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The Salafi movement or Salafism () is a reform branch movement within
Sunni Islam 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 disagre ...
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 Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
. Those generations include the
Islamic prophet Prophets in Islam ( ar, الأنبياء في الإسلام, translit=al-ʾAnbiyāʾ fī al-ʾIslām) are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God in Islam, God's message on Earth and to serve as models of ideal human behaviour. So ...
Muhammad 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 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 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. In ...
. 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, who maintain regular involvement in politics; and the third group being the jihadists, 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 Saudi may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is c ...
scholars, who do not follow any specific ''madhhab''. In the contemporary era, Salafism refers to a cluster of different Sunni renewal and reform 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 and has remained a significant trend in Islamic thought for more than a century.
Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...
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. 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 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. 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 = , infl ...
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 Ahl-i Hadith or Ahl-e-Hadith ( bn, আহলে হাদীছ, hi, एहले हदीस, ur, اہلِ حدیث, ''people of hadith'') is a Salafi reform movement that emerged in North India in the mid-nineteenth century from the teach ...
'' movement, inspired by the teachings of Shah Waliullah Dehlvi and galvanized through the
South Asian South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, ...
jihad Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...
of Sayyid Ahmad Shahid; the Wahhabi movement of the Arabia; the Padri movement of Indonesia; Algerian Salafism, spearheaded by 'Abd al-Hamid Bin Badis; and others.


Etymology

Salafis consider the hadith 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 Bernard Haykel (born 1968) is professor of Near Eastern Studies and the director of the Institute for Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia at Princeton University. He has been described as "the foremos ...
, "temporal proximity to the Prophet Muhammad is associated with the truest form of Islam" among many
Sunni Muslims 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 ...
. 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
heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...
reformist 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'' is a methodology, but it is not a '' madhhab'' (school) in '' fiqh'' (jurisprudence) as is commonly misunderstood. Salafis can come from the Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali, Hanafi or Zahirite law schools of
Sunni 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 ...
''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''. 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 In Islam, , also spelled ( ar, سنة), are the traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time evidently saw and followed and passed ...
,'' not only in prayer 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'' (Islamic Jurisprudence) away from '' Taqlid'' (adherence to the legal precedent of a particular '' Madhhab'') and directly back to the Prophet, his Companions and the '' Salaf''. 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 ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a le ...
''), reject strict adherence (''taqlid'') to the four schools of law (''madhahib'') and others who remain faithful to these. Although Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1792 C.E/ 1206 A.H) had personally rejected the practice of ''Taqlid'', Wahhabi scholars favoured following the Hanbali ''madhhab'' and generally permit ''Taqlid'' in following ''
Fatwa A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...
s'' (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'' such as Sa'd ibn 'Atiq, Abd Ar-rahman Ibn Nasar As Sa'adi, Ibn 'Uthaymin, Ibn Baz, etc.; who would depart significantly from Hanbali 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 Ahl-i Hadith or Ahl-e-Hadith ( bn, আহলে হাদীছ, hi, एहले हदीस, ur, اہلِ حدیث, ''people of hadith'') is a Salafi reform movement that emerged in North India in the mid-nineteenth century from the teach ...
'' 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 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.: , sing.: ...
'' and '' Hadith''; 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 Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم ...
and Ibn Qayyim, these scholars accept the rich literary heritage of
Sunni 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 ...
''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'' (innovation) and are significantly influenced by the legal principles of the Zahirite 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''.


Scholarly Hierarchy

Bernard Haykel Bernard Haykel (born 1968) is professor of Near Eastern Studies and the director of the Institute for Transregional Study of the Contemporary Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia at Princeton University. He has been described as "the foremos ...
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 Atharī theology or Atharism ( ar, الأثرية: / , "archeological"), otherwise referred to as Traditionalist theology or Scripturalist theology, is one of the main Sunni schools of Islamic theology. It emerged as an Islamic scholarly movem ...
school of theology largely come from the
Salafi 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 ...
movement; they uphold the ''Athari'' works of
Ibn Taymiyyah Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم ...
. 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 Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
''. Other important figures include major scholars important in Islamic history, such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal.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'' and ''
Sunnah In Islam, , also spelled ( ar, سنة), are the traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time evidently saw and followed and passed ...
'' 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)'', 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 Esoteric interpretation of the Quran ( ar, تأويل, taʾwīl) is the allegorical interpretation of the Quran or the quest for its hidden, inner meanings. The Arabic word ''taʾwīl'' was synonymous with conventional interpretation in its earl ...
'' (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''). 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 or spirits of '' Awliya'' (saints) as '' bid'ah'' and ''shirk''. The wide range of beliefs about spirits and angels 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 Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم ...
as the most significant classical scholarly authority in theology and spirituality. Ibn Taymiyya's theological treatises form the core doctrinal texts of Wahhabi,
Ahl-i Hadith Ahl-i Hadith or Ahl-e-Hadith ( bn, আহলে হাদীছ, hi, एहले हदीस, ur, اہلِ حدیث, ''people of hadith'') is a Salafi reform movement that emerged in North India in the mid-nineteenth century from the teach ...
and various other Salafi movements. According to the monotheistic doctrine of Ibn Taymiyya, '' Tawhid'' 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'' (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 Shaykh al-Islām ( ar, شيخ الإسلام, Šayḫ al-Islām; fa, شِیخُ‌الاسلام ''Sheykh-ol-Eslām''; ota, شیخ‌ الاسلام, Şhaykḫu-l-İslām or ''Sheiklı ul-Islam''; tr, Şeyhülislam) was used in the classical e ...
''. Alongside Ibn Taymiyya, his disciples Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya,
Ibn Kathir Abū al-Fiḍā’ ‘Imād ad-Dīn Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Umar ibn Kathīr al-Qurashī al-Damishqī (Arabic: إسماعيل بن عمر بن كثير القرشي الدمشقي أبو الفداء عماد; – 1373), known as Ibn Kathīr (, was ...
, Al-Dhahabi, 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

