – 3 February 1348) was an Islamic historia ...
, who wrote 200 years later, does little to prove Salafi claims."
Origins
The Salafi movement emphasizes looking up to the era of the '' Salaf al-Salih''; who were the early three generations of Muslims that succeeded
Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...
. They consider the faith and practices of ''salaf al-salih'' as virtuous and exemplary. By seeking to capture values of the Salaf in their own lives, Salafis attempt to recreate a ‘golden age’, and revive a pristine version of Islam, stripped of all later accretions, including the four schools of law as well as popular Sufism. The emergence of Salafism coincided with the rise of
Western colonialism
The historical phenomenon of colonization is one that stretches around the globe and across time. Ancient and medieval colonialism was practiced by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, the Turks, and the Arabs.
Colonialism in the modern sense began ...
across many parts of the Islamic world. Between the eighteenth and the twentieth centuries, these
reformist
Reformism is a political doctrine advocating the reform of an existing system or institution instead of its abolition and replacement.
Within the socialist movement, reformism is the view that gradual changes through existing institutions can ...
movements called for a direct return to the Scriptures, institutional standardisations and '' jihad'' against colonial powers.
The movement developed across various regions of the Islamic World in the late 19th century as a response to
European imperialism
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
. The Salafi revivalists were inspired by the creedal doctrines of the medieval Syrian
Hanbali
The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools (''madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal ...
theologian Ibn Taymiyya, who had strongly condemned philosophy and various features of Sufism as heretical. Ibn Taymiyya's radical reform programme called for Muslims to return to the pristine Islam of the ''Salaf al-Salih'' (pious ancestors); through a direct understanding of Scriptures. Further influences of the early Salafiyya movement included various 18th-century Islamic
reform
Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...
movements such as the
Wahhabi movement
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, a ...
Shah Waliullah Dehlawi
Quṭb-ud-Dīn Aḥmad Walīullāh Ibn ʿAbd-ur-Raḥīm Ibn Wajīh-ud-Dīn Ibn Muʿaẓẓam Ibn Manṣūr Al-ʿUmarī Ad-Dehlawī ( ar, ; 1703–1762), commonly known as Shāh Walīullāh Dehlawī (also Shah Wali Allah), was an Islamic ...
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
i ''islah'' movement led by Al-San'aani and Al-Shawkani.
These movements had advocated the belief that the ''
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
'' and '' Sunnah'' are the primary sources of '' sharia'' and the legal status quo should be scrutinized based on ''Qur'an'' and ''
Hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
.'' Far from being novel, this idea was a traditionist thesis kept alive within the
Hanbali
The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools (''madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal ...
school of law. The Wahhabi movement, under the leadership of
Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab ibn Sulayman al-Tamimi ( ar, محمد بن عبد الوهاب بن سليمان , translit=Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Sulaymān al-Tamīmī; 1703–1792) was an Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, ac ...
, forcefully revived Hanbali traditionism in 18th century
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya
Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb al-Zurʿī l-Dimashqī l-Ḥanbalī (29 January 1292–15 September 1350 CE / 691 AH–751 AH), commonly known as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya ("The son of the principal of he school ...
(d. 751/1350); the teachings of Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab were also closely linked to the formulation of proto-Hanbalism expounded by early Hanbali writers 'Abd Allah ibn Ahmad (d. 290/903), Abu Bakr al-Khallal (d. 311/923) as well as non-Hanbali scholars like
Ibn Hazm
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm ( ar, أبو محمد علي بن احمد بن سعيد بن حزم; also sometimes known as al-Andalusī aẓ-Ẓāhirī; 7 November 994 – 15 August 1064Ibn Hazm. ' (Preface). Tr ...
, whom he cited frequently.
Indian
Indian or Indians may refer to:
Peoples South Asia
* Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor
** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country
* South Asia ...
Hadith specialist
Shah Waliullah Dehlawi
Quṭb-ud-Dīn Aḥmad Walīullāh Ibn ʿAbd-ur-Raḥīm Ibn Wajīh-ud-Dīn Ibn Muʿaẓẓam Ibn Manṣūr Al-ʿUmarī Ad-Dehlawī ( ar, ; 1703–1762), commonly known as Shāh Walīullāh Dehlawī (also Shah Wali Allah), was an Islamic ...
, while rejecting ''
Taqlid
''Taqlid'' (Arabic تَقْليد ''taqlīd'') is an Islamic term denoting the conformity of one person to the teaching of another. The person who performs ''taqlid'' is termed ''muqallid''. The definite meaning of the term varies depending on con ...
'', also emphasised on involving the '' Fuqaha'' (jurisconsultants) in the study of ''hadith'', their interpretations and rationalisation. Thus, he was accommodative towards classical structures of ''
Fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...
''. In
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
, influential scholar Muhammad ibn Ali Al-Shawkani (1759-1834) condemned ''Taqlid'' far more fiercely, and his movement advocated radical rejection of classical ''Fiqh'' structures. The promotion of '' Ijtihad'' of these movements was also accompanied by an emphasis on strict adherence to ''Qur'an'' and ''Hadith''.
Evolution
During the mid-nineteenth century
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
, the '' Ahl-i Hadith'' movement revived the teachings of Shah Waliullah and Al-Shawkani; advocating rejection of ''
Taqlid
''Taqlid'' (Arabic تَقْليد ''taqlīd'') is an Islamic term denoting the conformity of one person to the teaching of another. The person who performs ''taqlid'' is termed ''muqallid''. The definite meaning of the term varies depending on con ...
'' and study of hadith. They departed from Shah Waliullah's school with a literalist approach to ''
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
'', and rejected classical legal structures; inclining towards the ''
Zahiri
The Ẓāhirī ( ar, ظاهري, otherwise transliterated as ''Dhāhirī'') ''madhhab'' or al-Ẓāhirīyyah ( ar, الظاهرية) is a Sunnī school of Islamic jurisprudence founded by Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī in the 9th century CE. It is chara ...
te'' school. In the 19th century, Hanbali traditionism would be revived in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
by the influential Alusi family. Three generations of Alusis,
Mahmud al-Alusi
Abū al-Thanā’ Shihāb ad-Dīn Sayyid Maḥmūd ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Ḥusaynī al-Ālūsī al-Baghdādī ( ar, أبو الثناء شهاب الدين سيد محمود بن عبد الله بن محمود الحسيني الآلوسي الب ...
(d. 1853), Nu'man al-Alusi (d. 1899) and Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi (1857-1924); were instrumental in spreading the doctrines of Ibn Taymiyya and the Wahhabi movement in the Arab world. Mahmud Shukri Al-Alusi, a defender and historian of the Wahhabi movement, was also a leader of the ''Salafiyya'' movement. All these reformist tendencies merged into the early ''Salafiyya'' movement, a theological faction prevalent across the
Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, which was closely associated with the works of Sayyid Rashid Rida (1865-1935).
Late nineteenth-century
The first phase of the ''Salafiyya'' movement emerged amidst the reform-minded ''
ulema
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
'' of the Arab provinces of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
during the late nineteenth century. The movement relied primarily upon the works of
Hanbali
The Hanbali school ( ar, ٱلْمَذْهَب ٱلْحَنۢبَلِي, al-maḏhab al-ḥanbalī) is one of the four major traditional Sunni schools (''madhahib'') of Islamic jurisprudence. It is named after the Arab scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal ...
Salaf
Salaf ( ar, سلف, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of "al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ" (, "the pious predecessors") are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims. This comprises Muhamm ...
'', inspired their name. The early phase of this tradition sought a middle-way that synthesised between '' 'ilm'' and ''
Tasawwuf
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
''. Damascus, a major centre of Hanbali scholarship in the Muslim World, played a major role in the emergence and dissemination of the ideas of this early trend of the ''Salafiyya''. Some scholars in this phase like Amir 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri, re-interpreted Ibn 'Arabi's mystical beliefs and reconciled them with the opposing theological doctrines of Ibn Taymiyya to address new challenges. Other major figures in the movement include 'Abd al-Razzaq Al-Bitar Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi, Tahir al-Jazairi, etc. 'Abd al-Razzaq Al-Bitar (the grandfather of Muhammad Bahjat al Bitar, a disciple of Rashid Rida) was the leader of the more traditional branch of the reform trend, which would become the ''Salafiyya'' of Damascus. Years later, Rashid Rida would describe him as the "''mujaddid madhhab al-salaf fil-Sham''" (the reviver of the ancestral doctrine in Syria). While these reformers were critical of various aspects of popular Sufism, they didn't deny Sufism completely. The Cairene school of Muhammad Abduh emerged as a separate trend in 1880s, and would be influenced by the Damascene ''Salafiyya'', as well as
Mu'tazilite
Muʿtazila ( ar, المعتزلة ', English: "Those Who Withdraw, or Stand Apart", and who called themselves ''Ahl al-ʿAdl wa al-Tawḥīd'', English: "Party of ivineJustice and Oneness f God); was an Islamic group that appeared in early Islamic ...
philosophy. Abduh's movement sought a rationalist approach to adapt to the increasing pace of modernisation. While 'Abduh was critical of certain Sufi practices, his writings had Sufi inclinations and he retained love for "true Sufism" as formulated by
Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian poly ...
.
The Damascene ''Salafiyya'' was also influenced by their reformist counterparts in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon. I ...
Wahhabism
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, and ...
through his teacher 'Ali al-Suwaydi. He also combined the theological ideas of
Sufis
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
and ''
Mutakallimun
''ʿIlm al-Kalām'' ( ar, عِلْم الكَلام, literally "science of discourse"), usually foreshortened to ''Kalām'' and sometimes called "Islamic scholastic theology" or "speculative theology", is the philosophical study of Schools of I ...
'' (dialecticians) like Razi in his reformist works. Shihab al-Din's son, Nu'man Khayr al-Din al-Alusi, was also heavily influenced by the treatises of
Siddiq Hasan Khan
Sayyid Muḥammad Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān al-Qannawjī (14 October 1832 – 26 May 1890) was an Islamic scholar and leader of India's Muslim community in the 19th century, often considered to be the most important Muslim scholar of the Bhopal ...
, an early leader of the '' Ah-i Hadith'' movement. He regularly corresponded with him and received an '' Ijazat'' (license to teach) from Siddiq Hasan Khan, and became the leader of the Salafi trend in Iraq. Later he would also send his son 'Ala' al-Din (1860-1921) to study under Hasan Khan. Khayr al-Din Alusi would write lengthy polemics and treatises advocating the teachings of Ibn Taymiyya. The Iraqi reformers rejected the validity of ''Taqlid'' in
jurisprudence
Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...
innovations
Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entit ...
like tomb-visitations for the purpose of
worship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. It may involve one or more of activities such as veneration, adoration, praise, and praying. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recogniti ...
.
''Salafiyya'' tradtion had become dominant in Syria by the 1880s, due to its popularity amongst the reformist ''ulema'' in Damascus. Furthermore; most of the medieval treatises of the classical Syrian theologian Ibn Taymiyya were preserved in various Damascene mosques. Salafi scholars gathered these works and indexed them in the archives of the Zahiriyya Library (''Maktabat Zahiriyya''), one of the most prominent Islamic libraries of the 19th century. Most influential Salafi scholars during this period were Tahir al-Jazai'ri, 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Bitar and Jamal al-Din Qasimi. These scholars took precedent from the 18th-century reformers influenced by Ibn Taymiyya, such as Al-Shawkani, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, Shah Waliullah etc. and called for a return to the purity of the early era of the '' Salaf al-Salih'' (righteous forbears). Like Ibn Taymiyya during the 13th century; they viewed themselves as determined preachers calling to defend ''
Tawhid
Tawhid ( ar, , ', meaning "unification of God in Islam (Allāh)"; also romanized as ''Tawheed'', ''Tawhid'', ''Tauheed'' or ''Tevhid'') is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religion's central and single m ...
