Salafi movement

Salafi movement is covered here in 6 connected parts: Salafi movement, salafi in the Philippines, History of salafi, Culture and traditions of salafi, salafi: key facts and timeline, Salafi jihadism.

Salafi movement

The Salafi movement, or Salafism (Arabic: ٱلسَّلَفِيَّة, romanized: as-Salafiyya), emerged in the late 19th century and has been influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "Salafiyyah" is a self-designation that claims a return to the traditions of the predecessors (salaf), the first three generations of Muslims (the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the Sahabah [his companions], the second generation, the Tabi'in, and the third generation, the Tabi' al-Tabi'in), who are believed to exemplify the pure form of Islam. In practice, Salafis claim that they rely on the Quran, the Sunnah and the Ijma (consensus) of the salaf, giving these writings precedence over what they claim as "later religious interpretations".^[1]

Tenets

According to Bernard Haykel, "temporal proximity to the Prophet Muhammad is associated with the truest form of Islam" among many Sunni Muslims. Salafis are first and foremost religious and social reformers engaged in creating and reproducing particular forms of authority and identity, both personal and communal. They define [their] reformist project first and foremost through creedal tenets (i.e., a theology).^[1]

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 usually support independent legal judgement (ijtihad) and reject strict adherence (taqlid) to the four schools of law (madhahib).^[1]

Scholarly hierarchy

Bernard Haykel notes that due to the peculiarity of its methodology, Salafis enjoy a relatively less rigid scholarly hierarchy of authorities (ulema). Most Salafis unlike other traditional and pre-modern Muslims do not subscribe to a hierarchy that rigorously "constrains and regulates... the output of opinions". As an interpretive community, Salafi tradition, "in contrast to other Muslim traditions of learning", is "relatively open, even democratic".^[1]

Methodology and hermeneutics

Contemporary proponents of the Athari school of theology largely come from the Salafi movement; they uphold the Athari works of Ibn Taymiyya. Ibn Taymiyya himself, a disputed and partly rejected scholar during his lifetime, became a major scholar among followers of the Salafi movement credited with the title Shaykh al-Islam. Other important figures include major scholars important in Islamic history, such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal.^[1]

Teachings of Ibn Taymiyya

The followers of the Salafiyya school look to the medieval jurist Ibn Taymiyya 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 and various other Salafi movements. According to the monotheistic doctrine of Ibn Taymiyya, Tawhid is categorised into three types: At-tTwḥīd ar-Rubūbiyya (Oneness in Lordship), At-Tawḥīd al-Ulūhiyya (Oneness in Worship) and At-Tawhid al-Assmaa was-Sifaat (Oneness in Names and Attributes).^[1]

Evolution

During the mid-nineteenth century British India, the Ahl-i Hadith 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.^[1]

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salafi in the Philippines

Salafi jihadism, also known as Salafi-jihadism, jihadist Salafism and revolutionary Salafism, is a religiopolitical Sunni Islamist ideology that seeks to establish a global caliphate through armed struggle. It is named for its characteristic combination of jihadism – the belief among some Muslims that armed struggle with political rivals is an efficient and theologically legitimate method of socio-political change – and Salafism, a movement to interpret sacred Islamic texts "in their most literal, traditional sense", which adherents claim will bring about the return to "true Islam". The term "jihadist salafists" was coined by French political scientist Gilles Kepel.^[2]

Definitions

In the words of Madawi al Rasheed, Salafi jihadism is "a hybrid construction deeply rooted in the last three decades of the twentieth century that is desperate to anchor itself in an authentic Islamic tradition, yet reflecting serious borrowing from the discourse of Western modernity".^[2]

Tenets

According to political scientist Gilles Kepel, Salafist jihadism combined "respect for the sacred texts in their most literal form, ... with an absolute commitment to jihad, whose number-one target had to be America, perceived as the greatest enemy of the faith." 13th-century Hanbalite jurist Taqi al-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyya (1328 C.E/ 728 A.H), a maverick cleric known for his fierce anti-Mongol stances, is the most authoritative classical theologian in Salafi-jihadist discourse.^[2]