Historians and academics date the emergence of ''Salafiyya'' movement to the late 19th-century Arab world, an era when European colonial powers were dominant. Notable leaders of the movement included
Jamal al-Din Qasimi Jamal al-Din bin Muhammad Saeed bin Qasim al-Hallaq al-Qasimi (1283 AH / 1866 CE - 1332 AH / 1914 CE) (Arabic: جمال الدين القاسمي), was the organizer of the story of Kalila and Dimna. He was one of the pioneers of the modern sc ...
(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, 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 that implements ''
Sharia 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 H ...
'' (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 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 scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...
in Egypt. 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 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, 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. 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 across many parts of the
Islamic 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. In ...
. Between the eighteenth and the twentieth centuries, these reformist movements called for a direct return to the Scriptures, institutional standardisations and ''
jihad Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...
'' against colonial powers. The movement developed across various regions of the Islamic World in the late 19th century as a response to European imperialism. The Salafi revivalists were inspired by the creedal doctrines of the medieval
Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...
Hanbali theologian
Ibn Taymiyya Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم ...
, who had strongly condemned
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
and various features of
Sufism 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 ...
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 movements such as the Wahhabi movement in the
Arabian Peninsula 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 Plate ...
,
subcontinental The Indian subcontinent is a physiographical region in Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas. Geopolitically, it includes the countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, ...
reform movements spearheaded by Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, Shah Ismail Dehlawi and Sayyid Ahmad Shaheed as well as the Yemeni ''islah'' movement led by Al-San'aani and
Al-Shawkani Muḥammad al-Shawkānī (1759–1834) was a prominent Yemeni Sunni Islamic scholar, jurist, theologian and reformer. Shawkani was one of the most influential proponents of Athari theology and is revered as one of their canonical scholars by Sa ...
. These movements had advocated the belief that the '' Qur'an'' and ''
Sunnah In Islam, , also spelled ( ar, سنة), are the traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time evidently saw and followed and passed ...
'' are the primary sources of ''
sharia 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 H ...
'' and the legal status quo should be scrutinized based on ''Qur'an'' and '' Hadith.'' Far from being novel, this idea was a traditionist thesis kept alive within the Hanbali school of law. The Wahhabi movement, under the leadership of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, forcefully revived Hanbali traditionism in 18th century Arabia. Influenced by the Hanbali scholars Ahmad ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728/1328) and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (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, whom he cited frequently. Indian Hadith specialist Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, while rejecting '' Taqlid'', 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''. In Yemen, 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 ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a le ...
'' 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 ''
Ahl-i Hadith Ahl-i Hadith or Ahl-e-Hadith ( bn, আহলে হাদীছ, hi, एहले हदीस, ur, اہلِ حدیث, ''people of hadith'') is a Salafi reform movement that emerged in North India in the mid-nineteenth century from the teach ...
'' movement revived the teachings of Shah Waliullah and Al-Shawkani; advocating rejection of '' Taqlid'' and study of hadith. They departed from Shah Waliullah's school with a literalist approach to '' hadith'', and rejected classical legal structures; inclining towards the '' Zahirite'' school. In the 19th century, Hanbali traditionism would be revived in Iraq by the influential Alusi family. Three generations of Alusis, Mahmud al-Alusi (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 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'' of the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire during the late nineteenth century. The movement relied primarily upon the works of Hanbali theologian Ahmad Ibn Taymiyya, whose call to follow the path of '' Salaf'', inspired their name. The early phase of this tradition sought a middle-way that synthesised between '' 'ilm'' and '' Tasawwuf''.
Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...
, 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 Tahir al-Jaza'iri ( ar, طاهر الجزائري; 1852 CE/1268 AH – 1920 CE/1338 AH) was a 19th century Syrian Muslim scholar and educational reformer and a great scholar of Tafsīr, Ḥadīth, Fiqh, Uṣūl, history and the Arabic language. ...
, 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 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 ...
, they didn't deny Sufism completely. The
Cairene Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
school of
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 = , infl ...
emerged as a separate trend in 1880s, and would be influenced by the Damascene ''Salafiyya'', as well as Mu'tazilite 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. The Damascene ''Salafiyya'' was also influenced by their reformist counterparts in Baghdad, especially the scholars of th
Alusi family
Abu Thana' Shihab al-Din al-Alusi (1802-1854) was the first of the Alusi family of ''ulama'' to promote reformist ideas, influenced by Wahhabism through his teacher 'Ali al-Suwaydi. He also combined the theological ideas of Sufis and '' Mutakallimun'' (dialecticians) like
Razi Razi ( fa, رازی) or al-Razi ( ar, الرازی) is a name that was historically used to indicate a person coming from Ray, Iran. People It most commonly refers to: * Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (865–925), influential physician, alchemist ...
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, 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, calling for ''
Ijtihad ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a le ...
'' and condemned ritual innovations 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 recognition ...
. ''Salafiyya'' tradtion had become dominant in
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
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 Jamal al-Din bin Muhammad Saeed bin Qasim al-Hallaq al-Qasimi (1283 AH / 1866 CE - 1332 AH / 1914 CE) (Arabic: جمال الدين القاسمي), was the organizer of the story of Kalila and Dimna. He was one of the pioneers of the modern sc ...
. 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'' (Islamic monotheism), attacking '' bid'ah'' (religious innovations), criticising the Ottoman monarchy and its clerical establishment as well as relentlessly condemning Western ideas such as nationalism. According to historian Itzchak Weismann:
"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 of
Najd Najd ( ar, نَجْدٌ, ), or the Nejd, forms the geographic center of Saudi Arabia, accounting for about a third of the country's modern population and, since the Emirate of Diriyah, acting as the base for all unification campaigns by the H ...
. The Salafi turn against Ibn 'Arabi and
Sufism 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 ...
would materialize a decade later, after the First World War, under the leadership of Rashid Rida. 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 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''-'' murshid'' relationship in mysticism, as well as the ''
Silsila Silsila ( ar, سِلْسِلَة) is an Arabic word meaning ''chain'', ''link'', ''connection'' often used in various senses of lineage. In particular, it may be translated as "spiritual genealogy" where one Sufi Master transfers his ''khil ...
s'' (chains of transmission) upon which '' Tariqah'' structures were built. In particular, Rida fiercely rebuked
political quietism In the political aspects of Islam, political quietism in Islam is the religiously-motivated withdrawal from political affairs or skepticism that mere mortals can establish a true Islamic government. It is the opposite of political Islam, which ...
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''. In calling for a return to the '' Salaf'', 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 revivalist 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 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 scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...
such as Hasan al-Banna (d. 1949) and Sayyid Qutb (d. 1966) who advocated a holistic conception of Islamic state and society; similar to the Wahhabi movement.
Muslim Brotherhood 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 scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...
’s
Syrian Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...
leaders like Mustapha al-Siba‘i and ‘Isam al-‘Attar were also influential in the movement and their ideas influenced numerous Jordanian students. The Damascene ''Salafiyya'' consisted of major scholarly figures like Muhammad Bahjat al-Bitar al-Athari, ‘Ali al-Tantawi, Nasir al-Din al-Albani, ‘Abd al-Fattah al-Imam, Mazhar al-‘Azma, al-Bashir al-Ibrahimi, Taqiy al-Din al-Hilali, Muhiy al-Din al-Qulaybi, ‘Abd Allah al-Qalqayli, etc. Numerous books of the movement were printed and published through the Islamic Bookstore in Lebanon owned by Zuhayr Shawish. The early leaders of ''Salafiyya'' like Sayyid Rashid Rida (d. 1935),
Jamal al-Din Qasimi Jamal al-Din bin Muhammad Saeed bin Qasim al-Hallaq al-Qasimi (1283 AH / 1866 CE - 1332 AH / 1914 CE) (Arabic: جمال الدين القاسمي), was the organizer of the story of Kalila and Dimna. He was one of the pioneers of the modern sc ...
(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
Sunni 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 Orthodoxy (from Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Antiquity, but different Churc ...
, was less divisive and provided a more reliable basis of faith than Ash'arism. According to Rida, Salafi creed was easier to understand than '' Kalam'' (speculative theology) and hence granted a stronger bulwark against the dangers posed by
atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...
and other heresies. Salafi reformers also hailed the medieval theologian
Ibn Taymiyyah Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم ...
as a paragon of Sunni orthodoxy and emphasized that his strict conception of '' Tawhid'' 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 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'' (Muslim community) and enabled foreigners to gain control over
Muslim lands 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. In ...
. 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 Speculative may refer to: In arts and entertainment *Speculative art (disambiguation) *Speculative fiction, which includes elements created out of human imagination, such as the science fiction and fantasy genres **Speculative Fiction Group, a Per ...
, 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 Ottoman
Maturidite Māturīdī theology or Māturīdism ( ar, الماتريدية: ''al-Māturīdiyyah'') is one of the main Sunnī schools of Islamic theology, founded by the Persian Muslim scholar, Ḥanafī jurist, reformer (''Mujaddid''), and scholastic theo ...
scholar Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari (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''. At the height of his career, Bitar enjoyed the respect of Syrian '' ulema'' 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 and '' hadith.'' For the Islamist Muslim Brothers, Bitar's studies of Islam and the Arabic language were an asset for Islamic Renaissance.