'' (Islamic monotheism), attacking ''
bid'ah
In Islam, bid'ah ( ar, بدعة; en, innovation) refers to innovation in religious matters. Linguistically, the term means "innovation, novelty, heretical doctrine, heresy".
In classical Arabic literature ('' adab''), it has been used as a for ...
'' (religious innovations), criticising the Ottoman monarchy and its clerical establishment as well as relentlessly condemning Western ideas such as
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
. According to
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
"The Salafi trend of Damascus constituted a religious response to the political alliance forged between the Ottoman State under the modernizing autocracy of Sultan Abdül Hamid II and orthodox sufi shaykhs and ''ulama'' who were willing to mobilize the masses in his support."
Post-WW1 Era
By the 1900s, the reformers had already become commonly known as "Salafis", which in-part was also used to deflect accusations from their opponents; to emphasize that they were different from the
Wahhabis
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, and ...
Ibn 'Arabi
Ibn ʿArabī ( ar, ابن عربي, ; full name: , ; 1165–1240), nicknamed al-Qushayrī (, ) and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn (, , ' Sultan of the Knowers'), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely inf ...
and Sufism would materialize a decade later, after the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, under the leadership of
Rashid Rida
Muḥammad Rashīd ibn ʿAlī Riḍā ibn Muḥammad Shams al-Dīn ibn Muḥammad Bahāʾ al-Dīn ibn Munlā ʿAlī Khalīfa (23 September 1865 or 18 October 1865 – 22 August 1935 CE/ 1282 - 1354 AH), widely known as Sayyid Rashid Rida ( ar, ...
. This second-stage of ''Salafiyya'' was championed by Rashid Rida and his disciples across the Islamic World, advocating a literalist understanding of the Scriptures. They were also characterised by a militant hostility to
Western imperialism
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
and culture. In addition to condemnations of tomb visits, popular Sufi practices, brotherhoods, miracles and mystical orders; Rida's criticism of Sufism extended to all of it and beyond the critiques of his fellow Salafi comrades. He questioned the ''
murid
In Sufism, a ''murīd'' (Arabic مُرِيد 'one who seeks') is a novice committed to spiritual enlightenment by ''sulūk'' (traversing a path) under a spiritual guide, who may take the title murshid, '' pir'' or ''shaykh''. A ''sālik'' or Su ...
''-''
murshid
''Murshid'' ( ar, مرشد) is Arabic for "guide" or "teacher", derived from the root ''r-sh-d'', with the basic meaning of having integrity, being sensible, mature. Particularly in Sufism it refers to a spiritual guide. The term is frequently use ...
'' relationship in
mysticism
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ...
, as well as the '' Silsilas'' (chains of transmission) upon which ''
Tariqa
A tariqa (or ''tariqah''; ar, طريقة ') is a school or order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking ''haqiqa'', which translates as "ultimate truth".
...
h'' structures were built. In particular, Rida fiercely rebuked political quietism and pacifist doctrines of various Sufi orders. The ''Salafiyya'' of Rida and his disciples held onto an ideal of the complete return to the religious and political ways of the ''
salaf
Salaf ( ar, سلف, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of "al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ" (, "the pious predecessors") are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims. This comprises Muhamm ...
''. In calling for a return to the ''
Salaf
Salaf ( ar, سلف, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of "al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ" (, "the pious predecessors") are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims. This comprises Muhamm ...
'', Rashid Rida emphasised the path of the first four Rightly-Guided Caliphs ('' Khulafa Rashidin'') and the revival of their principles. Rida's revivalist efforts contributed to the construction of a collective imagined Salafi community operating globally, transcending national borders. For this reason, he is regarded as one of the founding pioneers of the ''Salafiyya'' movement and his ideas inspired many
Islamic revival
Islamic revival ( ar, تجديد'' '', lit., "regeneration, renewal"; also ', "Islamic awakening") refers to a revival of the Islamic religion. The revivers are known in Islam as ''mujaddids''.
Within the Islamic tradition, ''tajdid'' has bee ...
ist movements.
Rashid Rida's religious approach was rooted in reviving Ibn Taymiyya's theology as the solution to rectify the decline and disintegration of the Islamic World. ''Salafiyya'' movement took a much more conservative turn under Rida's mantle and became vehemently critical of the clerical establishment. Rida's doctrines deeply impacted Islamist ideologues of the Muslim Brotherhood such as
Hasan al-Banna
Sheikh Hassan Ahmed Abdel Rahman Muhammed al-Banna ( ar, حسن أحمد عبد الرحمن محمد البنا; 14 October 1906 – 12 February 1949), known as Hassan al-Banna ( ar, حسن البنا), was an Egyptian schoolteacher and imam, be ...
(d. 1949) and
Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid 'Ibrāhīm Ḥusayn Quṭb ( or ; , ; ar, سيد قطب إبراهيم حسين ''Sayyid Quṭb''; 9 October 1906 – 29 August 1966), known popularly as Sayyid Qutb ( ar, سيد قطب), was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamic ...
(d. 1966) who advocated a holistic conception of
Islamic state
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
and society; similar to the
Wahhabi
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...
owned by Zuhayr Shawish.
The early leaders of ''Salafiyya'' like Sayyid Rashid Rida (d. 1935), Jamal al-Din Qasimi (d. 1914), etc. had considered traditionalist theology as central to their comprehensive socio-political reform programme. Rashid Rida, for instance, argued that Athari theology represented Sunniorthodoxy, was less divisive and provided a more reliable basis of faith than
Ash'arism
Ashʿarī theology or Ashʿarism (; ar, الأشعرية: ) is one of the main Sunnī schools of Islamic theology, founded by the Muslim scholar, Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer, and scholastic theologian Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī in th ...
. According to Rida, Salafi creed was easier to understand than ''
Kalam
''ʿIlm al-Kalām'' ( ar, عِلْم الكَلام, literally "science of discourse"), usually foreshortened to ''Kalām'' and sometimes called "Islamic scholastic theology" or "speculative theology", is the philosophical study of Islamic doc ...
'' (speculative theology) and hence granted a stronger bulwark against the dangers posed by atheism and other heresies. Salafi reformers also hailed the medieval theologian Ibn Taymiyyah as a paragon of Sunni orthodoxy and emphasized that his strict conception of ''
Tawhid
Tawhid ( ar, , ', meaning "unification of God in Islam (Allāh)"; also romanized as ''Tawheed'', ''Tawhid'', ''Tauheed'' or ''Tevhid'') is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religion's central and single m ...
'' was an important part of the doctrine of the forefathers (''madhhab al-salaf''). Despite this, the Salafi reformers during this era were more concerned with
pan-Islamic
Pan-Islamism ( ar, الوحدة الإسلامية) is a political movement advocating the unity of Muslims under one Islamic country or state – often a caliphate – or an international organization with Islamic principles. Pan-Islamism w ...
unity and hence refrained from accusing the majority of their co-religionists of being heretics; professing their creedal arguments with moderation. Jamal al-Din Qasimi decried sectarianism and bitter polemics between Atharis and followers of other creedal schools, despite considering them unorthodox. For Rashid Rida, intra-Sunni divisions between Atharis and Ash'arites, were an evil that weakened the strength of the ''
Ummah
' (; ar, أمة ) is an Arabic word meaning "community". It is distinguished from ' ( ), which means a nation with common ancestry or geography. Thus, it can be said to be a supra-national community with a common history.
It is a synonym for ' ...
'' (Muslim community) and enabled foreigners to gain control over Muslim lands. Hence, Rida held back from adopting an exclusivist attitude against Asharis during the first two decades of the 20th century.
Beginning from the mid-1920s, this leniency gradually disappeared from Salafi activists and scholars to give way to a more partisan stance. Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi, for example, was more uncompromising in his defense of Salafi theology than Rida and Qasimi. The hardening of Salafi stance was best represented by Rashid Rida's disciple Muhammad Bahjat al Bitar (1894-1976 C.E) who made robust criticisms of speculative theology, by compiling treatises that revived the creedal polemics of Ibn Taymiyya. One such treatise titled "''Al-Kawthari wa-ta'liqatuhu''" published in 1938 strongly admonishes the OttomanMaturidite scholar
Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari
Muhammad Zahid b. Hasan al-Kawthari (; 1879–1952) was the adjunct to the last Shaykh al-Islam of the Ottoman Empire, a Hanafi Maturidi scholar.
Overview
He was born in 1879 in Düzce, now in Turkey (back then in the Ottoman Empire), to fam ...
(1879–1952 C.E); accusing him of heresy. In the treatise, Bitar vigorously advocates Ibn Taymiyya's literalist approach to the theological question of the Divine attributes (''Al- Asma wa-l-Sifat'') and seemingly anthropomorphic expressions in the ''
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
''. At the height of his career, Bitar enjoyed the respect of Syrian ''
ulema
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
'' and laypersons of all groups. For his student Nasir al-Din Albani (1914-1999 C.E/ 1332-1420 A.H) and his purist Salafi followers, Bitar was a master of
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
and ''
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
.'' For the Islamist
Muslim Brothers
The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( '), is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic studies, Islamic scholar and scho ...
, Bitar's studies of Islam and the
Arabic language
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...
were an asset for
Islamic Renaissance
The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic, and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 14th century. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign ...
.
Contemporary era
Syrian ''Salafiyya'' tradition that emerged in late nineteenth century consisted of two divergent tendencies: an apolitical Quietist trend and a "Salafi-Islamist hybrid". The early ''Salafiyya'' led by Rashid Rida was dominated by revolutionary Pan-Islamists who had socio-political goals and advocated for the restoration of an
Islamic Caliphate
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
through military struggle against
European colonial powers
Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their reli ...
. However, contemporary ''Salafiyya'' are dominated by Purists who eschew politics and advocate Islamic Political Quietism. Contemporary Purist Salafism, widely known as "the ''Salafi Manhaj''" emerged from the 1960s as an intellectual hybrid of three similar, yet distinct, religious reform traditions: the Wahhabi movement in
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...
, ''Ahl-i Hadith'' movement in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and ''Salafiyya'' movement in the
Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
of the late-19th and early 20th centuries. The person most responsible for this transformation was the Albanian Islamic
hadith scholar
Hadith studies ( ar, علم الحديث ''ʻilm al-ḥadīth'' "science of hadith", also science of hadith, or science of hadith criticism or hadith criticism)
consists of several religious scholarly disciplines used by Muslim scholars in th ...
Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani, a protege of Rashid Rida, who is generally considered as the "spiritual father" of the Purist Salafi current and respected by all contemporary Salafis as "the greatest hadith scholar of his generation".
As of 2017, journalist Graeme Wood estimated that Salafi "probably" make up "fewer than 10%" of Muslims globally, but by the 21st century, Salafi teachings and ideas had become so mainstreamised that many modern Muslims, even those who do not self-identify as Salafi, have adopted various aspects of Salafism.
At times, Salafism has also been deemed a hybrid of
Wahhabism
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, and ...
and other post-1960s movements.Stephane Lacroix "Al-Albani's Revolutionary Approach to Hadith" . '' Leiden University's ISIM Review,'' Spring 2008, #21. Academics and historians have used the term "Salafism" to denote "a school of thought which surfaced in the second half of the 19th century as a reaction to the spread of European ideas" across the Islamic World and "sought to expose the roots of modernity within Muslim civilization".For example: "Salafism originated in the mid to late 19th-century as an intellectual movement at al-Azhar University, led by Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905), Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1839–1897) and Rashid Rida (1865–1935)." fro Understanding the Origins of Wahhabism and Salafism , by Trevor Stanley. ''Terrorism Monitor'' Volume 3, Issue 14. 15 July 2005 Starting from the French scholar
Louis Massignon
Louis Massignon (25 July 1883 – 31 October 1962) was a Catholic scholar of Islam and a pioneer of Catholic-Muslim mutual understanding. He was an influential figure in the twentieth century with regard to the Catholic church's relationship w ...
