Salafism jihadism
Encyclopedia
Salafist jihadism is a jihadist
movement among Salafi
Muslims. The term was coined by scholar Gilles Kepel
to describe Salafi
who became interested in violent jihad during the mid-1990s. Practitioners are often referred to as Salafi jihadis or Salafi jihadists.
alienation from all things non-Muslim—including "mainstream European society"—and violent jihad created a "volatile mixture".
"When you're in the state of such alienation you become easy prey to the jihadi guys who will feed you more savory propaganda than the old propaganda of the Salafists who tell you to pray, fast and who are not taking action."
According to 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."
Salafist jihadists distinguished themselves from salafis they called "sheikist", so named because they had (according to the jihadists) forsaken adoration of God for adoration of "the oil sheiks of the Arabian peninsula, with the Al Saud family at their head". The theorist was Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baaz "the archetypal court ulema [ulama al-balat]". These "false" salalfi "had to be striven against and eliminated," but even more dangerous was the Muslim Brotherhood
, who were believed by Salafi Jihadists to be; excessively moderate and lacking in literal interpretation of holy texts.
Another definition of Salafi jihadism, offered by Mohammed M. Hafez, is an "extreme form of Sunni Islamism
that rejects democracy
and Shia rule." Hafez distinguished them not only with apolitical and conservative Salafi scholars (such as Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani, Muhammad ibn al Uthaymeen
, Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baaz and Abdul-Azeez ibn Abdullaah Aal ash-Shaikh
), but from the sahwa movement associated with Salman al-Ouda
or Safar Al-Hawali
.
According to Mohammed M. Hafez, contemporary jihadi Salafism is characterized by "five features" -
Antecedents of Salafism jihadism include Islamist author Sayyid Qutb
, who developed the idea that the Islamic world has been replaced by pagan ignorance of Jahiliyyah
, and the group Takfir wal-Hijra
, who kidnapped and murdered an Egyptian ex-government minister in 1978.
, the Syrian Mustafa Setmariam Nasar
, the Egyptian Mustapha Kamel, known as Abu Hamza al-Masri
and later Osama bin Laden
. The dissident Saudi preachers Salman al-Ouda
and Safar Al-Hawali
, were held in high esteem by this school.
Murad Al-shishani of the The Jamestown Foundation
states there have been three generations of Salafi-jihadists: those waging jihad in Afghanistan
, Bosnia and Iraq
. As of the mid-00s, 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
. Unlike in earlier Salafi jihadi actions "a significant constituency of Egyptians" was not among the volunteers. According to Bruce Livesey Salafist jihadists are currently a "burgeoning presence in Europe, having attempted more than 30 terrorist attacks among E.U. countries" from September 2001 to the beginning of 2005".
According to Mohammed M. Hafez, in Iraq jihadi salafi are pursuing a "system-collapse stategy" whose goal is to install an "Islamic emirate based on Sunni dominance, similar to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan." In addition to occupation/coalition personnel they target mainly Iraqi security forces and Shia civilians, but also "foreign journalists, translators and transport drivers and the economic and physical infrastructure of Iraq."
Vittorio Arrigoni
in Hamas
-controlled Gaza Strip
.
(GIA) and prior to 2009, Kashmir
-based Lashkar-e-Taiba
. According to Mohammed M. Hafez, "as of 2006 the two major groups within the jihadi Salafi camp" in Iraq were the Mujahidin Shura Council and the Ansar al Sunna Group. There are also a number of small jihadist Salafist groups in Azerbaijan
. Jund Ansar Allah
is, or was, an armed Salafist jihadist organization in the Gaza Strip
. On August 14, 2009, the group's spiritual leader, Sheikh Abdel Latif Moussa
, announced during Friday sermon the establishment of an Islamic emirate in the Palestinian territories attacking the ruling authority, the Islamist group Hamas
, for failing to enforce Sharia
law. Hamas forces responded to his sermon by surrounding his Ibn Taymiyya mosque complex and attacking it. In the fighting that ensued, 24 people (including Sheikh Abdel Latif Moussa himself), were killed and over 130 were wounded.