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 through military struggle against European colonial powers. 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, ''Ahl-i Hadith'' movement in India and ''Salafiyya'' movement in the Arab world of the late-19th and early 20th centuries. The person most responsible for this transformation was the Albanian Islamic hadith scholar 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 and other post-1960s movements.Stephane Lacroix
"Al-Albani's Revolutionary Approach to Hadith"
. ''
Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
'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, Western scholarship for much of the 20th-century considered the Islamic Modernist movement of 19th-century figures
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 = , infl ...
and Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (who were Ash'ari 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 Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم ...
and his disciples like
Ibn Kathir Abū al-Fiḍā’ ‘Imād ad-Dīn Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Umar ibn Kathīr al-Qurashī al-Damishqī (Arabic: إسماعيل بن عمر بن كثير القرشي الدمشقي أبو الفداء عماد; – 1373), known as Ibn Kathīr (, was ...
, Ibn Qayyim, etc. whom they regard as important classical religious authorities. Major contemporary figures in the movement include Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani, Taqi al-Din al-Hilali, ibn 'Uthaymin, Ibn Baz, Ehsan Elahi Zahir,
Muhammad ibn Ibrahim 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 monothe ...
, Rashid Rida, Thanā Allāh Amritsari, Abd al-Hamid Bin Badis, Zubair Ali Zaee, Ahmad Shakir, Saleh Al-Fawzan, Zakir Naik, Abdul-Ghaffar Hasan, Sayyid Sabiq,
Salih al-Munajjid Muhammad Saalih Al-Munajjid (محمد صالح المنجد) (born June 7, 1960/30 Dhul hijjah,1380) is a Syrian-born Palestinian- Saudi Islamic scholar. He is the founder of the fatwa website IslamQA, a popular website for Saudi Arabian Salaf ...
, Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Khaliq
Muhammad al-Gondalwi
etc. In the modern era, some Salafis tend to take the surname "Al-Salafi" and refer to the label "''Salafiyya''" in various circumstances to evoke a specific understanding of Islam that is supposed to differ from that of other
Sunnis Sunni Islam () is the largest Islamic schools and branches, 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 ...
in terms of '' 'Aqidah'' (creed) and approach to '' Fiqh'' (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.Anatomy of the Salafi Movement
by Quintan Wiktorowicz, Washington, D.C.
Purists focus on education and missionary work to solidify the '' Tawhid''; activists focus on political reform and re-establishing a Caliphate 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 and/or Qutbism).