Differences from Quietist and Islamist Salafism

Much of Salafi-Jihadist discourse borrows heavily from Sayyid Qutb's concept of jahiliyya (pre-Islamic ignorance), hakimiyya (Sovereignty of God) and takfir (excommunication). Prominent contemporary ideologues of Salafi jihadism, such as Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi and Abu Qatada al Filistini, drew heavily from the works of Sayyid Qutb and adopted concepts of Al-Wala wal Bara from his writings. Maqdisi's interpretation of Al-Wala wal Bara marked a distinct shift from traditional Salafi theology by introducing Takfiri principles to it.^[2]

Related: Salafi movement · History of salafi · Culture and traditions of salafi

External references: ^[2][3][4]

History of salafi

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 (1866–1914), 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Bitar (1837–1917), Tahir al-Jazai'iri (1852–1920) and Muhammad Rashid Rida (1865–1935). Until the First World War, religious missions of the Salafi call in the Arab East had operated secretively.^[1]

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.^[1]

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Culture and traditions of salafi

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Related: Salafi movement · salafi in the Philippines · History of salafi

salafi: key facts and timeline

Etymology

The term Salafi as a proper noun and adjective had been used during the classical era to refer to the theological school of the early Ahl al-Hadith movement. The treatises of the medieval proto-Salafist theologian Taqi al-Din ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328 C.E/ 728 A.H), which played the most significant role in formalizing the creedal, social and political positions of Ahl al-Hadith; constitute the most widely referred classical works in Salafi seminaries.^[1]

Related: Salafi movement · salafi in the Philippines · History of salafi

External references: ^[1]

Salafi jihadism

Salafi jihadism, also known as Salafi-jihadism, jihadist Salafism and revolutionary Salafism, is a religiopolitical Sunni Islamist ideology that seeks to establish a global caliphate through armed struggle. It is named for its characteristic combination of jihadism – the belief among some Muslims that armed struggle with political rivals is an efficient and theologically legitimate method of socio-political change – and Salafism, a movement to interpret sacred Islamic texts "in their most literal, traditional sense", which adherents claim will bring about the return to "true Islam". The term "jihadist salafists" was coined by French political scientist Gilles Kepel.^[2]

Origins

The Egyptian Islamist movements of 1950s are generally considered to be the precursors of contemporary Salafi-Jihadist movements. The theological doctrines of the Syrian-Egyptian Islamic scholar Sayyid Rashid Rida (1865–1935 CE) greatly influenced these movements. Amongst his notable ideas included reviving the traditions of the early Muslim generations (Salaf) as well ridding the Islamic World of Western influences and Jahiliyya by specifically looking up to the model of Khulafa Rashidun.^[2]

Evolution of Salafi jihadism

During the Cold War, the United States and the United Kingdom, launched covert and overt campaigns to encourage and strengthen fundamentalist groups in the Middle East and southern Asia. These groups were seen as a hedge against potential expansion by the Soviet Union, and as a counterweight against nationalist and socialist movements that were seen as a threat to the interests of the Western nations.^[2]

Expansion

Gilles Kepel writes that the Salafis whom he encountered in Europe in the 1980s, were "totally apolitical". However, by the mid-1990s, he met some who felt jihad in the form of "violence and terrorism" was "justified to realize their political objectives". The mingling of many Salafists who were alienated from mainstream European society with violent jihadists created "a volatile mixture".^[2]

Leaders

"Theoreticians" of Salafist jihadism included Afghan jihad veterans such as the Palestinian Abu Qatada, the Syrian Mustafa Setmariam Nasar, the Egyptian Mustapha Kamel, known as Abu Hamza al-Masri. Osama bin Laden was its most well-known leader. The dissident Saudi preachers Salman al-Ouda and Safar Al-Hawali, were held in high esteem by this school.^[2]

Development

Murad al-Shishani of The Jamestown Foundation states there have been three generations of Salafi-jihadists: those waging jihad in Afghanistan, Bosnia and Iraq. As of the mid-2000s, Arab fighters in Iraq were "the latest and most important development of the global Salafi-jihadi movement". These fighters were usually not Iraqis, but volunteers who had come to Iraq from other countries, mainly Saudi Arabia.^[2]

Groups

Salafist jihadist groups include Al Qaeda, the now defunct Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA), and the Egyptian group Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya which still exists.^[2]

Related: Salafi movement · salafi in the Philippines · History of salafi

External references: ^[2][5][6]