Search Results (27)

This paper revisits Saudi Arabia’s religious statecraft through the lens of Pax Wahhabica, interrogating the transnational diffusion, strategic reconfiguration, and evolving instrumentalisation of Wahhabism as a modality of imperial theopolitics and a conduit of ideological projection. Tracing Wahhabism from its eighteenth-century roots, through its Cold War entrenchment as a bulwark against secular nationalism, to its post-9/11 fragmentation, this study offers a conceptual re-evaluation of Wahhabism not as a fixed theological doctrine but as a malleable constellation of norms and discourses continuously calibrated to state interest. Theoretically anchored in soft power analysis, constructivist norm diffusion, Gramscian hegemony, and Foucauldian governmentality, this paper examines how religious norms are mobilised through affective discourse, institutional socialisation, and securitised governance to advance regime resilience. Through empirical case studies on Bosnia, Indonesia, and Nigeria, it elucidates how Wahhabi norms were localised, hybridised, and, in some instances, weaponised against their progenitors. Finally, this paper examines the domestic reconfiguration and international repositioning of Wahhabism under Muḥammad bin Salmān, arguing that contemporary Saudi theopolitics marks not the abandonment of Wahhabism but its reconversion into a strategically curated, domesticated ideology. Pax Wahhabica, thus, persists—not as an unbroken theological doctrine but as a hybrid ideational empire in which Islam is strategically retooled as an instrument of hegemonic statecraft. Full article

Based on ethnographic data collected in Germany, this article compares ultra-conservative Salafi and progressive, LGBTQI-plus Muslim movements and examines their negotiation of religious identity and practice within and in contrast to ‘mainstream Islam’ (e.g., DİTİB). While on the surface these movements appear to be on the fringes of Islam and clearly opposed to each other, a closer look reveals interesting moments of convergence and publicly gained prominence. In doing so, this article explores the actor biography issues that drive affiliation, including negative experiences with mainstream mosques and the search for authentic expression and roots. It analyses the politics of labelling (e.g., ‘Salafi’, ‘liberal’), and how these groups define their target audiences in relation to the perceived mainstream. It examines the negotiation of cultural diversity and Islamic ‘purity’, contrasting Salafi reform with progressive interpretations. Finally, it examines strategies for challenging mainstream institutions. By comparing these groups, the article offers a nuanced insight into Islamic practices at the margins. It sheds light on the various strategies employed to discredit mainstream Islamic institutions, ranging from theological differences to power struggles within the contested religious field. Full article

This open-source-based article presents an automated method for identifying and tracing popular Salafi discussions online. The novelty of this method lies in its inter-disciplinary approach developed through collaboration among experts in the fields of the Middle East, Islamic studies, and computer science. The computerized model presented here harnesses machine learning techniques to accurately identify popular Salafi writings on social media and to distinguish them from the writings of Muslims from other denominations. Creating an AI-supported model to distinguish between writings on social media that pertain to two different Islamic denominations is a highly difficult task. Based on this machine learning model and the methodology that it implements, the study presented here identifies United Kingdom-based Twitter accounts that embody Salafi thinking (even if they do not utilize terminology that is manifestly Salafi) and, based on that identification, analyzes and characterizes the United Kingdom-based Salafi community on Twitter. Unlike other machine learning ideology-related studies that are focused on Salafi-jihadism, the present research is focused on quietist Salafism (Salafi-taqlidis) in the United Kingdom. The purpose of this study is to examine the virtual Salafi community in the United Kingdom, with a focus on identifying the key issues of concern to its members and assessing the influence of global Salafi trends within this UK-based community. Full article

This article traces the strengthening of Muslim movements in Jordan, emphasizing the period that marked the beginning of the regional upheaval (2011). It aims to examine whether and how this strengthening affected religious, national, and political identities. The article examines the interrelationships between the Hashemite regime and the Salafi movements in Jordan during and after the Arab Spring. This examination shows that there was a deterioration, aggravation, and erosion in these relations, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, also an understanding on the part of the regime that despite this the Salafis are interested in taking part in the Jordanian political game. In this discourse between the Salafi movements and the regime, we will also examine whether the movements sought to change the regime’s nature and, thus, the nature of society in Jordan from a Hashemite national identity to a Salafi identity. The article is based on secondary and primary sources that unfold a fascinating picture of dialectics and dialog between the ideological extremes of democracy and Islam. The main findings are that these processes, during and after the Arab Spring, tend to contain religious groups that will also participate in politics, out of recognition of the supremacy of the law of the state, which is not necessarily religious. Full article