Purists

"Purists" are Salafists who focus on non-violent '' da'wah'' (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 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 H ...
'', 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, as an example, is a strain of Salafists viewed as supportive of authoritarian regimes in the Middle East.Richard Gauvain, ''Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God'', p. 41.
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
: Routledge, 2013.
Roel Meijer, ''Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement'', p. 49.
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
: Columbia University Press, 2009.
George Joffé, ''Islamist Radicalisation in Europe and the Middle East: Reassessing the Causes of Terrorism'', p. 317. London: I.B. Tauris, 2013. Taking its name from the controversial Saudi Arabian cleric Rabee al-Madkhali, the movement lost its support in Saudi Arabia proper when several members of the
Permanent Committee The Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta (also the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta, ar, اللجنة الدائمة للبحوث العلمية والإفتاء, al-Lajna ad-Dāʾima lil-Buḥūṯ al-ʿIlmiyya wa ...
(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 and Joas Wagemakers, p. 382. Leiden:
Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers (known as E. J. Brill, Koninklijke Brill, Brill ()) is a Dutch international academic publisher founded in 1683 in Leiden, Netherlands. With offices in Leiden, Boston, Paderborn and Singapore, Brill today publishes 27 ...
, 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 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 scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...
, Egyptian '' Hizb al-Nour'' (Party of Light), and the '' ulema'' 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, Israel, and the West. Their strategy involves working within the established order, to achieve the ultimate objective of replacing that order with an Islamic state. 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 Islamist movements like the
Muslim Brotherhood 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 scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...
and its various branches and affiliates. Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaat-e Islami, 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''. 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 Sahwa movement (Awakening movement) or ''Al-Sahwa Al-Islamiyya'' (Islamic awakening) was a movement in Saudi Arabia from 1960–1980 which advocated for incorporating more reliance on Wahhabi principles into Saudi society. The most noticeable ef ...
(Islamic Awakening), as example, has been involved in peaceful political reform.
Safar Al-Hawali Safar bin Abdul-Rahman al-Hawali al-Ghamdi ( ar, سفر بن عبدالرحمن الحوالي الغامدي) (born 1950) is a scholar who lives in Mecca. He came to prominence in 1991, as a leader of the Sahwah movement which opposed the pre ...
, Salman al-Ouda,
Abu Qatada Abu Qatada () may refer to: * Abu Qatada al-Ansari (584–658/660), knight of the Rashidun Caliphate * Abu Qatada al-Filistini Omar Mahmoud Othman ( ar, عمر بن محمود بن عثمان, translit=‘Umar ibn Maḥmūd ibn ‘Uṯmān; ...
, Zakir Naik, 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 to describe those self-claiming Salafi groups who began developing an interest in (armed)
jihad Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...
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
Sunni 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 ...
Islamism Islamism (also often called political Islam or Islamic fundamentalism) is a political ideology which posits that modern states and regions should be reconstituted in constitutional, economic and judicial terms, in accordance with what is ...
that rejects democracy and Shia rule". Hafez distinguished them from apolitical and conservative Salafi scholars (such as Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani,
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 ...
, Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baaz and
Abdul-Azeez ibn Abdullaah Aal ash-Shaikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Sheikh ( ar, عبد العزيز بن عبد الله آل الشيخ ''ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn ʿAbd Āllah Āl ash-Sheikh''; born 30 November 1940) is a Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar who is the current Grand Mufti of Saud ...
), but also from the ''
sahwa movement Sahwa movement (Awakening movement) or ''Al-Sahwa Al-Islamiyya'' (Islamic awakening) was a movement in Saudi Arabia from 1960–1980 which advocated for incorporating more reliance on Wahhabi principles into Saudi society. The most noticeable ef ...
associated with Salman al-Ouda or
Safar Al-Hawali Safar bin Abdul-Rahman al-Hawali al-Ghamdi ( ar, سفر بن عبدالرحمن الحوالي الغامدي) (born 1950) is a scholar who lives in Mecca. He came to prominence in 1991, as a leader of the Sahwah movement which opposed the pre ...
.'' Abdullah Azzam, Usama Bin Laden,
Ayman al-Zawahiri Ayman Mohammed Rabie al-Zawahiri (June 19, 1951 – July 31, 2022) was an Egyptian-born terrorist and physician who served as the second emir of al-Qaeda from June 16, 2011, until his death. Al-Zawahiri graduated from Cairo University with ...
, Abubakr al-Baghdadi, etc. are the major contemporary figures in this movement. Jihadi Salafi groups include
Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
, ISIS,
Boko Haram Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...
, and the Al-Shabaab. All Salafi-Jihadists agree on the revolutionary overthrow of existing ruling order through armed
Jihad Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...
; 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; which the Palestinian Jihadist scholar 'Abdallah ‘Azzam (1941–89) asserted as "the most excellent form of worship". Salafi-Jihadists regard themselves as the heirs of Sayyid Qutb, an influential Islamist scholar who led the radical wing of the
Muslim Brotherhood 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 scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...
during the 1960s. Inspired by their reading of
Ibn Taymiyya Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم ...
, they are strong advocates of '' takfir (''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'', and condemn all other political doctrines as '' Jahiliyya''. Sayyid Qutb's '' Al-Ma‘alim Fi'l-tariq'' (The Milestones), a short tract which outlined his militant strategy of destroying '' Jahiliyya'' and replacing it with
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, would become an influential treatise in the Salafi-Jihadi intellectual circles. An analysis of the Caucasus Emirate, a Salafi jihadist group, was made in 2014 by Darion Rhodes.Darion Rhodes
Salafist-Takfiri Jihadism: the Ideology of the Caucasus Emirate
, International Institute for Counter-terrorism, March 2014
It analyzes the group's strict observance of tawhid and its rejection of '' shirk'', '' taqlid'' and '' bid‘ah'', while believing that
Jihad Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...
( holy war) is the only way to advance the cause of
Allah Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", an ...
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 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.: , sing.: ...
'' and '' Hadith'', 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 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 ...
, Shi‘a, Salafi,
Sufi 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, ...
