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{{Short description|Sunni Islamic reformist movement}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2019}}
{{Salafi|all}}
The '''Salafi movement''' or '''Salafism''' ({{Langx|ar|السلفية|translit=as-Salafiyya}}) is a [[Islamic fundamentalism|fundamentalist]] [[Islamic revival|revival]] movement within [[Sunni Islam]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ak_1CnYlinMC&q=Salafi+sect&pg=PA27 |title=Legal Integration of Islam |last=Joppke |first=Christian |date=2013 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0674074910 |page=27 |language=en |quote=Salafism, which is a largely pietistic, [[apolitical]] sect favoring a literal reading of the Quran and Sunnah.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Salafism in Jordan: Political Islam in a Quietist Community |author=Joas Wagemakers |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L13WDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA227 |page=227 |quote=These men adhere to the Salafi branch of Islam |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2016|isbn=978-1107163669 }}</ref><ref name="Harvard Divinity">{{cite web|title=The Rise of European Colonialism|url=https://rlp.hds.harvard.edu/rise-european-colonialism|publisher=Harvard Divinity School|access-date=9 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180409171633/https://rlp.hds.harvard.edu/rise-european-colonialism|archive-date=9 April 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Esposito |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6VeCWQfVNjkC&q=salafi+movement+reform&pg=PA275 |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam |date=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0195125597 |page=275 |access-date=5 December 2015}}</ref> originating in the late 19th century and influential in the [[Islamic world]] to this day.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mahmood |first=Saba |title=Politics of piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0691149806 |page=61 |chapter=2: Topography of the Piety movement |quote='The Salafi movement emerged at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth in the context of European intellectual and political dominance in the Muslim World'}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=E. Curtis |first=Edward |title=Encyclopedia of Muslim-American History |publisher=Infobase Publishing |year=2010 |isbn=978-1438130408 |page=499 |language=English |quote="Salafi Muslims: As a social movement within Sunni Islam, Salafi Muslims ARE a global revivalism movement"}}</ref><ref name="handbookesposito">{{cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0195395891 |editor-last=L. Esposito, El-Din Shahin |editor-first=John, Emad |location=New York |page=38 |quote="Salafism, in its varying guises, has been an important trend in Islamic thought for more than a century."}}</ref> The name "''Salafiyyah''" is a self-designation,<ref>Ali, Mohamed. "Understanding Salafis, Salafism and Modern Salafism." Islamiyyat: International Journal of Islamic Studies 41.1 (2019).</ref> claiming a return to the traditions of the predecessors ({{transliteration|ar|[[salaf]]}}), the first three generations of [[Muslims]] (the [[Islamic prophet]] [[Muhammad in Islam|Muhammad]] and the {{transliteration|ar|[[Companions of the Prophet|Sahabah]]}} [his companions], then the {{transliteration|ar|[[Tabi'in]]}}, and the third generation, the {{transliteration|ar|[[Tabi' al-Tabi'in]]}}), who are believed to exemplify the pure form of [[Islam]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-EdvBAAAQBAJ&q=Salafist+doctrine&pg=PT73 |title=Religious Ideology and the Roots of the Global Jihad: Salafi Jihadism and International Order |last=Turner |first=J. |date= 2014 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1137409577 |language=en}}</ref> In practice, Salafis claim that they rely on the [[Quran|Qur'an]], the {{transliteration|ar|[[Sunnah]]}} and the {{transliteration|ar|[[Ijma]]}} (consensus) of the {{transliteration|ar|salaf}}, giving these writings precedence over what they claim as "later religious interpretations".<ref name="roots">Bin Ali Mohamed ''Roots Of Religious Extremism, The: Understanding The Salafi Doctrine Of Al-wala' Wal Bara'' World Scientific, 2015 {{ISBN|978-1783263943}} p. 61</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Anzalone|first=Christopher|date=2022-02-06|title=Salafism Goes Global: From the Gulf to the French Banlieues. By Mohamed-Ali Adraoui|url=https://doi.org/10.1093/jis/etac004|journal=[[Journal of Islamic Studies]]|volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=290–92|doi=10.1093/jis/etac004|issn=0955-2340|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The Salafi movement aimed to achieve a renewal of Muslim life, and had a major influence on many Muslim thinkers and movements across the Islamic world.<ref>{{Cite book|last=L. Esposito|first=John|title=The Oxford encyclopedia of the modern Islamic world|volume =3|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1995|isbn=0195096142|location=New York|page=463|quote=Salafiyah ... It aimed at the renewal of Muslim life and had a formative impact on many Muslim thinkers and movements across the Islamic world."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0195395891|editor-last=L. Esposito, El-Din Shahin|editor-first=John, Emad|location=New York|page=38|quote=Salafism has evolved under a number of key reformers, each of whom has brought his own unique insights and vision to the movement in response to the challenges of his national context.}}</ref>