, Western scholarship for much of the 20th-century considered the
Islamic Modernist
Islamic modernism is a movement that has been described as "the first Muslim ideological response to the Western cultural challenge" attempting to reconcile the Islamic faith with modern values such as democracy, civil rights, rationality, e ...
Jamal al-Din al-Afghani
Sayyid Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī (Pashto/ fa, سید جمالالدین افغانی), also known as Sayyid Jamāl ad-Dīn Asadābādī ( fa, سید جمالالدین اسدآبادی) and commonly known as Al-Afghani (1 ...
(who were
Ash'ari
Ashʿarī theology or Ashʿarism (; ar, الأشعرية: ) is one of the main Sunnī schools of Islamic theology, founded by the Muslim scholar, Shāfiʿī jurist, reformer, and scholastic theologian Abū al-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī in t ...
rationalists) to be part of the wider ''Salafiyya'' movement. However, contemporary Salafis follow a literalist approach with a "heavy reliance on hadith", looking up to Ibn Taymiyyah and his disciples like Ibn Kathir,
Ibn Qayyim
Shams al-Dīn Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ayyūb al-Zurʿī l-Dimashqī l-Ḥanbalī (29 January 1292–15 September 1350 CE / 691 AH–751 AH), commonly known as Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya ("The son of the principal of he school ...
Ibn Baz
Sheikh Abd al Aziz ibn Abdullah ibn Baz ( ar, عبد العزيز بن عبد الله بن باز, ʿAbd al ʿAzīz bin ʿAbdullāh bin Bāz, 21 November 1912 – 13 May 1999) was a Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar who served as the Grand Mufti of ...
Rashid Rida
Muḥammad Rashīd ibn ʿAlī Riḍā ibn Muḥammad Shams al-Dīn ibn Muḥammad Bahāʾ al-Dīn ibn Munlā ʿAlī Khalīfa (23 September 1865 or 18 October 1865 – 22 August 1935 CE/ 1282 - 1354 AH), widely known as Sayyid Rashid Rida ( ar, ...
Ahmad Shakir
Ahmad Muhammad Shakir ( ar, أحمد محمد شاكر, Aḥmad Muḥammad Shākir) (January 29, 1892, Cairo – June 14, 1958) was an Egyptian Islamic scholar of hadith. He is the son of Muḥammad Shākir ibn Aḥmad, an Islamic scholar of ...
,
Saleh Al-Fawzan
Saleh Al-Fawzan ( ar, صالح بن فوزان الفوزان; born 1933) is an Islamic scholar and has been a member of several high religious bodies in Saudi Arabia. He is considered to be the most senior scholar of Islam in Saudi Arabia.
His s ...
,
Zakir Naik
Zakir Abdul Karim Naik (born 18 October 1965) is an Indian Islamic televangelist and public orator who focuses on comparative religion. He is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) and the Peace TV Network.
In 2 ...
Fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...
'' (legal tradition).
Political trends within Salafism
Some Western analysts who have observed the prevalent trends in the attitudes of Salafi Muslims towards politics, have divided the movement into three groups – purists, activists, and
Jihadis
Jihadism is a neologism which is used in reference to "militant Islamic movements that are perceived as existentially threatening to the West" and "rooted in political Islam."Compare: Appearing earlier in the Pakistani and Indian media, Wes ...
.Anatomy of the Salafi Movement by Quintan Wiktorowicz, Washington, D.C. Purists focus on education and missionary work to solidify the ''
Tawhid
Tawhid ( ar, , ', meaning "unification of God in Islam (Allāh)"; also romanized as ''Tawheed'', ''Tawhid'', ''Tauheed'' or ''Tevhid'') is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religion's central and single m ...
''; activists focus on political reform and re-establishing a
Caliphate
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
through the means of political activities, but not violence (sometimes called Salafist activism); and jihadists share similar political goals as the politicians, but engage in violent Jihad (sometimes called
Salafi jihadism
Salafi jihadism or jihadist-Salafism is a transnational, hybrid religious-political ideology based on the Sunni sect of Islamism, seeking to establish a global caliphate, characterized by the advocacy for "physical" (military) jihadist and Sa ...
and/or
Qutbism
Qutbism ( ar, ٱلْقُطْبِيَّةِ, al-Quṭbīyah) is an Islamist ideology which was developed by Sayyid Qutb, a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood who was executed by the Egyptian government in 1966. It has been described as adv ...
).
Purists
"Purists" are Salafists who focus on non-violent ''
da'wah
Dawah ( ar, دعوة, lit=invitation, ) is the act of inviting or calling people to embrace Islam. The plural is ''da‘wāt'' (دَعْوات) or ''da‘awāt'' (دَعَوات).
Etymology
The English term ''Dawah'' derives from the Arabic ...
'' (preaching of Islam), education, and "purification of religious beliefs and practices". They dismiss politics as "a diversion or even innovation that leads people away from Islam".Whatever Happened to the Islamists? edited by Olivier Roy and Amel Boubekeur, Columbia University Press, 2012 Also known as conservative Salafism, its adherents seek to distance themselves from politics. This strand focuses its attention on the study of Islamic '' sharia'', educating the masses and preaching to the society. This methodology is seen as attracting a significant section of pious Muslims who seek to be driven solely by religious objectives but not political objectives. Conservative Salafis are disinterested in getting entangled in the problems and consequences that accompany political activism. According to them, a prolonged movement of "purification and education" of Muslims is essential for Islamic revival through reaping a "pure, uncontaminated Islamic society" and thereby establish an Islamic state.
Some of them never oppose rulers.
Madkhalism
Madkhalism is a strain of Islamist thought within the larger Salafist movement based on the writings of Sheikh Rabee al-Madkhali.ICG Middle East Report N°31Saudi Arabia Backgrounder: Who Are the Islamists?Amman/Riyadh/Brussels: International Cri ...
, as an example, is a strain of Salafists viewed as supportive of
authoritarian regimes
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political '' status quo'', and reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic ...
in the Middle East.Richard Gauvain, ''Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God'', p. 41. New York: Routledge, 2013.Roel Meijer, ''Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement'', p. 49. New York:
Columbia University Press
Columbia University Press is a university press based in New York City, and affiliated with Columbia University. It is currently directed by Jennifer Crewe (2014–present) and publishes titles in the humanities and sciences, including the fiel ...
, 2009.George Joffé, ''Islamist Radicalisation in Europe and the Middle East: Reassessing the Causes of Terrorism'', p. 317.
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
:
I.B. Tauris
I.B. Tauris is an educational publishing house and imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing. It was an independent publishing house with offices in London and New York City until its purchase in May 2018 by Bloomsbury Publishing.
It specialises in non ...
, 2013. Taking its name from the controversial Saudi Arabian cleric
Rabee al-Madkhali
Rabīʿ bin Hādī ʿUmayr al Madkhalī ( ar, ربيع بن هادي عمير المدخلي), is a former head of the Sunnah Studies Department at the Islamic University of Madinah. He is a Salafi Muslim scholar and the founder of Madkhalism ...
, the movement lost its support in Saudi Arabia proper when several members of the Permanent Committee (the country's clerical body) denounced Madkhali personally.''The Transmission and Dynamics of the Textual Sources of Islam: Essays in Honour of Harald Motzki'', eds. Nicolet Boekhoff-van der Voort,
Kees Versteegh
Cornelis Henricus Maria "Kees" Versteegh (; born 1947) is a Dutch academic linguist. He served as a professor of Islamic studies and the Arabic language at Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands until April 2011.
Versteegh graduated from R ...
and Joas Wagemakers, p. 382.
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...
: Brill Publishers, 2011. Influence of both the movement and its figureheads have waned so much within the Muslim world that analysts have declared it to be a largely European phenomenon.
Salafi activists
Further along the spectrum are the Salafi-Activists who advocate the transformation of societies through political action. They include Islamist organizations such as the Muslim Brotherhood,
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
ulema
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
'' affiliated to the movement known as ''Al-Sahwa al-Islamiyya'' (Islamic Awakening). Committed to advancing "the Islamic solution" for all socio-political problems; Salafi-Activists are vehemently hostile to
secularism
Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on secular, naturalistic considerations.
Secularism is most commonly defined as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state, and may be broadened to a sim ...
,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
, and
the West
West is a cardinal direction or compass point.
West or The West may also refer to:
Geography and locations
Global context
* The Western world
* Western culture and Western civilization in general
* The Western Bloc, countries allied with NATO ...
. Their strategy involves working within the established order, to achieve the ultimate objective of replacing that order with an
Islamic state
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
. Activists are different from the Salafi-jihadists in that they eschew violence and differ from Salafi purists in that they engage in modern political processes.Meijer, p. 48. Salafi-Activists have a long tradition of political activism in major
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood and its various branches and affiliates.
Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood,
Jamaat-e Islami
Jamaat-e-Islami ( ur, ) () is an Islamic movement founded in 1941 in British India by the Islamic theologian and socio-political philosopher, Syed Abul Ala Maududi.van der Veer P. and Munshi S. (eds.''Media, War, and Terrorism: Responses fro ...
, etc are heavily influenced by the Activist Salafi thought. The movement is very popular amongst the followers of the Salafiyya school, and is often referred to as "mainstream Salafism". The activist Salafis condemn violence, yet engage actively in the political processes of their societies to advocate for ''
shari'a
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
''. However, the movement is fiercely attacked by the followers of the Madkhalist strand of Quietist Salafism; who totally withdraw themselves from politics. The Activist trend, who some call "politicos", see politics as "yet another field in which the Salafi creed has to be applied" in order to safeguard justice and "guarantee that the political rule is based upon the Shari'a".Al–Sahwa Al-Islamiyya (Islamic Awakening), as example, has been involved in peaceful political reform. Safar Al-Hawali,
Salman al-Ouda
Salman bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Ouda ( ar, سلمان بن فهد بن عبد الله العودة) or Salman al-Ouda ( ar, سلمان العودة), ''Salman al-Oadah'', ''Salman al-Audah'', or ''Salman al-Awdah'' ( ar, سلمان بن فه ...
Zakir Naik
Zakir Abdul Karim Naik (born 18 October 1965) is an Indian Islamic televangelist and public orator who focuses on comparative religion. He is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) and the Peace TV Network.
In 2 ...
, etc. are representatives of this trend. Because of being active on social media, they have earned some support among youth.
Salafi jihadists
"Salafi Jihadism" was a term invented by
Gilles Kepel
Gilles Kepel, (born June 30, 1955) is a French political scientist and Arabist, specialized in the contemporary Middle East and Muslims in the West. He is Professor at the Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL) and director of the Middle Ea ...
to describe those self-claiming Salafi groups who began developing an interest in (armed) jihad during the mid-1990s. Practitioners are often referred to as "Salafi jihadis" or "Salafi jihadists". Journalist Bruce Livesey estimates that Salafi jihadists constitute less than 1.0 percent of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims (i.e., less than 10 million).
Another definition of Salafi jihadism, offered by Mohammed M. Hafez, is an "extreme form of SunniIslamism that rejects
democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which people, the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation ("direct democracy"), or to choo ...
and
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...
rule". Hafez distinguished them from apolitical and conservative Salafi scholars (such as
Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani
Muhammad b. al-Haj Nuh b. Nijati b. Adam al-Ishqudri al-Albani al-Arnauti ( ar, مُحَمَّد نَاصِر ٱلدِّيْن ٱلْأَلْبَانِي الأرنؤوط), better known simply as Al-Albani (August 16, 1914 – October 2, 1999), ...
Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baaz
Sheikh Abd al Aziz ibn Abdullah ibn Baz ( ar, عبد العزيز بن عبد الله بن باز, ʿAbd al ʿAzīz bin ʿAbdullāh bin Bāz, 21 November 1912 – 13 May 1999) was a Saudi Arabian Islamic ulama, scholar who served as the Grand Muf ...
Salman al-Ouda
Salman bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Ouda ( ar, سلمان بن فهد بن عبد الله العودة) or Salman al-Ouda ( ar, سلمان العودة), ''Salman al-Oadah'', ''Salman al-Audah'', or ''Salman al-Awdah'' ( ar, سلمان بن فه ...
Abdullah Azzam
Abdullah Yusuf Azzam ( ar, عبد الله يوسف عزام, translit=‘Abdu’llāh Yūsuf ‘Azzām; ) was a Salafi jihadist, a Palestinian scholar, and theologian of Sunni Islam. During the Soviet–Afghan War of the 1980s, he advocated " d ...
,
Usama Bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated ...
ISIS
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...
, Boko Haram, and the Al-Shabaab.
All Salafi-Jihadists agree on the revolutionary overthrow of existing ruling order through armed Jihad; and its replacement with a Global Caliphate. They believe that Jihad is essential to Islamic piety and belief, an individual obligation ('' fard 'al-Ayn'') on all
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
; which the
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
Jihadist scholar 'Abdallah ‘Azzam (1941–89) asserted as "the most excellent form of worship". Salafi-Jihadists regard themselves as the heirs of
Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid 'Ibrāhīm Ḥusayn Quṭb ( or ; , ; ar, سيد قطب إبراهيم حسين ''Sayyid Quṭb''; 9 October 1906 – 29 August 1966), known popularly as Sayyid Qutb ( ar, سيد قطب), was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamic ...
, an influential Islamist scholar who led the radical wing of the Muslim Brotherhood during the 1960s. Inspired by their reading of Ibn Taymiyya, they are strong advocates of ''
takfir
''Takfir'' or ''takfīr'' ( ar, تكفير, takfīr) is an Arabic and Islamic term which denotes excommunication from Islam of one Muslim by another, i.e. accusing another Muslim to be an apostate. The word is found neither in the Quran nor in the ...
(''excommunication) and the principles of '' Al-Wala' wa'l- Bara'''. Like Qutb, they also made the belief in the exclusive sovereignty (''Hakimiyya'') of Allah central to ''
Tawhid
Tawhid ( ar, , ', meaning "unification of God in Islam (Allāh)"; also romanized as ''Tawheed'', ''Tawhid'', ''Tauheed'' or ''Tevhid'') is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religion's central and single m ...
'', and condemn all other political doctrines as ''
Jahiliyya
The Age of Ignorance ( ar, / , "ignorance") is an Islamic concept referring to the period of time and state of affairs in Arabia before the advent of Islam in 610 CE. It is often translated as the "Age of Ignorance". The term ''jahiliyyah'' ...
''. Sayyid Qutb's '' Al-Ma‘alim Fi'l-tariq'' (The Milestones), a short tract which outlined his militant strategy of destroying ''
Jahiliyya
The Age of Ignorance ( ar, / , "ignorance") is an Islamic concept referring to the period of time and state of affairs in Arabia before the advent of Islam in 610 CE. It is often translated as the "Age of Ignorance". The term ''jahiliyyah'' ...
'' and replacing it with Islam, would become an influential treatise in the Salafi-Jihadi intellectual circles.
An analysis of the
Caucasus Emirate
The Caucasus Emirate ( ce, Имарат Кавказ, Imarat Kavkaz, IK; russian: Кавказский эмират, Kavkazskiy emirat), also known as the Caucasian Emirate, Emirate of Caucasus, or Islamic Emirate of the Caucasus, was a Jihadist ...
tawhid
Tawhid ( ar, , ', meaning "unification of God in Islam (Allāh)"; also romanized as ''Tawheed'', ''Tawhid'', ''Tauheed'' or ''Tevhid'') is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religion's central and single m ...
taqlid
''Taqlid'' (Arabic تَقْليد ''taqlīd'') is an Islamic term denoting the conformity of one person to the teaching of another. The person who performs ''taqlid'' is termed ''muqallid''. The definite meaning of the term varies depending on con ...
'' and ''
bid‘ah
In Islam, bid'ah ( ar, بدعة; en, innovation) refers to innovation in religious matters. Linguistically, the term means "innovation, novelty, heretical doctrine, heresy".
In classical Arabic literature ('' adab''), it has been used as a for ...
'', while believing that Jihad ( holy war) is the only way to advance the cause of Allah on the Earth. The purist and Activist Salafis often strongly disapprove of the Jihadists and rejects its Islamic character. Although rooted in certain fringe interpretations of the '' Qur’an'' and ''
Hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
'', scholars point out that Salafi-Jihadi views are not representative of the broader Islamic tradition. Scholars, thinkers and intellectuals from across the Islamic spectrum – Sunni, Shi‘a, Salafi, Sufi,
Wahhabi
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...
,
modernists
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
and Islamic neo-traditionalists – have come out strongly against various Salafi-jihadi groups and their doctrines; regarding them as "a perversion" of Islamic teachings.
Regional groups and movements
Saudi Arabia
Modern Salafists consider the 18th-century scholar Muhammed bin 'Abd al-Wahhab and many of his students to have been Salafis. He started a reform movement in the remote, sparsely populated region of Najd. He invited people to ''
Tawhid
Tawhid ( ar, , ', meaning "unification of God in Islam (Allāh)"; also romanized as ''Tawheed'', ''Tawhid'', ''Tauheed'' or ''Tevhid'') is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religion's central and single m ...
'' (monotheism) and advocated purging of practices such as shrine and tomb visitation, which were widespread among Muslims. Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab considered such practices as aspects of idolatry, representative of impurities and inappropriate innovations in Islam which contradicted ''Tawhid''. While Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab stressed on the importance of obedience to '' sharia'', he also obliged Muslims to uphold ''sharia'' by reading and following the Scriptures. Like their paragon scholar Ibn Taymiyya, Wahhabis did not believe in blind-adherence (''
Taqlid
''Taqlid'' (Arabic تَقْليد ''taqlīd'') is an Islamic term denoting the conformity of one person to the teaching of another. The person who performs ''taqlid'' is termed ''muqallid''. The definite meaning of the term varies depending on con ...
'') and advocated engaging with the ''
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
'' and ''
Hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
'' through '' Ijtihad'' (legal reasoning), emphasizing simplicity in religious rituals and practices. Thus, classical-era legal works by '' Fuqaha'' were not considered as authoritative as the
Scriptures
Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual pra ...
themselves, since the former were human interpretations while the ''Qur'an'' is the Universal, Eternal Word of God.
The Salafi movement in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
is the result of
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab
Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab ibn Sulayman al-Tamimi ( ar, محمد بن عبد الوهاب بن سليمان , translit=Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb ibn Sulaymān al-Tamīmī; 1703–1792) was an Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, ac ...
's reform movement. Unlike other
reform movements
A reform movement or reformism is a type of social movement that aims to bring a social or also a political system closer to the community's ideal. A reform movement is distinguished from more radical social movements such as revolutionary m ...
, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his disciples were also able to secure a religio-political pact with
Muhammad Ibn Saud
Muhammad bin Saud Al Muqrin ( ''Muḥammad bin Suʿūd Āl Muqrin''; 1687–1765), also known as Ibn Saud, was the emir of Diriyah and is considered the founder of the First Saudi State and the Saud dynasty, which are named for his father, Sau ...
and his House; which enabled them to engage in military expansionism and establish an
Islamic state
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
in the Arabian Peninsula. While the mainstream constituency believed in
Islamic revival
Islamic revival ( ar, تجديد'' '', lit., "regeneration, renewal"; also ', "Islamic awakening") refers to a revival of the Islamic religion. The revivers are known in Islam as ''mujaddids''.
Within the Islamic tradition, ''tajdid'' has bee ...
through education and welfare reforms, the militant elements of the movement advocated armed campaigns to eradicate local practices considered as
innovation
Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entit ...
and demolished numerous shrines and tombs of saints ('' awliya''). It is believed that the
Wahhabism
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, and ...
is a more strict, Saudi form of Salafism, according to Mark Durie, who states that Saudi leaders "are active and diligent" using their considerable financial resources "in funding and promoting Salafism all around the world". Ahmad Moussalli tends to agree with the view that Wahhabism is a subset of Salafism, saying "As a rule, all Wahhabis are salafists, but not all salafists are Wahhabis".
However, many scholars and critics distinguish between the old form of Saudi Salafism (termed as Wahhabism) and the new Salafism in Saudi Arabia. Stéphane Lacroix, a fellow and lecturer at Sciences Po in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, also affirmed a distinction between the two: "As opposed to Wahhabism, Salafism refers to all the hybridations that have taken place since the 1960s between the teachings of Muhammad bin ‘Abd al-Wahhab and other Islamic schools of thought". Hamid Algar and
Khaled Abou El Fadl
Khaled Abou el Fadl ( ar, خالد أبو الفضل, ) (born October 23, 1963) is the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law where he has taught courses on International Human Rights, Islamic jurisprude ...
believe, during the 1960s and 70s, Wahhabism rebranded itself as Salafism knowing it could not "spread in the modern Muslim world" as Wahhabism.
Its largesse funded an estimated "90% of the expenses of the entire faith", throughout the Muslim World, according to journalist Dawood al-Shirian.Dawood al-Shirian, 'What Is Saudi Arabia Going to Do?' ''Al-Hayat'', 19 May 2003 It extended to young and old, from children's madrasas to high-level scholarship. "Books, scholarships, fellowships, mosques" (for example, "more than 1,500 mosques were built from Saudi public funds over the last 50 years") were paid for. It rewarded journalists and academics, who followed it and built satellite campuses around
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
for
Al Azhar
Al-Azhar Mosque ( ar, الجامع الأزهر, al-Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar, lit=The Resplendent Congregational Mosque, arz, جامع الأزهر, Gāmiʿ el-ʾazhar), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the historic ...
, the oldest and most influential Islamic university.Murphy, Caryle, ''Passion for Islam – Shaping the Modern Middle East: the Egyptian Experience'', Simon & Schuster, 2002 p. 32 Yahya Birt counts spending on "1,500 mosques, 210 Islamic centres and dozens of Muslim academies and schools" at a cost of around $2–3bn annually since 1975. To put the number into perspective, the propaganda budget of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
was about $1bn per annum.
This spending has done much to overwhelm less strict local interpretations of Islam, according to observers like Dawood al-Shirian and
Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew (16 September 1923 – 23 March 2015), born Harry Lee Kuan Yew, often referred to by his initials LKY, was a Singaporean lawyer and statesman who served as Prime Minister of Singapore between 1959 and 1990, and Secretary-General o ...
, and has caused the Saudi interpretation (sometimes called "
petro-Islam
Petro-Islam is a neologism used to refer to the international propagation of the extremist and fundamentalist interpretations of Sunni Islam derived from the doctrines of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, a Sunni Muslim preacher, scholar, reformer an ...
") to be perceived as the correct interpretation – or the "gold standard" of Islam – in many Muslims' minds.
Salafis are often called Wahhabis, which they consider a derogatory term.
Indian subcontinent
In Indian subcontinent, a number of Salafi streams exist including Ahl i Hadith and Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen.