, Wahhabi, modernists 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 Najd ( ar, نَجْدٌ, ), or the Nejd, forms the geographic center of Saudi Arabia, accounting for about a third of the country's modern population and, since the Emirate of Diriyah, acting as the base for all unification campaigns by the H ...
. He invited people to '' Tawhid'' (monotheism) and advocated purging of practices such as shrine and tomb visitation, which were widespread among
Muslim 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 ...
s. Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab considered such practices as aspects of
idolatry Idolatry is the worship of a cult image or "idol" as though it were God. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, the Baháʼí Faith, and Islam) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the A ...
, representative of impurities and inappropriate innovations in
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
which contradicted ''Tawhid''. While Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab stressed on the importance of obedience to ''
sharia 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 H ...
'', he also obliged Muslims to uphold ''sharia'' by reading and following the Scriptures. Like their paragon scholar
Ibn Taymiyya Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم ...
, Wahhabis did not believe in blind-adherence ('' Taqlid'') and advocated engaging with the '' Qur'an'' and '' Hadith'' through ''
Ijtihad ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a le ...
'' (legal reasoning), emphasizing simplicity in religious rituals and practices. Thus, classical-era legal works by '' Fuqaha'' were not considered as authoritative as the Scriptures themselves, since the former were human interpretations while the ''Qur'an'' is the Universal, Eternal Word of God. The Salafi movement in Saudi Arabia is the result of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's reform movement. Unlike other reform movements, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his disciples were also able to secure a religio-political pact with Muhammad Ibn Saud and
his House ''His House'' is a 2020 horror thriller film written and directed by Remi Weekes from a story by Felicity Evans and Toby Venables. It stars Wunmi Mosaku, Sope Dirisu and Matt Smith. The film tells the story of a refugee couple from South Sudan, ...
; which enabled them to engage in military expansionism and establish an Islamic state in the
Arabian Peninsula 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 Plate ...
. While the mainstream constituency believed in Islamic revival through education and welfare reforms, the militant elements of the movement advocated armed campaigns to eradicate local practices considered as innovation and demolished numerous shrines and tombs of saints ('' awliya''). It is believed that the Wahhabism is a more strict, Saudi form of Salafism, according to
Mark Durie Mark Durie (born 1958) is an Australian Anglican priest and a scholar in linguistics and theology. He is the founding director of the Institute for Spiritual Awareness, a Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and a senior research fellow of the Art ...
, 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 , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public university, Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , a ...
in Paris, 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 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 Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
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 for Al Azhar, 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 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, and has caused the Saudi interpretation (sometimes called " petro-Islam") 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 In Islam, , also spelled ( ar, سنة), are the traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time evidently saw and followed and passed ...
, and hadith as the sole sources of religious authority and oppose everything introduced in Islam after the earliest times. In particular, they reject '' taqlid'' (following legal precedent) and favor ''
ijtihad ''Ijtihad'' ( ; ar, اجتهاد ', ; lit. physical or mental ''effort'') is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a le ...
'' (independent legal reasoning) based on the scriptures. The movement's followers call themselves
Salafi 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 ...
, while others refer to them as Wahhabi, or consider them a variation on the Wahhabi movement. In recent decades the movement has expanded its presence in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (1703-1762) is considered as the intellectual forefather of the movement and its followers regard him as ''
Shaykh al-Islam Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...
''. Waliullah 's rejection of ''Taqlid'' would be emphasized by his son Shah Abdul Aziz (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 Syed Ahmad Barelvi or Sayyid Ahmad Shaheed (1786–1831) was an Indian Islamic revivalist, scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertis ...
(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; spreading across
Chittagong Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...
to Peshawar and from
Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
to
Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...
. They played an important role in the Rebellion of 1857 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 In the political aspects of Islam, political quietism in Islam is the religiously-motivated withdrawal from political affairs or skepticism that mere mortals can establish a true Islamic government. It is the opposite of political Islam, which ...
. 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 of Bhopal (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'' (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 '' Zahirite'' (literalist) school and adopted a literalist hadith approach. They also rejected the authority of the four legal schools and restrict '' Ijma'' (consensus) to the companions. Their ideal was to lead a pious and ethical life in conformity to the Prophetic example in every aspect of life. Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen (KNM) was founded in 1950 in Kerala 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. KNM witnessed a number of splits since 2002 and all existing fractions maintain a good connection with Arab Salafi groups especially in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Folk Islam and
Sufism 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 ...
, popular amongst the poor and working classes in the region, are anathema to Ahl-i Hadith beliefs and practices. This attitude towards
Sufism 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 ...
has brought the movement into conflict with the rival Barelvi movement even more so than the Barelvis' rivals, the
Deobandi Deobandi is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam, adhering to the Hanafi school of law, formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the name derives, by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, R ...
s.Arthur F Buehler
Sufi Heirs of the Prophet: the Indian Naqshbandiyya and the Rise of the Mediating Sufi Shaykh
p. 179. Part of the ''Studies in Comparative Religion'' series.
Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...
: University of South Carolina Press, 1998.
Ahl-i Hadith followers identify with the Zahiri madhhab. The movement draws both inspiration and financial support from Saudi Arabia. Jamia Salafia is their largest institution in India.


