Abstract
The Salafis represent a diverse community with core constituents in Saudi Arabia and additional millions of adherents across the Muslim world and the West. Unlike the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), which is a distinct organization with easily identifiable branches, “salafi” refers to a trend or, as the Salafis prefer to describe themselves, a methodology (manhaj). Consequently, their universe has come to encompass a highly varied set of actors who share a common religious doctrine but exhibit quite divergent political views.1 Thus they are comprised of multiple and often competing neighborhood preachers, societal groups, televangelists, and, largely after the Arab Spring, political parties. The vast majority, however, continue to shun politics. In fact, some of its most senior scholars insist that those who engage in politics are outside the Salafi tradition. We will only touch on Salafi religious views to explain their location in the wider Islamist milieu, for our focus in this chapter is the movement’s recent political manifestations and, in particular, on those groups that have moved toward political participation. But before we analyze Salafism as a political subgroup within Islamism, a definition of the phenomenon and a brief discussion of its origins are in order.
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Notes
Roel Meijer, ed., Global Salafism: Islam’s New Religious Movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009). This book represents an attempt to capture the various manifestations of Salafism around the Islamic world.
Quintan Wiktorowicz, “Anatomy of the Salafi Movement,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 29 (2006): 207–39.
As quoted in Jami’at Ihyaa’ Minhaaj al-Sunnah, A Brief Introduction to the Salafi Da’wah (Ipswich, Suffolk, UK: Jami’at Ihyaa’ Minhaaj al-Sunnah, 1993), 3. There are many variations of this hadith. See Tirmidhi, 2:89.
David Commin, The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia (London: I.B. Tauris, 2006);
Christopher M. Blanchard, “The Islamic Tradition of Wahhabism and Salafiyya,” Congressional Research Service, RS21695, January 25, 2006. Stephane Lacroix uses “Wahhabi” to distinguish from the later “Muslim reformists,” who also refer to themselves as salafi. See
Stephane Lacroix, Awakening Islam: The Politics of Religious Dissent in Contemporary Saudi Arabia (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011), 10.
For the best scholarly treatment of Ibn Abd al-Wahab and his thought, please see Natania J. Delong-Bas, Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad (London: I.B. Tauris, 2004).
Al-Fahad, Abdulaziz H. “From Exclusivism to Accommodation: Doctrinal and Legal Evolution of Wahhabism.” NYUL Rev. 79 (2004): 485..
Yossef Rapoport and Shahab Ahmed, Ibn Taymiyah and His Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 2010). For further examination of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s thought, see Commin, The Wahhabi Mission;
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Nikki Keddie, An Islamic Response to Imperialism: Political and Religious Writings of Sayyid Jamal ad-Din “al-Afghani” (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983).
Bernard Haykel, “On the Nature of Salafi Thought and Action,” in Global Salafism: Islam’s New Religious Movement, ed. Roel Meijer (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), 34.
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Mamoun Fandy, Saudi Arabia and the Politics of Dissent (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1999). Also see
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William McCants, “The Lesser of Two Evils: The Salafi Turn to Party Politics in Egypt,” Middle East Memo (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, May 2012), 1–8.
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Kamran Bokhari, “Salafism and Arab Democratization,” October 2, 2012. Stratfor: Austin, TX. http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/salafism-and-arab-democratization.
William McCants, “The Lesser of Two Evils: The Salafi Turn to Party Politics in Egypt,” Middle East Memo (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, May 2012), 1–8.
Fred Lawson, “Demands for Political Participation in the Arab Gulf States,” International Journal 49, no. 2 (1994): 378–407.
Christian Caryl, “The Salafi Moment,” Foreign Policy (September 12, 2012). www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/09/12/the_salafi_moment.
Al-Fath (official mouthpiece of the Salafi Da’wa), January 4, 2012. As quoted in Lacroix, Stéphane. “Sheikhs and Politicians: Inside the New Egyptian Salafism.” Policy Brief (Brookings Doha Center June 2012).
Aaron Y. Zelin, “Democracy, Salafi Style,” Foreign Policy, (July 20, 2012). www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/07/19/democracy_salafi_style.
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© 2013 Kamran Bokhari and Farid Senzai
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Bokhari, K., Senzai, F. (2013). Conditionalist Islamists: The Case of the Salafis. In: Political Islam in the Age of Democratization. Middle East Today. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137313492_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137313492_5
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