Jihadism
Jihadism is a term to describe the renewed focus on armed jihad in radical Islamic fundamentalism....
movement among Salafi
Salafi
A Salafi come from Sunni Islam is a follower of an Islamic movement, Salafiyyah, that is supposed to take the Salaf who lived during the patristic period of early Islam as model examples...
Muslims. The term was coined by scholar Gilles Kepel
Gilles Kepel
Gilles Kepel is a French political scientist, specialist of the Islam and contemporary Arab world. He is Professor at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris and member of the Institut Universitaire de France....
to describe Salafi
Salafi
A Salafi come from Sunni Islam is a follower of an Islamic movement, Salafiyyah, that is supposed to take the Salaf who lived during the patristic period of early Islam as model examples...
who became interested in violent jihad during the mid-1990s. Practitioners are often referred to as Salafi jihadis or Salafi jihadists.
Background
Whereas "Salafists originally are supposedly not violent," and the Salafis whom Gilles Kepel encountered in Europe in the 1980s were "totally apolitical", by the mid 1990s he met some who felt jihad in the form of "violence and terrorism were justified to realize their political objectives". The combination of SalafiSalafi
A Salafi come from Sunni Islam is a follower of an Islamic movement, Salafiyyah, that is supposed to take the Salaf who lived during the patristic period of early Islam as model examples...
alienation from all things non-Muslim—including "mainstream European society"—and violent jihad created a "volatile mixture".
"When you're in the state of such alienation you become easy prey to the jihadi guys who will feed you more savory propaganda than the old propaganda of the Salafists who tell you to pray, fast and who are not taking action."
According to 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."
Salafist jihadists distinguished themselves from salafis they called "sheikist", so named because they had (according to the jihadists) forsaken adoration of God for adoration of "the oil sheiks of the Arabian peninsula, with the Al Saud family at their head". The theorist was Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baaz "the archetypal court ulema [ulama al-balat]". These "false" salalfi "had to be striven against and eliminated," but even more dangerous was the Muslim Brotherhood
Muslim Brotherhood
The Society of the Muslim Brothers is the world's oldest and one of the largest Islamist parties, and is the largest political opposition organization in many Arab states. It was founded in 1928 in Egypt by the Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna and by the late 1940s had an...
, who were believed by Salafi Jihadists to be; excessively moderate and lacking in literal interpretation of holy texts.
Another definition of Salafi jihadism, offered by Mohammed M. Hafez, is an "extreme form of Sunni Islamism
Islamism
Islamism also , lit., "Political Islam" is set of ideologies holding that Islam is not only a religion but also a political system. Islamism is a controversial term, and definitions of it sometimes vary...
that rejects democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and Shia rule." Hafez distinguished them not only with apolitical and conservative Salafi scholars (such as Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani, Muhammad ibn al Uthaymeen
Muhammad ibn al Uthaymeen
Sheikh Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Saalih ibn Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen at-Tamimi an-Najdi was one of the most prominent Sunni Islamic scholars of the latter half of the twentieth century...
, Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baaz and Abdul-Azeez ibn Abdullaah Aal ash-Shaikh
Abdul-Azeez ibn Abdullaah Aal ash-Shaikh
Abd al-'Aziz ibn 'Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Lateef Aal ash-Shaikh is a Muslim scholar and the current Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia.-Biography:...
), but from the sahwa movement associated with Salman al-Ouda
Salman al-Ouda
Salman bin Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Ouda or Salman al-Ouda , Salman al-Oadah, Salman Al-Audah, or Salman Al-Awdah -alias Abu Mu'ad - is a Saudi cleric or Sheikh and Muslim scholar. Al-Ouda is a member of the International Union for Muslim Scholars and on its Board of Trustees...
or Safar Al-Hawali
Safar Al-Hawali
Safar bin Abdul-Rahman al-Hawali is a Saudi Islamic scholar who lives in Mecca. His name is sometimes associated with either Osama bin Laden and terrorism.-Biography:...