Egypt

The Egyptian Salafi movement is one of the most influential branches of the Salafi movement which profoundly impacted religious currents across the Arab world, including the scholars of Saudi Arabia. Salafis in Egypt 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 starting from the 1920s. Rashid Rida opposed the
Westernising 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 ...
cultural trends adopted by Egyptian liberal elite and denounced nationalist ideas as a plot to undermine Islamic unity. Rida and his disciples campaigned for the establishment of an Islamic state based on Salafi principles; thus becoming the biggest adversary of the
Egyptian secularists 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 ...
and nationalists. ''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 and a student of the famed Muslim reformer
Muhammed Abduh ; "The Theology of Unity") , alma_mater = Al-Azhar University , office1 = Grand Mufti of Egypt , term1 = 1899 – 1905 , Sufi_order = Shadhiliyya , disciple_of = , awards = , infl ...
. It is considered the main Salafi group in Egypt. El-Fiqi's ideas were resentful of
Sufism 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 ...
. But unlike Muhammed Abduh, Ansar Al-Sunna follows the ''Tawhid'' as preached by
Ibn Taymiyyah Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم ...
. Many Saudi scholars became disciples of prominent '' ulema'' 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 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 The Salafist Call ( ar, الدعوة السلفية or (Ad-Da'wa As-Salafiya)) is a Salafi organization in Egypt that was established in 1984. It established the Nour Party ) , foundation = , newspaper = The New Light , headquart ...
(''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 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 scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...
, 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 The People of Monotheism may translate several Arabic terms: * ( ar, أهل التوحيد), a name the Druze use for themselves. Literally, "The People of the Unity" or "The Unitarians", from '' '', unity (of God). * ( ar, الموحدون) is ...
'' movement in Arabia 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 In the political aspects of Islam, political quietism in Islam is the religiously-motivated withdrawal from political affairs or skepticism that mere mortals can establish a true Islamic government. It is the opposite of political Islam, which ...
, Salafist call is a politically activist movement.
Salafist Call The Salafist Call ( ar, الدعوة السلفية or (Ad-Da'wa As-Salafiya)) is a Salafi organization in Egypt that was established in 1984. It established the Nour Party ) , foundation = , newspaper = The New Light , headquart ...
created the Al-Nour Party 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 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 H ...
law. In the 2011–12 Egypt parliamentary elections, the
Islamist Bloc The Islamist Bloc ( ar, الكتلة الإسلامية), formally the ''Alliance for Egypt'' was an electoral alliance of Egyptian political parties, formed for the 2011–12 Egyptian parliamentary election. It consisted of two Salafist parties, ...
led by Al‑Nour party received 7,534,266 votes out of a total 27,065,135 correct votes (28%). The
Islamist Bloc The Islamist Bloc ( ar, الكتلة الإسلامية), formally the ''Alliance for Egypt'' was an electoral alliance of Egyptian political parties, formed for the 2011–12 Egyptian parliamentary election. It consisted of two Salafist parties, ...
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 Freedom and Justice Party may refer to: * Freedom and Justice Party (Bolivia) * Freedom and Justice Party (Egypt) * Freedom and Justice (Lithuania) * Russian Party of Freedom and Justice *Party of Freedom and Justice (''Stranka slobode i pravde''), ...
. Al‑Nour Party itself won 111 of the 127 seats. From January 2013 onward, the party gradually distanced itself from Mohamed Morsi's Brotherhood regime, and was involved in the 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 ''Al-Ahram'' ( ar, الأهرام; ''The Pyramids''), founded on 5 August 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after '' al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majori ...
'', 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.


