Contributed by Rachel Foran, MTS Student, Harvard Divinity School
Salafism (al-Salafiyya) is a global purist movement of Islamic reform, which seeks to regenerate Islam by a return to the doctrine of the salaf (pious forefathers; companions of the Prophet). Salafism is not a monolithic, homogenous movement. Although most Salafis share a consensus on what constitutes Islamic theology and Islamic law, within the movement exists a spectrum of views on how best to politically engage with society. Salafi political engagement is typically understood as having any of four manifestations: (1) Salafi Jihadis, who demand violent action against the existing political order; (2) harakis, who advocate non-violent political activism; (3) scholastic Salafis, who embody a quietist posture and focus on minor issues of Islamic law, as well as purification and education; and (4) evangelizing Salafis (al-salafiyya al-da`wiyya), who actively call individuals, Muslim and non-Muslim, to the “true” and “pure” Islam.
Salafism emerged in Syria in the late 19th century among a group of reformist-minded ‘ulama, under the leadership of Amir ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza’iri. These reformist scholars were responding to the recent introduction of Western-style reforms in the country, as well as reacting to the widespread growth of a popular form of Sufism and the harnessing of religious orthodoxy by certain Sufi sheikhs in the service of Sultan Abdulhamid II’s regime. The scholars believed that a doctrinally pure Islam, achieved by re-examining Islamic sources (Qur’an and Sunna) through ijtihad (independent exercise of legal judgment and interpretation), would address the Western rationalist challenge.
In their call for a return to the “pious forefathers,” Salafis in Syria discredited and criticized the increasingly popular Sufi tradition, mainly for the tradition’s more mystical, spiritual, and quietist elements. However, the split between a state-coopted Sufism and a state-suppressed Salafism in Syria is not as simple as it is sometimes portrayed. In fact, many of the early Salafis from Syrian cities hailed from an orthodox Sufi background, and they remained loyal to elements of the tradition. The contemporary Salafi-Sufi dynamic also suggests that the two movements are not separable, but instead exist within an interconnected dialogue that has elements of both antagonism and cooperation.
In Syria, extremist Salafi Jihadis procure the most attention in today’s popular media, however, they represent a minor strand within the Syrian Salafi movement. The Assad regime has officially banned any sort of Salafi group in Syria, which is often one of the reasons why Salafis as a whole are understood as being part of the anti-regime extremist opposition. In actually, the reality of the Salafiyya movement, particularly in its many manifestations of political engagement, is much too complex for this simplistic characterization.
Sources
"Salafiyya," Encyclopedia of Islam, s.v Brill Online (2013), accessed October 3, 2013.
Bernard Haykel, “On the Nature of Salafi Thought and Action,” Global Salafism: Islam’s New Religious Movement, ed. Roel Meijer (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), p. 42.
Noah Salomon, “The Salafi Critique of Islamism: Doctrine, Difference and the Problem of Islamic Political Action in Contemporary Sudan,” Global Salafism: Islam’s New Religious Movement, ed. Roel Meijer (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), p. 147.
Itzchak Weismann, “Between Sufi Reformism and Modernist Rationalism: A Reappraisal of the Origins of the Salafiyya from the Damascene Angle,” Die Welt des Islams, Vol. 41, No. 2 (July 2001), p. 208.
Itzchak Weismann, “The Politics of Popular Religion: Sufis, Salafis, and Muslim Brothers in 20th Century Hamah,” International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 37, No.1 (Feb 2005), p. 42.