In the aftermath of the 2003 Casablanca bombings, the Moroccan state emphasized, through official public discourse, the components that constitute “official Moroccan Islam” to combat extremist ideologies. These religious elements include Mālikism in jurisprudence, Ashʿarism in theology, and the Sufism of Imam Al-Junayd (d. 298/910), all balanced by the pledge of allegiance to King Mohammed VI (a descendant of the Sharifian lineage), the constitutionally designated Commander of the Faithful and sole religious leader. Since the reform policy initiated in 2004, the Moroccan state has constructed a narrative on the distinctiveness of Moroccan Islam—moderate and tolerant—and promoted it among its own citizens and beyond its borders. However, while the Moroccan state claims to have a unique form of Islam, controversial arguments have been raised questioning the nature of the state’s purported Islam. Other criticisms include investigating the state’s endorsement of Sufism and its broader policy of institutionalization. Yet, this article argues that the state supports any form of Islam, not necessarily Sufism, that aligns with its religious and political leadership. Like other Arab and Muslim states, Morocco’s religious policy is impacted by the global context, where Salafism is now perceived as a threat to established worldviews. In addition, this article argues that Morocco’s support for Sufi Islam is based not merely on its perceived political passivity, but because it complements the state’s policies and gains advantages from this support. It concludes that the official narrative of Moroccan Islam, which emphasizes a Sufi-oriented approach to counter extremism, is open to question, particularly given that Salafism was the state’s preferred form of Islam in post-colonial Morocco. This highlights the complex and often conflicting relationship between political actors and religious leaders in shaping Morocco’s religious discourse. Full article

Regarding organizational power, Salafism in France is a minority of dispersed groups emerging on the periphery of the Muslim French space. However, it can be regarded as a discursive force that has influenced significantly French discussions about Islam. Specifically, one of the most contentious positions in French political and intellectual discourse at the moment is Salafi vehement rejection of laïcité as a conspiracy against religion in general and Islam in particular. This article provides a close reading of three Salafi and neo-traditionalist discourses on secularism written by well-known theologians and intellectuals associated with this school of thought: Youssef Hindi, Kareem El Hidjaazi, and Aïssam Aït-Yahya. Investigative in nature, our aim is to comprehend the fundamental criticisms of French secularism and the rhetorical devices these Salafi and neo-traditionalist discourses have been using for the past ten years. Full article

The Wahhābī movement within Sunni Islam—a substantial section of the larger Salafi movement—has been often depicted in both western academic studies and Muslim polemical writings negatively as devoid of spirituality, obsessed with a particular creedal understanding that drives its well-known salvific exclusivism, and with rigid legalism. This depiction is partly due to Wahhābism’s historical opposition to Sufism, the branch of Islamic knowledge and practices that has theorized, defined, and delineated Islam’s vision of the spiritual transformation taking place in the believer’s journey towards God. That opposition notwithstanding, the article argues that beyond terminological distinctions, one can locate in Wahhābī texts common Islamic themes of spiritual transformation. Primarily, such texts can be found in Wahhābī publications of the writings of 13th century Damascene Muslim scholars like Ibn Taymīya (d. 728/1328) and his most celebrated student, Ibn Qayyim al-Jawzīya (d. 751/1350). Building on that tradition, Wahhābī scholars have additionally produced texts that display core ideals of the Muslim spiritual goals. Such texts have additionally advanced the movement’s theological concerns and have driven the efforts towards “the purification” of Islamic sources from what Wahhābis deem to be heretical practices and beliefs accumulated throughout the centuries. Wahhābī prophetological texts, the article argues, serve as primary sources where both Wahhābī spiritual ideals and their sectarian reparatory agenda can be identified. The book of the late Saʿīd b. Wahf al-Qaḥṭānī (1952–2018), a well-known Saudi Wahhābī author of the second half of the twentieth century, Raḥmatan li-l-ʿĀlamīn Muḥammad Rasūl Allāh, serves as a representative text of these aims and ideals. Wahhābī spirituality, as identified in the work of al-Qaḥṭānī, has been depicted here as “normative spirituality” in order to point to its intended purpose of engendering praxis that is grounded in Islam’s well-known notion of prophetic imitatio. Full article