Malaysia

In 1980, Prince Mohammed bin Faisal Al Saud of Saudi Arabia offered Malaysia $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 Arabization or Arabisation ( ar, تعريب, ') describes both the process of growing Arab influence on non-Arab populations, causing a language shift by the latter's gradual adoption of the Arabic language and incorporation of Arab culture, aft ...
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, 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 Ahl-i Hadith or Ahl-e-Hadith ( bn, আহলে হাদীছ, hi, एहले हदीस, ur, اہلِ حدیث, ''people of hadith'') is a Salafi reform movement that emerged in North India in the mid-nineteenth century from the teach ...
'' in the Indian subcontinent.


Tunisia

Salafism has been dismissively labeled as "ultra-conservative", in the context of Tunisia after the 2011 revolution.


Turkey

Turkey 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. 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'', 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 Justice and Development Party may refer to several political parties, the best-known ones being: * Justice and Development Party (Morocco) * Justice and Development Party (Turkey) Justice and Development Party may also refer to: * Justice and Dev ...
(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 secular order, namely the left, Necmettin Erbakan's Islamism, Kurdish nationalism, 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), 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 institutions under Saudi tutelage, and Diyanet received Muslim World League 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, 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, Twitter, and Facebook, complementing websites for their publishing enterprises. Saudi-based scholars such as Bin Baz,
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), ...
, Saleh Al-Fawzan (b. 1933), and Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen (1925-2001) form the core of their references, while they avoid contemporary ' ulama' associated with the
Muslim Brotherhood 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 scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...
such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi (b. 1926), an Egyptian scholar based in Qatar. 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'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 Muslims Sects in China such as by the Gedimu, Sufi Khafiya and Jahriyya, to the extent that even the fundamentalist Yihewani (Ikhwan) Chinese sect, founded by Ma Wanfu 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 Sailaifengye () or Salafiyah refers to the Chinese Salafi Movement. Overview Chinese Salafists are not a unified organization but "a patchwork of relatively independent mosque / prayer-congregations" loosely connected through overlapping networ ...
(Salafi), in
Lanzhou Lanzhou (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. H ...
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 Sufi Muslim General Ma Bufang, 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 took power, Salafis were allowed to worship openly again.


Vietnam

An attempt at Salafist expansion among the Muslim Chams 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.


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 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. Yet, Qatar's more tolerant interpretation of Wahhabism compared to Saudi Arabia has drawn backlash from Qatari citizens and foreigners. The Economist 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 Harakat Ahrar al-Sham al-Islamiyya ( ar-at, حركة أحرار الشام الإسلامية, Ḥarakat Aḥrāru š-Šām al-Islāmiyah, lit=Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant), commonly referred to as Ahrar al-Sham, is a coalition ...
group in Syria. In addition, Qatar-based charities and online campaigns, such as Eid Charity and Madid Ahl al-Sham, have a history of financing terrorist groups in Syria. Qatar has also repeatedly provided financial support to the
Gaza Gaza may refer to: Places Palestine * Gaza Strip, a Palestinian territory on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea ** Gaza City, a city in the Gaza Strip ** Gaza Governorate, a governorate in the Gaza Strip Lebanon * Ghazzeh, a village in ...
government led by the militant Hamas organisation while senior Hamas officials have visited Doha and hosted Qatari leaders in Gaza. Qatar also gave approximately $10 billion to the government of Egypt during Mohamed Morsi's time in office. Non-militarily, Qatar state-funded broadcaster
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, and the United Arab Emirates 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 (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 domestic intelligence service ( Bundesnachrichtendienst), that Salafism is the fastest-growing Islamic movement in the world. The ''Salafiyya'' movement has also gained popular acceptance as a "respected
Sunni 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 ...
tradition" in Turkey starting from the 1980s, when the Turkish government forged closer ties to Saudi Arabia. This paved the way for cooperation between the Salafi Muslim World League and the Turkish Diyanet, 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 Movements, with an emphasis on the concept of '' Tawhid''.


Other usage


''Al-Salafiyya Al-Tanwiriyya'' (Enlightened Salafism)

As opposed to the traditionalist Salafism discussed throughout this article, some Western academics and historians have used the term "Salafism" to denote modernists, "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 = , infl ...
(1849-1905 C.E/ 1265-1323 A.H ); whose writings had distinct Mu'tazilite and
Sufi 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, ...
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 Islah, 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 g ...
.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. 212
Wahhabism, 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 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'' and the ''
Sunnah In Islam, , also spelled ( ar, سنة), are the traditions and practices of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that constitute a model for Muslims to follow. The sunnah is what all the Muslims of Muhammad's time evidently saw and followed and passed ...
''. 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 and Western ideologies. Rida's ''Salafiyya'' also championed pan-Islamist fraternity encompassing ''
Ahl-i Hadith Ahl-i Hadith or Ahl-e-Hadith ( bn, আহলে হাদীছ, hi, एहले हदीस, ur, اہلِ حدیث, ''people of hadith'') is a Salafi reform movement that emerged in North India in the mid-nineteenth century from the teach ...
'' in South Asia to the
Arabian 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 Plate. ...
Wahhabis; and clashed with nationalist and secular 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 (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 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 scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...
,
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 inspired by Salafism as well as the modernist movement.
Muslim Brotherhood 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 scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...
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 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'', '' Shirk'' and '' bid‘ah'' 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) means any reform movement that calls for resurrection of
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
by going back to its origin. In line with Wahhabism 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 ; "The Theology of Unity") , alma_mater = Al-Azhar University , office1 = Grand Mufti of Egypt , term1 = 1899 – 1905 , Sufi_order = Shadhiliyya , disciple_of = , awards = , infl ...
or by Muhammad Iqbal.