.
According to Mohammed M. Hafez, contemporary jihadi Salafism is characterized by "five features" -
- immense emphasis on the concept of tawhidTawhidTawhid is the concept of monotheism in Islam. It is the religion's most fundamental concept and holds God is one and unique ....
(unity of God); - God's sovereignty (hakimiyyat Allah) which defines right and wrong, good and evil, and which supersedes human reasoning is applicable in all places on earth and at all times, and makes unnecessary and unIslamic other ideologies such as liberalism or humanism;
- the rejection of all innovation (Bid‘ah) to Islam;
- the permissibility and necessity of takfirTakfirIn Islamic law, takfir or takfeer refers to the practice of one Muslim declaring another Muslim an unbeliever or kafir...
(the declaring of a Muslim to be outside the creed, so that they must either repent or face execution); - and on the centrality of jihadJihadJihad , an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād translates as a noun meaning "struggle". Jihad appears 41 times in the Quran and frequently in the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of God ". A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is...
against infidel regimes.
Antecedents of Salafism jihadism include Islamist author Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb was an Egyptian author, educator, Islamist theorist, poet, and the leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and '60s....
, who developed the idea that the Islamic world has been replaced by pagan ignorance of Jahiliyyah
Jahiliyyah
Jahiliyyah is an Islamic concept of "ignorance of divine guidance" or "the state of ignorance of the guidance from God" or "Days of Ignorance" referring to the condition in which Arabs found themselves in pre-Islamic Arabia, i.e. prior to the revelation of the Qur'an to Muhammad...
, and the group Takfir wal-Hijra
Takfir wal-Hijra
Jama'at al-Muslimin , popularly known as Takfir wal-Hijra , was a radical Islamist group led by Shukri Mustafa, which emerged in Egypt in the 1960s as an offshoot of Muslim Brotherhood, inspired by Sayyid Qutb.The group was...
, who kidnapped and murdered an Egyptian ex-government minister in 1978.
Numbers
Journalist Bruce Livesey estimates Salafi jihadists constitute less than 1 percent of the world's 1.9 billion Muslims (c. 10 million).Leaders, groups and activities
Its leaders included Afghan jihad veterans such as the Palestinian Abu QatadaAbu Qatada
Abû-Qatâda al-Filisṭînî , sometimes called Abû-Omar is an Islamist militant. Under the name Omar Mahmoud Othman , he is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations Security Council Committee 1267 for his affiliation with al-Qaeda...
, the Syrian Mustafa Setmariam Nasar
Mustafa Setmariam Nasar
Mustafa bin Abd al-Qadir Sitt Maryam Nasar is a suspected al-Qaeda member and writer. He has held Spanish citizenship since the late 1980s following marriage to a Spanish woman....
, the Egyptian Mustapha Kamel, known as Abu Hamza al-Masri
Abu Hamza al-Masri
Abu Hamza al-Masri is an Egyptian Sunni activist known for his preaching of a violent and politicised interpretation of Islam, also known as militant Islamism or jihadism...
and later Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
. The dissident Saudi preachers Salman al-Ouda
Salman al-Ouda
Salman bin Fahd bin Abdullah Al-Ouda or Salman al-Ouda , Salman al-Oadah, Salman Al-Audah, or Salman Al-Awdah -alias Abu Mu'ad - is a Saudi cleric or Sheikh and Muslim scholar. Al-Ouda is a member of the International Union for Muslim Scholars and on its Board of Trustees...
and Safar Al-Hawali
Safar Al-Hawali
Safar bin Abdul-Rahman al-Hawali is a Saudi Islamic scholar who lives in Mecca. His name is sometimes associated with either Osama bin Laden and terrorism.-Biography:...
, were held in high esteem by this school.