Salafi Muslims oppose [[bid'ah]] (religious innovation) and support the implementation of {{transliteration|ar|[[sharia]]}} (Islamic law).<ref name=Economist27Jun15/> In its [[Political aspects of Islam|approach to politics]], the Salafi movement is sometimes divided by Western academics and journalists into three categories: the largest group being the purists (or [[Political quietism in Islam#Salafists|quietists]]), who avoid politics; the second largest group being the activists (or [[Islamism|Islamists]]), who maintain regular involvement in politics; and the third group being the [[Salafi jihadism|jihadists]], who form a minority and advocate armed struggle to restore early Islamic practice.<ref name="Economist27Jun15">{{cite news |title=Salafism: Politics and the puritanical |url=https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21656189-islams-most-conservative-adherents-are-finding-politics-hard-it-beats |access-date=29 June 2015 |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=27 June 2015 |archive-date=28 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150628193924/http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21656189-islams-most-conservative-adherents-are-finding-politics-hard-it-beats |url-status=live }}</ref> In [[Fiqh|legal matters]], Salafis advocate {{transliteration|ar|[[ijtihad]]}} (independent reasoning) and oppose {{transliteration|ar|[[taqlid]]}} (blind faith) to the four schools ({{transliteration|ar|[[madhahib]]}}) of [[Fiqh|Islamic jurisprudence]].

The origins of Salafism are disputed, with some historians like [[Louis Massignon]] tracing its origin to the intellectual movement in the second half of the nineteenth century that opposed [[Westernization]] emanating from [[European imperialism]] (led by [[Jamal al-Din al-Afghani|al-Afghani]], [[Muhammad Abduh]], and [[Rashid Rida]]).<ref name="Kepel, ''Jihad'', 2002, 219-220">Kepel, ''Jihad'', 2002, 219–220</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Understanding the Origins of Wahhabism and Salafism |url=https://jamestown.org/program/understanding-the-origins-of-wahhabism-and-salafism/ |access-date=2022-05-09 |website=Jamestown |language=en-US |archive-date=13 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170213081500/https://jamestown.org/program/understanding-the-origins-of-wahhabism-and-salafism/ |url-status=live }}</ref> However, Afghani and Abduh had not self-described as "Salafi" and the usage of the term to denote them has become outdated today.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Clinton |title=The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies |last2=Shepard |first2=William |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2013 |isbn=978-1441127884 |location= London|pages=163, 169–70 |chapter=6: Salafi Islam: The Study of Contemporary Religious-Political Movements |quote=It is common to distinguish two kinds of Salafism, which are quite different in many ways. One may be called "modernist" Salafism, or some would say "enlightened" Salafism. This form was... associated with such figures as Muhammad 'Abduh. ...  The other form may be called "conservative" or "text-oriented" Salafism. This was the form of Salafism before the mid-nineteenth century and variants of it have become prominent since the mid-twentieth century...  Muhammad 'Abduh's views.. are not usually labeled Salafi today... al-Afghani and 'Abduh referred to the salaf and have been called Salafi, they did not themselves adopt Salafi as a label for their thinking in general.}}</ref> Abduh's more orthodox student Rashid Rida followed hardline Salafism which opposed [[Sufism]], [[Shi'ism]] and incorporated traditional ''[[Madhhab|madh'hab]]'' system. Rida eventually became a champion of the [[Wahhabism|Wahhabi movement]] and would influence another strand of conservative Salafis.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Clinton |title=The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies |last2=Shepard |first2=William |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2013 |isbn=978-1441127884 |location= London|pages=170–71 |chapter=6: Salafi Islam: The Study of Contemporary Religious-Political Movements |quote=Rashid Rida (1865–1935), moved in the direction of a conservative Salafism... He was more polemical than 'Abduh and more rigid in his thinking. Where al-Afghani stressed the dynamism of early Islam and 'Abduh stressed its rationalism, Rida wanted to apply the model of the salaf as precisely as possible. He was more strongly opposed to Sufi practices and very critical of Shi'is. His basic concerns were Muslim activism (jihad in the broadest sense), unity of the umma (at least moral if not political), and truth, the true Islam that had been taught by the salaf. He did not reject the madhhabs but hoped for their gradual approximation and amalgamation... In the face of the growing secularism of the early twentieth century he welcomed and supported the Wahhabi movement}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Djait |first=Hicham |title=Islamic Culture in Crisis: A Reflection on Civilizations in History|publisher=Transaction Publishers |year=2011 |isbn=978-1412811408 |location=New Jersey |page=77 |translator-last=Fouli |translator-first=Janet}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Wahba |first=Mourad |title=Fundamentalism and |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2022 |isbn=978-1350228689 |location=London |page=69 |translator-last=K. Beshara |translator-first=Robert |quote=Religious fervor crystallized in the writings of Rashid Rida, the pioneer of the new Wahhabi Salafi movement and the editor-in-chief of al-Manar}}</ref> In the [[Islamic studies|modern academia]], Salafism is commonly used to refer to a cluster of contemporary Sunni [[Tajdid|renewal]] and [[Islah|reform]] movements inspired by the teachings of classical theologians—in particular [[Ibn Taymiyya]] (1263–1328 CE/661–728 AH).<ref>{{Cite book |last=C. Martin |first=Richard |title=Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World|edition=2nd |publisher=Gale Publishers |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-02-866269-5 |location=Farmington Hills, MI|page=1008 |quote="SALAFIYYA.. Contemporary Salafism can be defined as a Sunni reform movement that finds its roots in the Middle Ages, especially in the teachings of Taqi al-Din Ahmad ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328)"}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=E. Campo|first=Juan|title=Encyclopedia of Islam|publisher=Infobase Publishing|year=2009|isbn=978-0816054541|location=New York|page=601|quote=Salafism (Arabic: al-Salafiyya) Salafism refers to a cluster of different Sunni renewal and reform movements and ideologies in contemporary Islam}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Clinton |title=The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies |last2=Shepard |first2=William |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2013 |isbn=978-1441127884 |location= London |pages=163, 169–70 |chapter=6: Salafi Islam: The Study of Contemporary Religious-Political Movements}}</ref> These Salafis dismiss the 19th century reformers as [[Rationalism|rationalists]] who failed to interpret scripture in the most literal, traditional sense.<ref name="Bloomsbury">{{Cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Clinton |title=The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies |last2=Shepard |first2=William |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2013 |location=London|pages=170–71 |chapter=6: Salafi Islam: The Study of Contemporary Religious-Political Movements}}</ref>