Criticisms


Muslim criticism

Due to its approach of rejecting '' taqlid'', Salafiyya school is considered as deviant by the majority '' ulema'' of the
Ash'arite 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 ...
and
Maturidite Māturīdī theology or Māturīdism ( ar, الماتريدية: ''al-Māturīdiyyah'') is one of the main Sunnī schools of Islamic theology, founded by the Persian Muslim scholar, Ḥanafī jurist, reformer (''Mujaddid''), and scholastic theo ...
schools, who champion themselves as the Sunni Islamic orthodoxy and believe ''Taqlid'' of the four madhabs to be '' wajib'' (obligatory) for the matter of '' Fiqh'' (Islamic jurisprudence). Some of these Sunni scholars also accuse Salafis of falling into certain forms of unapparent ''tajsim'' and '' tashbih'' 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 Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
. Some scholars of the
Al-Azhar University , image = جامعة_الأزهر_بالقاهرة.jpg , image_size = 250 , caption = Al-Azhar University portal , motto = , established = *970/972 first foundat ...
of Cairo 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 * The claim that it is prohibited to own a dog for reasons other than hunting
atwa 134 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 the ...
* The claim that it is prohibited to use alcohol for perfumes
atwa 85 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 the ...
One of the authors of ''al-Radd'', the Professor of Law Anas Abu Shady states that, "they
he Salafis He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...
want 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">Ẓāhirī.html" ;"title="f the Ẓāhirī">f the Ẓāhirī scholar Ibn Hazm 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 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 such as Khaled Abou El Fadl of the UCLA School of Law, and by
Sufi 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, ...
scholars like Timothy Winter of Cambridge University and G.F. Haddad. According to El Fadl, extremist groups such as
Al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
"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; while simultaneously maintaining the supremacy of
Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
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 Saudi may refer to: * Saudi Arabia * Saudis, people from Saudi Arabia * Saudi culture, the culture of Saudi Arabia * House of Saud The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is c ...
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 and Medina 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 and Islamic activists across all sects, Salafis, Sufis, Shias, etc. ; stood up to condemn the actions of the Saudi government.


Western criticism

Salafism has become associated with literalist,
strict In mathematical writing, the term strict refers to the property of excluding equality and equivalence and often occurs in the context of inequality and monotonic functions. It is often attached to a technical term to indicate that the exclusive ...
and puritanical approaches to Islam in sections of Western academia. Some Western observers and analysts tend to equate the movement with Salafi jihadism, 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 minister A minister is a politician who head ...
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 Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave" in English), abbreviated to DW, is a German public, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the German federal tax budget. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite television service con ...
'' 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 Islamic culture and Muslim culture refer to cultural practices which are common to historically Islamic people. The early forms of Muslim culture, from the Rashidun Caliphate to the early Umayyad period and the early Abbasid period, were predomi ...
, 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 Marc Sageman, M.D., Ph.D., is a former CIA Operations Officer (covered as a Foreign Service officer) who was based in Islamabad from 1987 to 1989, where he worked closely with Afghanistan's mujahedin. He has advised various branches of the U.S. go ...
, 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.


Prominent Salafis


Ex-Salafis

* Dr. Yasir Qadhi, American Islamic cleric, professor at Rhodes College, and author; also Dean of Academic Studies at international
al-Maghrib Institute AlMaghrib Institute is an Islamic studies institute founded in Houston, Texas, by Muhammad AlShareef in 2002.Asef Bayat, Linda Herrera, ''Being Young and Muslim: New Cultural Politics in the Global South and North,'' p 170. AlMaghrib provides co ...
Elliot, Andrea (17 April 2011)
"Why Yasir Qadhi Wants to Talk About Jihad"
'' New York Times''.
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, 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'' is "a fundamental part" of Islamic faith. Yasir Qadhi advocates for "following the actions of the '' Salaf'' 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, Al-Bukhari,
Ibn Taymiyya Ibn Taymiyyah (January 22, 1263 – September 26, 1328; ar, ابن تيمية), birth name Taqī ad-Dīn ʾAḥmad ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥalīm ibn ʿAbd al-Salām al-Numayrī al-Ḥarrānī ( ar, تقي الدين أحمد بن عبد الحليم ...
, etc.


See also

*
Deobandi movement Deobandi is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam, adhering to the Hanafi school of law, formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the name derives, by Muhammad Qasim Nanauta ...
* International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism * Islam in Saudi Arabia * Islamic fundamentalism * Islamic schools and branches * Glossary of Islam#Manhaj *
Sufi–Salafi relations Since the classical era, traditional Islamic religious culture was divided between two main Aqidah, theological schools, Sufi philosophy, Sufi-Ash'arism represented by Al-Ghazali, Ghazzali (1058-1111) and Salafi movement, Salafism represented ...


References


Further reading

* ''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 fundamentalism Sunni Islamic branches