''Ahl-i Hadith'' is a religious movement that emerged in Northern India in the mid-nineteenth century. Adherents of Ahl-i-Hadith regard the Quran, sunnah, and
hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
as the sole sources of religious authority and oppose everything introduced in Islam after the earliest times. In particular, they reject ''
taqlid
''Taqlid'' (Arabic تَقْليد ''taqlīd'') is an Islamic term denoting the conformity of one person to the teaching of another. The person who performs ''taqlid'' is termed ''muqallid''. The definite meaning of the term varies depending on con ...
'' (following legal precedent) and favor '' ijtihad'' (independent legal reasoning) based on the scriptures. The movement's followers call themselves Salafi, while others refer to them as
Wahhabi
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...
, or consider them a variation on the Wahhabi movement. In recent decades the movement has expanded its presence in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
,
Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
, and
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
.
Shah Waliullah Dehlawi
Quṭb-ud-Dīn Aḥmad Walīullāh Ibn ʿAbd-ur-Raḥīm Ibn Wajīh-ud-Dīn Ibn Muʿaẓẓam Ibn Manṣūr Al-ʿUmarī Ad-Dehlawī ( ar, ; 1703–1762), commonly known as Shāh Walīullāh Dehlawī (also Shah Wali Allah), was an Islamic ...
(1703-1762) is considered as the intellectual forefather of the movement and its followers regard him as '' Shaykh al-Islam''. Waliullah 's rejection of ''Taqlid'' would be emphasized by his son
Shah Abdul Aziz
Shah Abdul Aziz Muhaddith Dehlavi (11 October 1746 – 5 June 1824; ) was Muhaddith (scholar of Hadith) and Mujadid Sufi and reformer from India. He was of the Naqshbandi Sufi order which emerged from a tradition of violent backlash against the ...
(1746-1824) and later successors like
Shah Ismail
Ismail I ( fa, اسماعیل, Esmāʿīl, ; July 17, 1487 – May 23, 1524), also known as Shah Ismail (), was the founder of the Safavid dynasty of Iran, ruling as its King of Kings (''Shahanshah'') from 1501 to 1524. His reign is often c ...
(1779-1831) in a puritanical manner; stripping it of their eclectic and rational aspects. This tendency culminated in the Jihad movement of Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi (1786-1831). This iconoclastic movement expanded Shah Waliullah's rejection of ''Taqlid'' as a fundamental creedal doctrine. They focused on waging physical Jihad against non-Muslims and banishing syncretic rituals prevalent amongst Muslims. Although the Indian ''Mujahidin'' movement led by Sayyid Ahmad shared close parallels with the Arabian Wahhabi movement and hence labelled as "Wahhabi" by the British; both movements mostly evolved independently. After the death of Sayyid Ahmad in 1831; his successors Wilayat ali, Inayat Ali, Muhammad Hussain, and Farhat Hussain continued Jihad activities of the "Wahhabi" movement throughout
British India
The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
Peshawar
Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...
and from Madras to Kashmir. They played an important role in the
Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against Company rule in India, the rule of the East India Company, British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the The Crown, British ...
and their anti-British Jihad has been described as "the most strident challenge" faced by the British during the 1850s. After the defeat of the revolt, the British would fully crush the ''Mujahidin'' through a series of expeditions, "Wahhabi" trials and sedition laws. By 1883, the movement was fully suppressed and no longer posed any political threat. Many adherents of the movement abandoned physical Jihad and opted for political quietism. The Ahl-i-Hadith movement emerged from these circles of religious activists.
In 19th century British India, the revivalist Ahl-i Hadith movement had descended as a direct outgrowth and quietist manifestation of the Indian ''Mujahidin''. The early leaders of the movement were the influential hadith scholars Sayyid Nazir Hussein Dehlawi (1805-1902) and
Siddiq Hasan Khan
Sayyid Muḥammad Ṣiddīq Ḥasan Khān al-Qannawjī (14 October 1832 – 26 May 1890) was an Islamic scholar and leader of India's Muslim community in the 19th century, often considered to be the most important Muslim scholar of the Bhopal ...
of
Bhopal
Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...
(1832-1890) who had direct tutelage under the lineage of Shah Waliullah and the Indian ''Mujahidin'' movement. Syed Nazeer Hussein was a student of Shah Muhammad Ishaq, the grandson of Shah Waliullah, and held the title ''''Miyan Sahib'''', which was strongly associated with the spiritual heirs of Shah Waliullah. Siddiq Hasan Khan was a student of Sadar al-Din Khan (1789-1868) who inturn, had studied under Shah 'Abd al-Azeez and Shah 'Abd al-Qadir, the sons of Shah Waliullah. His father was also a direct disciple of Shah 'Abd al Aziz. Yemeni scholars were also active in the Bhopal court of Siddiq Hasan Khan and he became a student of Muhaddith 'Abd al-Haqq of Benarus, who was a disciple of Shawkani in Yemen. He became profoundly influenced by the works Al-Shawkani; claiming frequent contacts with him via visions and in this way, an ''
ijaza
An ''ijazah'' ( ar, الإِجازَة, "permission", "authorization", "license"; plural: ''ijazahs'' or ''ijazat'') is a license authorizing its holder to transmit a certain text or subject, which is issued by someone already possessing such au ...
'' (permission) to transmit his works. Thus, the Ahl-i Hadith movement drew directly from the teachings of Shah Waliullah and Al-Shawkani; advocating rejection of ''Taqlid'' and revival of hadith. However, they departed from Shah Waliullah's conciliatory approach to classical legal theory; aligning themselves with ''
Zahiri
The Ẓāhirī ( ar, ظاهري, otherwise transliterated as ''Dhāhirī'') ''madhhab'' or al-Ẓāhirīyyah ( ar, الظاهرية) is a Sunnī school of Islamic jurisprudence founded by Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī in the 9th century CE. It is chara ...
te'' (literalist) school and adopted a literalist hadith approach. They also rejected the authority of the four legal schools and restrict ''
Ijma
''Ijmāʿ'' ( ar, إجماع , " consensus") is an Arabic term referring to the consensus or agreement of the Islamic community on a point of Islamic law. Sunni Muslims regard ''ijmā as one of the secondary sources of Sharia law, after the Qur' ...
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
as a popular reform movement by the Kerala Jamiyat al Ulama (KJU). It traces its root to Kerala Aikya Sangam established in 1922 by
Vakkom Moulavi
Vakkom Mohammed Abdul Khader Moulavi ( – ), popularly known as Vakkom Moulavi was a social reformer, teacher, prolific writer, Muslim scholar, journalist, freedom fighter and newspaper proprietor in Travancore, a princely state of the pre ...
. KNM witnessed a number of splits since 2002 and all existing fractions maintain a good connection with Arab Salafi groups especially in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
and
Kuwait
Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...
.
Folk Islam
In religious studies and folkloristics, folk religion, popular religion, traditional religion or vernacular religion comprises various forms and expressions of religion that are distinct from the official doctrines and practices of organized rel ...
and Sufism, popular amongst the poor and working classes in the region, are anathema to Ahl-i Hadith beliefs and practices. This attitude towards Sufism has brought the movement into conflict with the rival
Barelvi
The Barelvi movement ( ur, بَریلوِی, , ), also known as Ahl al-Sunnah wa'l-Jamaah (People of the Prophet's Way and the Community) is a Sunni revivalist movement following the Hanafi and Shafi'i school of jurisprudence, with strong Suf ...
University of South Carolina Press
The University of South Carolina Press is an academic publisher associated with the University of South Carolina. It was founded in 1944.
By the early 1990s, the press had published several surveys of women's writing in the southern United States ...
, 1998. Ahl-i Hadith followers identify with the
Zahiri
The Ẓāhirī ( ar, ظاهري, otherwise transliterated as ''Dhāhirī'') ''madhhab'' or al-Ẓāhirīyyah ( ar, الظاهرية) is a Sunnī school of Islamic jurisprudence founded by Dāwūd al-Ẓāhirī in the 9th century CE. It is chara ...
madhhab. The movement draws both inspiration and financial support from
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. Jamia Salafia is their largest institution in India.
Egypt
The
Egyptian
Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt.
Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to:
Nations and ethnic groups
* Egyptians, a national group in North Africa
** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...
Salafi movement is one of the most influential branches of the Salafi movement which profoundly impacted religious currents across the
Arab world
The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...
, including the scholars of
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. Salafis in
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
are not united under a single banner or unified leadership. The main Salafi trends in Egypt are Al-Sunna Al-Muhammadeyya Society, The Salafist Calling, al-Madkhaliyya Salafism, Activist Salafism, and al-Gam’eyya Al-Shar’eyya. Salafi-Wahhabi doctrines were introduced in Egypt by the Syrian scholar
Rashid Rida
Muḥammad Rashīd ibn ʿAlī Riḍā ibn Muḥammad Shams al-Dīn ibn Muḥammad Bahāʾ al-Dīn ibn Munlā ʿAlī Khalīfa (23 September 1865 or 18 October 1865 – 22 August 1935 CE/ 1282 - 1354 AH), widely known as Sayyid Rashid Rida ( ar, ...
starting from the 1920s. Rashid Rida opposed the Westernising cultural trends adopted by Egyptian
liberal elite
Liberal elite, also referred to as the metropolitan elite or progressive elite, is a stereotype of politically liberal people whose education has traditionally opened the doors to affluence, wealth and power and who form a managerial elite. It is ...
and denounced
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
ideas as a plot to undermine Islamic unity. Rida and his disciples campaigned for the establishment of an
Islamic state
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
based on Salafi principles; thus becoming the biggest adversary of the Egyptian secularists and
nationalists
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
.
''Al-Sunna Al-Muhammadeyya'' Society, also known as ''Ansar Al-Sunna'', was founded in 1926 by Sheikh Mohamed Hamed El-Fiqi, a 1916 graduate of
Al-Azhar
Al-Azhar Mosque ( ar, الجامع الأزهر, al-Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar, lit=The Resplendent Congregational Mosque, arz, جامع الأزهر, Gāmiʿ el-ʾazhar), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the historic ...
and a student of the famed Muslim reformer
Muhammed Abduh. It is considered the main Salafi group in Egypt. El-Fiqi's ideas were resentful of Sufism. But unlike Muhammed Abduh, Ansar Al-Sunna follows the ''Tawhid'' as preached by Ibn Taymiyyah. Many Saudi scholars became disciples of prominent ''
ulema
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
'' of ''Ansar al Sunna'' like ʿAbd al-Razzaq ʿAfifi and Muhammad Khalil Harras.
Majority of Egyptian Salafis are affiliated to ''Ansar al-Sunna al-Muhammadiyya''. Established by Muhammad Hamid al-Fiqqi (a student of Salafi scholar Rashid Rida) to defend traditionalist Salafism, the movement shares a warm relationship with Arabian Wahhabi scholars and was a major benefactor of Salafi resurgence since the 1970s. The movement traces its initial Wahhabi contacts to Rashid Rida.
Al-Azhar
Al-Azhar Mosque ( ar, الجامع الأزهر, al-Jāmiʿ al-ʾAzhar, lit=The Resplendent Congregational Mosque, arz, جامع الأزهر, Gāmiʿ el-ʾazhar), known in Egypt simply as al-Azhar, is a mosque in Cairo, Egypt in the historic ...
shares a close relation with Ansar al-Sunna. Most of the early leaders of ''Ansar al-Sunna'' were Azhari graduates and many of its contemporary scholars studied under Al-Azhar. Prominent scholars in the movement include Rashid Rida, Muhammad Hamid al-Fiqqi, Abd al-Razzaq ‘Afifi, Sayyid Sabiq, Muhammad Khalil Harass, etc.