Moving away from both the apologetic and polemical frames that have become ubiquitous in public discourses about Islam and Muslims, I position Salafism within the interpretative battles of the mainstream Sunni tradition. Through that analysis, I also highlight how the salafi orientation presents a difficult challenge for contemporary Muslims who seek to promote peace, pluralism and harmony within their communities and with other groups and communities in a fast-changing world. Full article

The rise of the Salafi movements in Indonesia during the last two decades has created an increasingly pessimistic view of the status of women in Islam. This paper aims to lessen this negative view by showing the tremendous contribution of ‘Aisyiyah, the oldest modern Muslim women’s organization in Indonesia, to transforming Indonesian society through literacy jihad for women and families. Using in-depth interviews with board members of ‘Aisyiyah, combined with library research to collect primary data on the past activities of ‘Aisyiyah, this qualitative research portrays how ‘Aisyiyah has preserved and maintained its consistency in conducting literacy jihad since the 1920s. Through the establishment of ‘Aisyiyah Bustanul Athfal Kindergarten, usually shortened to TK ABA, and the publication of Suara ‘Aisyiyah magazine, the literacy jihad of ‘Aisyiyah constantly empowers many Muslim women and families, especially those who live in urban areas across the country. Currently, the number of TK ABA has reached nearly 22,000 units, and the Suara ‘Aisyiyah has also entered a digital platform to continue raising the voice of women’s rights in Indonesia. Furthermore, we posit that the literary jihad programs of ‘Aisyiyah provide a new perspective on the relationship between modernist Muslim organizations and the Salafi movements, which have been seen as similar because they both subscribe to the same purification ideology. Full article

This article analyses the process of reversion to Salafism in Pekanbaru, Indonesia in the context of Muslims who have returned to Islam as a solution to their sense of deprivation. This return to Islam is considered by many as an initial solution to a feeling of deprivation which often manifests itself as a form of spiritual ‘emptiness’, accompanied by anxiety, depression and a lack of direction in life. The analysis in this article is based on extensive reading of relevant literature, participatory observation, and interviews conducted during fieldwork in Pekanbaru from July 2015 to June 2016. The discussion is based on three case studies of Salafi members, detailing their reversion to Salafism and the personal and sociological reasons for their choice to return to Islam, i.e., Salafism, after a certain period of time in their lives. Findings show that those who join the Salafi movement have previously experienced relative deprivation which led to a sense of existential deprivation. Full article

Since July 2009, when the popular founder of Boko Haram, Mohammed Yusuf, was extrajudicially killed by the police, the group has become radicalised. Boko Haram started by terrorising the country, particularly the northeastern zone, which extends to Cameroon, Niger, and Lake Chad. Several works on the group, mostly by foreign commentators and scholars, have mainly attributed its rise to political and economic factors. Many of those works have not also recognised the metamorphosis from terrorism to insurgency, wherein the group is now replacing the secular status of Nigeria’s configuration with a monolithic Islamic caliphal rule in the swathes of land that it has captured. Even though the Nigerian government has adopted the factors canvassed by those scholars and also denies the group an ideological anchorage, I argue that Boko Haram’s ideological scaffolding is hinged on ultra-jihadi Salafism. Relying on qualitative sources, I employ a historical and interpretive framework in explicating the origin of Boko Haram and in content analysing President Muhammad Buhari’s 2015 inaugural speech, which denies the group of any ideological leaning on Islam. I then contend that such a denial has made counter-insurgency measures of the government counter-productive, as efforts at meeting political and economic factors are difficult to achieve in the present circumstance. I, therefore, recommend counter-insurgency measures, which include, amongst others, Western education, Islamic de-radicalisation processes, and counter-insurgency narratives, as well as ideas to cut off the recruitment of youth into the group and military engagement, as both short- and long-term strategies. Full article