Murad Al-shishani of the The Jamestown Foundation
The Jamestown Foundation
The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.-based institute for research and analysis, founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet dissidents. Today its stated mission is to "inform and educate" policy makers about events and trends, which it regards as being of current "strategic"...
states there have been three generations of Salafi-jihadists: those waging jihad in Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, Bosnia and Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. As of the mid-00s, 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
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
. Unlike in earlier Salafi jihadi actions "a significant constituency of Egyptians" was not among the volunteers. According to Bruce Livesey Salafist jihadists are currently a "burgeoning presence in Europe, having attempted more than 30 terrorist attacks among E.U. countries" from September 2001 to the beginning of 2005".
According to Mohammed M. Hafez, in Iraq jihadi salafi are pursuing a "system-collapse stategy" whose goal is to install an "Islamic emirate based on Sunni dominance, similar to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan." In addition to occupation/coalition personnel they target mainly Iraqi security forces and Shia civilians, but also "foreign journalists, translators and transport drivers and the economic and physical infrastructure of Iraq."
2011
In 2011, Salafi jihadists were actively involved with protests against King Abdullah II of Jordan and the kidnapping followed by a swift murder of Italian peace activistPeace activist
This list of peace activists includes people who proactively advocate diplomatic, non-military resolution of political disputes, usually through nonviolent means.A peace activist is an activist of the peace movement.*Jane Addams*Martti Ahtisaari...
Vittorio Arrigoni
Vittorio Arrigoni
Vittorio Arrigoni was an Italian reporter, writer, pacifist and activist. Arrigoni worked with the pro-Palestinian International Solidarity Movement in the Gaza Strip, from 2008 until his death...
in Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
-controlled Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
.
Groups
Salafist jihadists groups include Al Qaeda, the now defunct Algerian Armed Islamic GroupArmed Islamic Group
The Armed Islamic Group is an Islamist organisation that wants to overthrow the Algerian government and replace it with an Islamic state...
(GIA) and prior to 2009, Kashmir
Kashmir
Kashmir is the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term Kashmir geographically denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range...
-based Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba – also transliterated as Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar Taiba or LeT – is one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan.It was founded by Hafiz Muhammad...
. According to Mohammed M. Hafez, "as of 2006 the two major groups within the jihadi Salafi camp" in Iraq were the Mujahidin Shura Council and the Ansar al Sunna Group. There are also a number of small jihadist Salafist groups in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
. Jund Ansar Allah
Jund Ansar Allah
Jund Ansar Allah is an armed Islamist organization operating in the Gaza Strip. On August 14, 2009, the group's spiritual leader, Sheikh Abdel Latif Moussa, announced the establishment of an Islamic emirate in the Palestinian territories and criticized the ruling power, Hamas, for failing to...
is, or was, an armed Salafist jihadist organization in the Gaza Strip
Gaza Strip
thumb|Gaza city skylineThe Gaza Strip lies on the Eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Strip borders Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the south, east and north. It is about long, and between 6 and 12 kilometres wide, with a total area of...
. On August 14, 2009, the group's spiritual leader, Sheikh Abdel Latif Moussa
Abdel Latif Moussa
Abdel Latif Moussa , also known as Abu Noor al-Maqdisi , was the leader of the Salafist Jihadist group Jund Ansar Allah , an Islamist group in Rafah, Gaza Strip...
, announced during Friday sermon the establishment of an Islamic emirate in the Palestinian territories attacking the ruling authority, the Islamist group Hamas
Hamas
Hamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
, for failing to enforce Sharia
Sharia
Sharia law, is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia is derived from two primary sources of Islamic law: the precepts set forth in the Quran, and the example set by the Islamic prophet Muhammad in the Sunnah. Fiqh jurisprudence interprets and extends the application of sharia to...
law. Hamas forces responded to his sermon by surrounding his Ibn Taymiyya mosque complex and attacking it. In the fighting that ensued, 24 people (including Sheikh Abdel Latif Moussa himself), were killed and over 130 were wounded.