Salafist Call (''al-daʿwa al-salafiyya'') is another influential Salafist organisation. It is the outcome of student activism during the 1970s. While many of the activists joined the Muslim Brotherhood, a faction led by Mohammad Ismail al-Muqaddim, influenced by Salafists of Saudi Arabia established the Salafist Calling between 1972 and 1977. Salafist call is the most popular and localised of the Salafi organisations in Egypt. Due to it being an indigenous mass movement with strong political stances on various issues, it doesn't enjoy good relationship with Saudi Arabia. Emphasising its Egyptian heritage more robustly than ''Ansar al-Sunna'', ''Da'wa Salafiyya'' traces its history through the persecution and imprisonment of Ibn Taymiyya in Egypt, to the trials faced by the '' Muwahhidun'' movement in
Arabia
The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plat ...
and then finally to scholars like Sayyid Rashid Rida, Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib, etc. who popularised Ibn Taymiyya's thought during the early twentieth century Egypt. Unlike ''Ansar al-Sunna'' which preaches political quietism, Salafist call is a politically activist movement.Salafist Call created the
Al-Nour Party
)
, foundation =
, newspaper = The New Light
, headquarters = 601 Horrya Way, Zezenia, Alexandria
, ideology = SalafismIslamismWahhabismMadkhalism
, position = Far-right
, colours = Blue, red, wh ...
after the
2011 Egyptian Revolution
The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...
. It has an ultra-conservative Islamist ideology, which believes in implementing strict Sharia law. In the 2011–12 Egypt parliamentary elections, the Islamist Bloc led by Al‑Nour party received 7,534,266 votes out of a total 27,065,135 correct votes (28%). The Islamist Bloc gained 127 of the 498 parliamentary seats contested,Salafis and Sufis in Egypt Jonathan Brown, Carnegie Paper, December 2011. second-place after the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party. Al‑Nour Party itself won 111 of the 127 seats. From January 2013 onward, the party gradually distanced itself from
Mohamed Morsi
Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012 large-scale protests in late June against Morsi's rule that subsequently led to a military coup removing him from office in July that year. A lawsuit against the party was dismissed on 22 September 2014 because the court indicated it had no jurisdiction. A case on the dissolution of the party was adjourned until 17 January 2015. Another court case that was brought forth to dissolve the party was dismissed after the Alexandria Urgent Matters Court ruled on 26 November 2014 that it lacked jurisdiction.
According to Ammar Ali Hassan of '' Al-Ahram'', while Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood agree on many issues such as the need to "Islamize" society and legally requiring all Muslims to give alms, the former has nevertheless rejected the flexibility of the latter on the issue of whether women and Christians should be entitled to serve in high office, as well as its relatively tolerant attitude towards
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
.
Malaysia
In 1980, Prince
Mohammed bin Faisal Al Saud
Mohammed bin Faisal Al Saud ( ar, محمد بن فيصل آل سعود, ''Moḥammed bin Fayṣal Āl Saʿūd''; 1937–14 January 2017) was a Saudi prince and businessman. He was a son of King Faisal and was one of the pioneers in the establishm ...
of Saudi Arabia offered
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
$100 million for an interest-free finance corporation, and two years later the Saudis helped finance the government-sponsored Bank Islam Malaysia. In 2017 it was reported that Salafi doctrines are spreading among Malaysia's elite, and the traditional Islamic theology currently taught in Government schools is shifted to a Salafi view of theology derived from the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-backed Salafist wave in Malaysia has particularly manifested itself in the growing trends of anti-Shi’a Muslim rhetoric and the encroaching Arabization of Malay culture.
Yemen
Islamic scholar Muhammad Ibn 'Ali ash-Shawkani (1759 - 1839 C.E) is regarded as their intellectual precursor by the Salafis in
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
, upholding his works to promote Salafi revivalist ideas. Beyond Yemen, his works are widely used in Salafi schools. He also profoundly influenced other Salafi movements across the world such as the '' Ahl-i Hadith'' in the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
has been largely absent from the growing literature on the phenomenon of transnational Salafism. Salafism is a minority strand of Turkish Islam that evolved in the context of the state's effort in the 1980s to recalibrate religion as a complement to
Turkish nationalism
Turkish nationalism ( tr, Türk milliyetçiliği) is a political ideology that promotes and glorifies the Turkish people, as either a national, ethnic, or linguistic group. The term " ultranationalism" is often used to describe Turkish nationa ...
. Although Salafism became a topic of discussion in media and scholarly writing in Turkish religious studies faculties, a continued lack of orthographic stability (variously, Selfye, Selefiyye, Selfyyecilik, Selefizm)" gives an indication both of the denial of its relevance to Turkey and the success of republican secularism in clearing religion from public discourse. Yet since the 1980s Salafi preachers trained in Saudi Arabia have been able to find a niche through publishing houses that have endeavoured to translate Arabic texts from the Saudi Salafi scene in an attempt to change the discursive landscape of Turkish Islam. In 1999, the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs ''
Diyanet
The Directorate of Religious Affairs in Turkey ( tr, Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, normally referred to simply as the Diyanet) is an official state institution established in 1924 by the orders of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk under article 136 of t ...
'', recognized Salafism as a Sunni school of thought. Salafist preachers then started to make inroads into the Turkish society. With the implication of Turkish citizens and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government in Syrian civil war, public discussion began to question the narrative of Salafism as a phenomenon alien to Turkey. Salafism becomes an observable element of religious discourse in Turkey in the context of the military regime's attempt to outmanoeuvre movements emerging as a challenge to the
Kemalist
Kemalism ( tr, Kemalizm, also archaically ''Kamâlizm''), also known as Atatürkism ( tr, Atatürkçülük, Atatürkçü düşünce), or The Six Arrows ( tr, Altı Ok), is the founding official ideology of the Republic of Turkey.Eric J. Zurche ...
secular order, namely the left,
Necmettin Erbakan
Necmettin Erbakan (29 October 1926 – 27 February 2011) was a Turkish politician, engineer, and academic who was the Prime Minister of Turkey from 1996 to 1997. He was pressured by the military to step down as prime minister and was later ban ...
's Islamism,
Kurdish nationalism
Kurdish nationalism (, ) is a nationalist political movement which asserts that Kurds are a nation and espouses the creation of an independent Kurdistan from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey.
Early Kurdish nationalism had its roots in the Ottoman ...
, and Iran. Through the Turkish—Islamic Synthesis (Turk islam Sentezi), the scientific positivism that had been the guiding principle of the republic since 1923 was modified to make room for Islam as a central element of Turkish national culture. The military authorities oversaw an increase of more than 50 percent in the budget of the religious affairs administration (known as
Diyanet
The Directorate of Religious Affairs in Turkey ( tr, Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, normally referred to simply as the Diyanet) is an official state institution established in 1924 by the orders of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk under article 136 of t ...
), expanding it from 50,000 employees in 1979 to 85,000 in 1989. Pursuing closer ties with Saudi Arabia, Turkey involved itself in a more meaningful manner in the
pan-Islamic
Pan-Islamism ( ar, الوحدة الإسلامية) is a political movement advocating the unity of Muslims under one Islamic country or state – often a caliphate – or an international organization with Islamic principles. Pan-Islamism w ...
institutions under Saudi tutelage, and Diyanet received
Muslim World League
The Muslim World League (MWL; ar, رابطة العالم الاسلامي, Rabitat al-Alam al-Islami, ) is an International Islamic NGO based in Mecca, Saudi Arabia that promotes what it calls the true message of Islam by advancing moderate ...
funding to send officials to Europe to develop outreach activities in Turkish immigrant communities." A network of commercial and cultural links was established with Saudi businesses and institutions in banking and financial services, publishing houses, newspapers, magazines, and children's books.
Preachers who had studied at the
Islamic University of Madinah
The Islamic University of Madinah ( ar, الجامعة الإسلامية بالمدينة المنورة) was founded by the government of Saudi Arabia by a royal decree in 1961 in the Islamic holy city of Medina. Many have associated the uni ...
, and applied the Salafi designation, also established publishing houses and charity organizations (dernek). Subject to periodic harassment and arrest by security forces, they adopted markedly more public profiles with AKP ascendancy over the military following a resounding electoral victory in 2002. The Turkish Salafis became active on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
,
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
, and
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
, complementing websites for their publishing enterprises. Saudi-based scholars such as Bin Baz, al-Albani,
Saleh Al-Fawzan
Saleh Al-Fawzan ( ar, صالح بن فوزان الفوزان; born 1933) is an Islamic scholar and has been a member of several high religious bodies in Saudi Arabia. He is considered to be the most senior scholar of Islam in Saudi Arabia.
His s ...
(b. 1933), and
Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen
Muhammad bin Salih al-Uthaymeen (March 9, 1929 – January 10, 2001; Arabic: محمد بن صالح العثيمين), also known as Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen, was a prominent Islamic scholar from Saudi Arabia.
Biography
Uthaymeen was born on ...
(1925-2001) form the core of their references, while they avoid contemporary '
ulama
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
Yusuf al-Qaradawi
Yusuf al-Qaradawi ( ar, يوسف القرضاوي, translit=Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī; or ''Yusuf al-Qardawi''; 9 September 1926 – 26 September 2022) was an Egyptian Islamic scholar based in Doha, Qatar, and chairman of the International Union of ...
(b. 1926), an Egyptian scholar based in
Qatar
Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...
. Turkish is their prime language of communication, but Arabic is prominent in special sections on websites, Arabic-language Salafi texts in their bookshops, and heavy use of Arabic terminology in their Turkish texts. The most well-established among them is Ablullah Yolcu , who is said to do "production of Turkish Salafism from Arabic texts". While Turkey has been outside the discussion on transnational Salafism,
Meijer
Meijer Inc. (, ; stylized as meijer) is an American supercenter chain that primarily operates throughout the Midwest. Its corporate headquarters are in Walker, Michigan, which is a part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area. Founded in 1934 ...
's observation that Salafism may succeed `when its quietist current can find a niche or the nationalist movement has failed' seems to speak surprisingly well to the Turkish case."
China
Salafism is opposed by a number of
Hui
The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...
Gedimu
Gedimu () or ''Qadim'' ( ar, قديم}) is the earliest school of Islam in China. It is a Hanafi, non-Sufi school of the Sunni tradition. Its supporters are centered on local mosques, which function as relatively independent units.
It is numerical ...
, Sufi
Khafiya
Ma Laichi (1681? – 1766?; ), also known as Abu 'l-Futūh Ma Laichi, was a Chinese Sufi master, who brought the Khufiyya movement to China and created the Huasi '' menhuan'' ( Sufi order) - the earliest and most important Naqshbandi (نق ...
and
Jahriyya
Jahriyya (also spelled Jahrīya or Jahriyah) is a ''menhuan'' ( Sufi order) in China, commonly called the New Teaching (''Xinjiao''). Founded in the 1760s by Ma Mingxin, it was active in the late 18th and 19th centuries in what was then Gansu Pr ...
, to the extent that even the fundamentalist
Yihewani
Yihewani (), or Ikhwan ( ar, الإخوان, d=al-Iḫwān), (also known as Al Ikhwan al Muslimun, which means Muslim Brotherhood, not to be confused with the Middle Eastern Muslim Brotherhood) is an Islamic sect in China. Its adherents are calle ...
(Ikhwan) Chinese sect, founded by
Ma Wanfu
Ma Wanfu (Xiao'erjing: ; 1849–1934), also known as Hajji Guoyuan (), was a Dongxiang Imam of Guoyuan village () in Hezhou (present day Dongxiang Autonomous County in Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province). He studied in Mecca a ...
after Salafi inspiration, condemned Ma Debao and Ma Zhengqing as heretics when they attempted to introduce Salafism as the main form of Islam. Ma Debao established a Salafi school, called the Sailaifengye (Salafi), in Lanzhou and Linxia. It is completely separate from other Muslim sects in China. Muslim Hui avoid Salafis, even if they are family members. The number of Salafis in China are not included on percentage lists of Muslim sects in China. The
Kuomintang
The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
Sufi Muslim General
Ma Bufang
Ma Bufang (1903 – 31 July 1975) (, Xiao'erjing: ) was a prominent Muslim Ma clique warlord in China during the Republic of China era, ruling the province of Qinghai. His rank was Lieutenant-general.