This article seeks to identify the driving factors, features, and significance of the transformation of Salafism in contemporary Muslim societies, a development labeled ‘post-Salafism’. Throughout the 20th century, Salafism grew into a global religious movement, with distinctive local characteristics. Its post-Salafi transformations have likewise been diverse and reflect local conditions. ‘Post-Salafism’ is a term employed congruently to point at the fragmentation of Salafi religious authority; the emergence of Salafi alliances with other Muslim groups, which challenge Salafi conceptions of doctrinal superiority; in Salafi softening of sectarian rhetoric as a way of distancing from militant groups; in Salafi “indigenization”; and in social and political transformations that overlap with post-Islamism. Post-Salafism refers additionally to debates within Salafi circles, reflective of emerging internal doctrinal contradictions. Since the founding of Saudi Arabia in 1932, the kingdom has played a unique role in promoting, financing, and building the institutional network of global Salafism. The transformation of Saudi Salafism, therefore, resulting from changes in government policy, public pressure, and internal revisionism, will effect Salafism globally, pointing at a transformative moment in Muslim religious thought and authority structures. Full article

This article aims at revisiting the history of Egyptian Islamic activism during the important decade of the 1970s, by reintroducing a crucial element that is absent from the existing academic literature: the role played by Salafi ideas in the religious socialization of 1970s Egyptian Islamic activists. Far from only being the product of Saudi Arabia’s intense petrodollar-funded proselytization efforts, these Salafi ideas had already gained a foothold in Egypt in the first half of the 20th century, when they started being promoted by organizations such as Ansar al-Sunna al-Muhammadiyya, which saw itself as a rival to the Muslim Brotherhood. Reintroducing this element helps complexify a historiographical narrative of the 1970s that has been mostly centered around the Muslim Brotherhood and the posthumous role played by the ideas of radical thinker Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966), and it is key to a more accurate and nuanced understanding of the subsequent evolutions of Egyptian Islamic activism. Full article

A disproportionate emphasis on the work of Western European and North American scholars has been a feature of investigations into the development of the academic study of religion. This article seeks to examine how a non-European intellectual, the Syrian Muḥammad Kurd ʿAlī (1876–1953), produced and transmitted knowledge about religions in his encyclopedic historical topography of ‘Greater Syria’—the Khiṭaṭ al-Shām (1925–1928). Kurd ʿAlī was a leading figure in the Nahḍa, an intellectual movement that sought to revivify Arab (and for some, Islamic) culture through a rediscovery of its classical heritage and was a proponent of a reformist tendency within Sunnī Islam known as Salafism—often associated with the thought of Jamāl al-Dīn al-Afghānī and Muḥammad ʿAbduh. Kurd ʿAlī’s religiography in the Khiṭaṭ, though grounded in traditional Islamic discourse on the religious other, moves beyond that discourse to privilege the experiences and accounts of insiders. This move from heresiography to religiography is best seen through a close reading of Kurd ʿAlī’s writing on the ʿAlawīs (formerly known as Nuṣayrīs). Kurd ʿAlī’s writing on the ʿAlawīs is also an important witness to a vital phase in the development of that group’s articulation of its own identity in an environment that had been at best indifferent and at worst hostile to its existence. Full article

As is also the case in other parts of the world, Salafi interpretations of Islam appear to be on the rise in Sweden, especially among young people turning to Islam. One of the most active and visible missionising Salafi organisations in Sweden is called islam.nu. It is based in Stockholm but has a national outreach programme and a very active online presence. This article focuses on islam.nu and a dawa campaign called #karavanen (the Caravan) and how it was advertised and developed on the social media platform Instagram from March 2018 to March 2020. By using market and consumer value theories to analyse the Instagram content related to the #karavanen, the article is an explorative attempt to approach contemporary Salafi missionising and growth from a new perspective. Full article