General Ma started an industrialization pro ...
, who backed the Yihewani (Ikhwan) Muslims, persecuted the Salafis and forced them into hiding. They were not allowed to move or worship openly. The Yihewani had become secular and Chinese nationalists; they considered the Salafiyya to be "heterodox" (''xie jiao'') and people who followed foreigners' teachings (''waidao''). After the
Communists
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
took power, Salafis were allowed to worship openly again.
Vietnam
An attempt at Salafist expansion among the Muslim
Chams
The Cham ( Cham: ''Čaṃ'') or Champa people ( Cham: , ''Urang Campa''; vi, Người Chăm or ; km, ជនជាតិចាម, ) are an Austronesian ethnic group. From the 2nd century to 1832 the Cham populated Champa, a contiguous territ ...
in Vietnam has been halted by Vietnamese government controls, however, the loss of the Salafis among Chams has been to be benefit of
Tablighi Jamaat
Tablighi Jamaat (, also translated as "propagation party" or "preaching party")
is a transnational Deobandi Islamic Dawah, missionary movement
that focuses on exhorting Muslims to be more religiously observant
and encouraging fellow memb ...
.
Qatar
Similar to Saudi Arabia, most citizens of Qatar adhere to a strict sect of Salafism referred to as Wahhabism. The national mosque of Qatar is the
Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque
Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, serve ...
named after the founder of Wahhabism. Similar to Saudi Arabian sponsorship of Salafism, Qatar has also funded the construction of mosques that promote the Wahhabi Salafism.
Unlike the strict practice of Wahhabi Salafism in Saudi Arabia, Qatar has demonstrated an alternative view of Wahhabism. In Qatar, women are allowed by law to drive, non-Muslims have access to pork and liquor through a state-owned distribution center, and religious police do not force businesses to close during prayer times. Also, Qatar hosts branches of several American universities and a "Church City" in which migrant workers may practice their religion. The adoption of a more liberal interpretation of Wahhabism is largely credited to Qatar's young Emir,
Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani ( ar, تميم بن حمد بن خليفة آل ثاني; born 3 June 1980, Doha, Qatar) is the Emir of Qatar who succeeded his father, Sheikh Hamad, after Hamad abdicated in his favour.
Tamim is the fourth son ...
.
Yet, Qatar's more tolerant interpretation of Wahhabism compared to Saudi Arabia has drawn backlash from Qatari citizens and foreigners.
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
reported that a Qatari cleric criticized the state's acceptance of un-Islamic practices away from the public sphere and complained that Qatari citizens are oppressed. Although Qatari gender separation is less strict than that found in Saudi Arabia, plans to offer co-ed lectures were put aside after threats to boycott Qatar's segregated public university. Meanwhile, there have been reports of local discontent with the sale of alcohol in Qatar.
Qatar has also drawn widespread criticism for attempting to spread its fundamental religious interpretation both through military and non-military channels. Militarily, Qatar has been criticized for funding rebel Islamist extremist fighters in the Libyan Crisis and the Syrian Civil War. In Libya, Qatar funded allies of
Ansar al-Sharia Ansar al-Sharia or Ansar al-Shariah is a name used by a collection of radical or militant Islamist groups or militias, in at least eight countries. While they share names and ideology, they lack a unified command structure.
*Ansar al-Sharia (Yemen ...
, the jihadist group thought to be behind the killing of former U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens, while channeling weapons and money to the Islamist Ahrar al-Sham group in Syria. In addition, Qatar-based charities and online campaigns, such as Eid Charity and
Madid Ahl al-Sham Madid Ahl al-Sham (Arabic: مدد أهل الشام) was a Qatar-based fundraising campaign widely suspected of acting as a conduit for donations intended for Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria. While the online campaign reportedly c ...
, have a history of financing terrorist groups in Syria. Qatar has also repeatedly provided financial support to the Gaza government led by the militant
Hamas
Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam ...
organisation while senior Hamas officials have visited
Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the count ...
and hosted Qatari leaders in Gaza. Qatar also gave approximately $10 billion to the government of Egypt during
Mohamed Morsi
Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 2012 Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazeera ...
has come under criticism for selective reporting in coordination with Qatar's foreign policy objectives. In addition, reports have condemned Qatar's financing of the construction of mosques and Islamic centers in Europe as attempts to exert the state's Salafist interpretation of Islam. Reports of Qatar attempting to impact the curriculum of U.S. schools and buy influence in universities have also spread.
The nearby Persian Gulf States of Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
, and the
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
have been among the countries that have condemned Qatar's actions. In 2014, the three Persian Gulf countries withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar referencing Qatar's failure to commit to non-interference in the affairs of other
Gulf Cooperation Council
The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf ( ar, مجلس التعاون لدول العربية الخليج ), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC; ar, مجلس التعاون الخليجي), is a regional, interg ...
(GCC) countries. Saudi Arabia has also threatened to block land and sea borders with Qatar.
This blockade came to an end on 5 January 2021, when authorities from both Saudi and Qatar came on common grounds, with the midmanship of Kuwait.
Statistics
It is often reported from various sources, including the
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
domestic intelligence service (
Bundesnachrichtendienst
The Federal Intelligence Service (German: ; , BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Chancellor's Office. The BND headquarters is located in central Berlin and is the world's largest intelligence head ...
), that Salafism is the fastest-growing Islamic movement in the world. The ''Salafiyya'' movement has also gained popular acceptance as a "respected Sunni tradition" in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
starting from the 1980s, when the Turkish government forged closer ties to
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. This paved the way for cooperation between the Salafi
Muslim World League
The Muslim World League (MWL; ar, رابطة العالم الاسلامي, Rabitat al-Alam al-Islami, ) is an International Islamic NGO based in Mecca, Saudi Arabia that promotes what it calls the true message of Islam by advancing moderate ...
and the Turkish
Diyanet
The Directorate of Religious Affairs in Turkey ( tr, Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, normally referred to simply as the Diyanet) is an official state institution established in 1924 by the orders of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk under article 136 of t ...
, which recognised Salafism as a traditional Sunni theological school, thus introducing Salafi teachings to Turkish society. Globally, Salafisation of Islamic religious discourse occurred simultaneously alongside the rise of
pan-Islamist
Pan-Islamism ( ar, الوحدة الإسلامية) is a political movement advocating the unity of Muslims under one Islamic country or state – often a caliphate – or an international organization with Islamic principles. Pan-Islamism w ...
Movements, with an emphasis on the concept of ''
Tawhid
Tawhid ( ar, , ', meaning "unification of God in Islam (Allāh)"; also romanized as ''Tawheed'', ''Tawhid'', ''Tauheed'' or ''Tevhid'') is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religion's central and single m ...
As opposed to the traditionalist Salafism discussed throughout this article, some Western academics and historians have used the term "Salafism" to denote
modernists
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
, "a school of thought which surfaced in the second half of the 19th century as a reaction to the spread of European ideas" and "sought to expose the roots of modernity within Muslim civilization". They are also known as ''Modernist Salafis''. This trend, which was also known as ''Al-Salafiyya Al-Tanwiriyya'' (Enlightened Salafism) was represented by the Islamic scholars Jamal al-Din Afghani (1839-1897 C.E/ 1255-1314 A.H) and
Muhammad 'Abduh
; "The Theology of Unity")
, alma_mater = Al-Azhar University
, office1 = Grand Mufti of Egypt
, term1 = 1899 – 1905
, Sufi_order = Shadhiliyya
, disciple_of =
, awards =
, in ...
(1849-1905 C.E/ 1265-1323 A.H ); whose writings had distinct
Mu'tazilite
Muʿtazila ( ar, المعتزلة ', English: "Those Who Withdraw, or Stand Apart", and who called themselves ''Ahl al-ʿAdl wa al-Tawḥīd'', English: "Party of ivineJustice and Oneness f God); was an Islamic group that appeared in early Islamic ...
and Sufi mystical inclinations opposed by Salafism.
The origins of contemporary Salafism in the modernist "Salafi Movement" of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh is noted by some, while others say Islamic Modernism only influenced contemporary
Salafism
The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within Sunni Islam that originated during the nineteenth century. The name refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors" (), the first three generat ...
.On Salafi Islam , IV Conclusion , Yasir Qadhi
22 April 2014 However, the former notion has been rejected by majority.Anatomy of the Salafi Movement By Quintan Wiktorowicz, Washington, D.C. p. 212Wahhabism, Salafismm and Islamism Who Is The Enemy? By Pfr. Ahmad Mousali , American University of Beirut , p. 11 According to Quintan Wiktorowicz:
The second stage of Arab Salafiyya movement emerged after the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and was championed by the Syrian-Egyptian Islamic scholar
Muhammad Rashid Rida
Muḥammad Rashīd ibn ʿAlī Riḍā ibn Muḥammad Shams al-Dīn ibn Muḥammad Bahāʾ al-Dīn ibn Munlā ʿAlī Khalīfa (23 September 1865 or 18 October 1865 – 22 August 1935 CE/ 1282 - 1354 AH), widely known as Sayyid Rashid Rida ( ar, ...
(d. 1935), who called for a purist return to the ''
Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
'' and the '' Sunnah''. These Salafis favoured a literalist understanding of scriptures rather than the allegorical readings of Afghani and ʿAbduh, and were characterised by a deep resistance and hostility to
Western imperialism
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic and ...
and
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
ideologies. Rida's ''Salafiyya'' also championed pan-Islamist fraternity encompassing '' Ahl-i Hadith'' in
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...
Wahhabis
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, and ...
; and clashed with
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
and
secular
Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...
trends throughout the Islamic World. These themes would be re-inforced and popularised by a number of similar-minded Islamic revivalists like
Hassan al-Banna
Sheikh Hassan Ahmed Abdel Rahman Muhammed al-Banna ( ar, حسن أحمد عبد الرحمن محمد البنا; 14 October 1906 – 12 February 1949), known as Hassan al-Banna ( ar, حسن البنا), was an Egyptian schoolteacher and imam, b ...
(1906-1949 C.E/1324-1368 A.H) in Egypt and other Islamic fundamentalists like Abul A'la Mawdudi (1903-1979 C.E/1321-1399 A.H) in India.
Groups like Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat-e-Islami etc. are inspired by Salafism as well as the
modernist
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
movement. Muslim Brotherhood include the term ''salafi'' in the "About Us" section of its website.
Influence on Contemporary Salafism
In terms of their respective formation, Wahhabism and Salafism are quite distinct. Wahhabism was a pared-down Islam that rejected modern influences, while Salafism sought to reconcile Islam with modernism. What they had in common is that both rejected traditional teachings on Islam in favor of direct, ‘fundamentalist’ reinterpretation. Although Salafism and
Wahhabism
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, and ...
began as two distinct movements, Faisal's embrace of Salafi (Muslim Brotherhood) pan-Islamism resulted in cross-pollination between ibn Abd al-Wahhab's teachings on ''
Tawhid
Tawhid ( ar, , ', meaning "unification of God in Islam (Allāh)"; also romanized as ''Tawheed'', ''Tawhid'', ''Tauheed'' or ''Tevhid'') is the indivisible oneness concept of monotheism in Islam. Tawhid is the religion's central and single m ...
bid‘ah
In Islam, bid'ah ( ar, بدعة; en, innovation) refers to innovation in religious matters. Linguistically, the term means "innovation, novelty, heretical doctrine, heresy".
In classical Arabic literature ('' adab''), it has been used as a for ...
'' and Salafi interpretations of ahadith (the sayings of Muhammad). Some Salafis nominated ibn Abd al-Wahhab as one of the Salaf (retrospectively bringing Wahhabism into the fold of Salafism), and the ''Muwahidun'' began calling themselves Salafis.
In the broadest sense
In a broad sense, Salafism is similar to Non-denominational Islam (NDM), in the sense some of its adherents do not follow a particular creed. Salafi (follower of
Salaf
Salaf ( ar, سلف, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of "al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ" (, "the pious predecessors") are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims. This comprises Muhamm ...
) means any reform movement that calls for resurrection of Islam by going back to its origin. In line with
Wahhabism
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, and ...
they promote a literal understanding of the sacred texts of Islam and reject other more liberal reformist movements such as those inspired for example by Muhammad Abduh or by
Muhammad Iqbal
Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philos ...
.
Criticisms
Muslim criticism
Due to its approach of rejecting ''
taqlid
''Taqlid'' (Arabic تَقْليد ''taqlīd'') is an Islamic term denoting the conformity of one person to the teaching of another. The person who performs ''taqlid'' is termed ''muqallid''. The definite meaning of the term varies depending on con ...
'', Salafiyya school is considered as deviant by the majority ''
ulema
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
Sunni Islamic
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
orthodoxy and believe ''Taqlid'' of the four
madhabs
A ( ar, مذهب ', , "way to act". pl. مَذَاهِب , ) is a school of thought within ''fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence).
The major Sunni Mathhab are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i and Hanbali.
They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries CE an ...
to be ''
wajib
' ( ar, فرض) or ' () or fardh in Islam is a religious duty commanded by God. The word is also used in Turkish, Persian, Pashto, Urdu (''spelled farz''), and Malay (''spelled fardu or fardhu'') in the same meaning. Muslims who obey such c ...
'' (obligatory) for the matter of ''
Fiqh
''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh.
The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...
'' (Islamic jurisprudence). Some of these Sunni scholars also accuse Salafis of falling into certain forms of unapparent ''tajsim'' and ''
tashbih
''Tashbih'' ( ar, تشبيه) is an Islamic religious concept meaning anthropomorphism, assimilating/comparing God to His creatures. In Islamic theology, two opposite terms are attributed to Allah, ''tashbih'' and ''tanzih'' (transcendence).
Ho ...
'' in '' 'Aqidah'' which they consider as deviation from orthodox Sunni doctrines, while clarifying that this deviancy does not expel them from the fold of Islam.
Some scholars of the Al-Azhar University of
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...
produced a work of religious opinions entitled ''al-Radd'' (The Response) to refute various views of the Salafi movement. ''Al-Radd'' singles out numerous Salafi aberrations – in terms of ritual prayer alone it targets for criticism the following Salafi claims:
* The claim that it is prohibited to recite God's name during the minor ablution atwa 50
* The claim that it is obligatory for men and women to perform the major ablution on Friday
atwa 63
ATWA (an acronym for Air, Trees, Water, Animals and All The Way Alive) is the ecological belief system propounded by Charles Manson, who was later convicted of conspiracy to commit murder as the leader of the communal Manson Family. ATWA names th ...
* The claim that it is prohibited to own a dog for reasons other than hunting atwa 134
* The claim that it is prohibited to use alcohol for perfumes atwa 85
One of the authors of ''al-Radd'', the Professor of Law Anas Abu Shady states that, "they he Salafiswant to be everything to everyone. They're interested not only in the evident (al-zahir), although most of their law goes back to the ''Muhalla'' f the Ẓāhirī scholar
Ibn Hazm
Abū Muḥammad ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn Saʿīd ibn Ḥazm ( ar, أبو محمد علي بن احمد بن سعيد بن حزم; also sometimes known as al-Andalusī aẓ-Ẓāhirī; 7 November 994 – 15 August 1064Ibn Hazm. ' (Preface). Tr ...
], but they also are convinced that they alone understand the hidden (al-batin)!"
Sunni critics of Salafism accuse Salafis of altering the actual teachings
Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Dhuhli ( ar, أَحْمَد بْن حَنْبَل الذهلي, translit=Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal al-Dhuhlī; November 780 – 2 August 855 CE/164–241 AH), was a Muslim jurist, theologian, ascetic, hadith traditionist, and ...
and the eponyms of the four legal schools. The Syrian scholar Mohamed Said Ramadan Al-Bouti wrote a number of works refuting Salafism including ''Al-La Madhhabiyya (Abandoning the Madhhabs) is the most dangerous Bid‘ah Threatening the Islamic Shari'a (Damascus: Dar al-Farabi 2010)'' and ''Al-Salafiyya'' ''was a blessed epoch, not a school of thought (Damascus: Dar al-Fikr, 1990).'' The latter is perhaps the most famous refutation of Salafism in the twentieth century.
Numerous academic rebuttals of Salafism have been produced in the English language by
modernists
Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...
such as
Khaled Abou El Fadl
Khaled Abou el Fadl ( ar, خالد أبو الفضل, ) (born October 23, 1963) is the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Distinguished Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law where he has taught courses on International Human Rights, Islamic jurisprude ...
of the
UCLA School of Law
The UCLA School of Law is one of 12 professional schools at the University of California, Los Angeles. UCLA Law has been consistently ranked by '' U.S. News & World Report'' as one of the top 20 law schools in the United States since the inception ...
Timothy Winter
Abdal Hakim Murad (born: Timothy John Winter; 15 May 1960) is an English academic, theologian and Islamic scholar who is a proponent of Islamic neo-traditionalism. His work includes publications on Islamic theology, modernity, and Anglo-Muslim ...
of
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
and G.F. Haddad. According to El Fadl, extremist groups such as Al-Qaeda "derive their theological premises from the intolerant Puritanism of the Wahhabi and Salafi creeds". He also suggests that the extreme intolerance and even endorsement of terrorism manifest in the fringe elements of Wahhabism and Salafism represents a deviation from Muslim historical traditions. El-Fadl also argues that the Salafi methodology "drifted into stifling apologetics" by the 1960s, marked by "anxiety" to "render Islam compatible with modernity". These apologetic efforts sought the defense of Islamic traditions from the onslaught of
Westernization
Westernization (or Westernisation), also Europeanisation or occidentalization (from the ''Occident''), is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in areas such as industry, technology, science, education, politics, econo ...
; while simultaneously maintaining the supremacy of Islam and its compatibility with modernity. However, according to El Fald, such efforts were being increasingly tainted by political opportunism and an unwillingness for critical engagement with the Islamic traditions.
The Saudi government has also been criticised for its role in the destruction of early Islamic heritage sites in Arabia. There has been controversies over the recent expansionist projects in
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...
and
Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
that destroyed historically important Islamic heritage sites to make way for "skyscrapers, shopping malls and luxury hotels". The actions of the Saudi government arose controversy across the
Muslim World
The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...
and Islamic activists across all sects, Salafis,
Sufis
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
,
Shias
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mos ...
, etc. ; stood up to condemn the actions of the Saudi government.
puritanical
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
approaches to Islam in sections of Western academia. Some Western observers and analysts tend to equate the movement with
Salafi jihadism
Salafi jihadism or jihadist-Salafism is a transnational, hybrid religious-political ideology based on the Sunni sect of Islamism, seeking to establish a global caliphate, characterized by the advocacy for "physical" (military) jihadist and Sa ...
, a hybrid ideology which espouses violent attacks against those it deems to be enemies of Islam (including Salafis) as a legitimate expression of Islam.
German government
The Federal Cabinet or Federal Government (german: link=no, Bundeskabinett or ') is the chief executive body of the Federal Republic of Germany. It consists of the Federal Chancellor and cabinet ministers. The fundamentals of the cabinet's or ...
officials have accused Salafism of having a strong link to terrorism but later clarified that not all Salafis are terrorists. The statements by German government officials criticizing Salafism were televised by '' Deutsche Welle'' during April 2012.
According to the German political scientist Thorsten Gerald Schneiders, despite the Salafi claims to re-establish Islamic values and defend Islamic culture, some members of the movement interpret it in a manner which does not match with Islamic traditions and regard certain elements of Muslim culture such as poetry, literature, singing, philosophy, etc. as works of the devil. According to the French political scientist Olivier Roy, most of the third generation Western Muslim immigrants tend to adopt Salafism and some of them may break off from their family heritage, marrying other converts, rather than a bride from their country of origin, chosen by their parents. According to Marc Sageman, sections of the Salafi movement are linked to some terrorist groups around the world, like Al-Qaeda.
However, according to other analysts, Salafis are not inherently political. Salafis may exhibit all sorts of diverse relations with the state depending on the environment, like the general populations to which they belong. They exhibit no demonstrable proclivity toward violence as a monolithic group. Those Salafis who engage in political participation or armed insurgencies, do so as part of a wider umbrella of political projects. According to Roel Meijer, Western association of Salafism with violence stems from writings through the prism of security studies conducted in the early 2000s and from the popular Orientalist depictions that equated Islamic revivalists with violence during the colonial era.
Rhodes College
Rhodes College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Memphis, Tennessee. Historically affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA), it is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Sout ...
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Yasir Qadhi has stated in several interviews that he is no longer a Salafi and he disagrees with some aspects of the ''Salafiyya'' movement. Some of the reasons he gave for leaving the movement is what he perceived as the hostility of the movement against non-Salafi
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
, in addition to it not being "intellectually stimulating". He stated that he disagrees "with some of the methodological aspects of the current Salafi movement"; while asserting that he continues to believe that the of following the generations of the ''
Salaf
Salaf ( ar, سلف, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of "al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ" (, "the pious predecessors") are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims. This comprises Muhamm ...
'' is "a fundamental part" of
Islamic faith
Faith, derived from Latin ''fides'' and Old French ''feid'', is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or In the context of religion, one can define faith as "belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion".
Religious people oft ...
. Yasir Qadhi advocates for "following the actions of the ''
Salaf
Salaf ( ar, سلف, "ancestors" or "predecessors"), also often referred to with the honorific expression of "al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ" (, "the pious predecessors") are often taken to be the first three generations of Muslims. This comprises Muhamm ...
'' instead of following the Salafi movement" and claimed that he was influenced in this decision by his teacher Ibn 'Uthaymin. He further clarified that his theological views remain the same and continues to adhere to creed of the ''Salaf'' as manifested by the doctrines of
Ahmad ibn Hanbal
Ahmad ibn Hanbal al-Dhuhli ( ar, أَحْمَد بْن حَنْبَل الذهلي, translit=Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal al-Dhuhlī; November 780 – 2 August 855 CE/164–241 AH), was a Muslim jurist, theologian, ascetic, hadith traditionist, and ...
International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism
Starting in the mid- 1970s and 1980s, the international propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism within Sunni Islam favored by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies has achieved what the French political scientist Gilles Kepel d ...
*
Islam in Saudi Arabia
Sunni Islam is the state religion of Saudi Arabia. The connection between Islam and modern-day Saudi Arabia is uniquely strong. The kingdom is called the "home of Islam"; the kingdom is also the birthplace of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, with al ...
*
Islamic fundamentalism
Islamic fundamentalism has been defined as a puritanical, revivalist, and reform movement of Muslims who aim to return to the founding scriptures of Islam. Islamic fundamentalists are of the view that Muslim-majority countries should return ...
*
Islamic schools and branches
Islamic schools and branches have different understandings of Islam. There are many different sects or denominations, schools of Islamic jurisprudence, and schools of Islamic theology, or '' ʿaqīdah'' (creed). Within Islamic groups themselves ...
* ''Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God'' (2 vols.), Edited by C. Fitzpatrick and A. Walker, Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2014. .
*
{{Authority control
Islamic fundamentalismSunni Islamic branches