Conservative Salafis regard Syrian [[Ulama|scholars]] like [[Rashid Rida]] ({{Abbr|d.|died}} 1935 CE/ 1354 AH) and [[Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib]] ({{Abbr|d.|died}} 1969 CE/ 1389 AH) as [[Mujaddid|revivalists]] of Salafi thought in the [[Arab world]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wagemakers |first=Joas |title=Salafism in Jordan: Political Islam in a Quietist Community |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1107163669 |location= Cambridge, UK|pages=96–97, 101 |chapter=3: The Transnational History of Salafism in Jordan}}</ref> Rida's religious orientation was shaped by his association with Salafi scholars who preserved the tradition of Ibn Taymiyya. These ideas would be popularised by Rida and his disciples, immensely influencing numerous Salafi organisations in the Arab world.<ref name="Bloomsbury"/> Some of the major Salafi reform movements in the Islamic world today include the ''[[Ahl-i Hadith]]'' movement, inspired by the teachings of [[Shah Waliullah Dehlawi]] and galvanized through the South Asian [[jihad]] of [[Sayyid Ahmad Shahid]];<ref>{{Cite book |last=Haroon |first=Sana |title=The Mosques of Colonial South Asia: A Social and Legal History of Muslim Worship |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-7556-3444-6 |location= London |page=33 |chapter=1: Tajpur, Bihar 1891: Leadership in Congregational Prayer}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Qasim Zaman |first=Muhammad |title=The Ulama in Contemporary Islam: Custodians of Change |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2002 |isbn=0691096805 |location=Princeton, New Jersey |page=40 |chapter=II: Constructions of Authority}}</ref> the [[Wahhabism|Wahhabi]] movement in [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]]; the [[Padri War#Padri|Padri]] movement of Indonesia; Algerian Salafism spearheaded by [[Abdelhamid Ben Badis]]; and others.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Clinton |title=The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies |last2=Shepard |first2=William |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2013 |isbn=978-1441127884 |location= London|page=179 |chapter=6: Salafi Islam: The Study of Contemporary Religious-Political Movements}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
The term ''Salafi'' as a proper noun and adjective had been used during the classical era to refer to the [[Traditionalist theology (Islam)|theological school]] of the early {{transliteration|ar|[[Ahl al-Hadith]]}} movement.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Meijer|first1=Roel|title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement|last2=Lacroix|first2=Stéphane |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0199333431|location=New York|page=38|chapter=Between Revolution and Apoliticism: On the Nature of Salafi thought and Action}}</ref> The treatises of the medieval [[History of Islam#Proto-Salafism|proto-Salafist]] theologian [[Ibn Taymiyya|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.<ref name="G. Rabil 2014 27, 28" />

It is only in [[Modernity|modern times]] that the label ''Salafi'' has been applied to a distinct movement and theological creed. Both modernists as well as traditionalists could apply the term. Both movements might have opposite approaches but advocate a belief that Islam has been altered and is in need of a return to a previous form of Islam allegedly practised by the ''Salafiyya''.<ref>Hamdeh, Emad. ''Salafism and traditionalism: Scholarly authority in modern Islam''. Cambridge University Press, 2021. p. 25–29</ref>

==Tenets==
According to [[Bernard Haykel]], "temporal proximity to the Prophet Muhammad is associated with the truest form of Islam" among many [[Sunni Muslims]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Haykel |first=Bernard |editor-first=Roel |editor-last=Meijer |title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2009 |page=34 |chapter=1: On the Nature of Salafi Thought and Action |isbn=978-0231154208}}</ref> 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). Also important in its ''manhaj'' (Arabic: منهج i.e. Methodology) are certain legal teachings as well as forms of sociability and politics.<ref>{{cite book|last=Haykel|first=Bernard|title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0231154208|editor-last=Meijer|editor-first=Roel|pages=34–35|chapter=1: On the Nature of Salafi Thought and Action|quote="Salafis are first and foremost religious and social reformers who are engaged in creating and reproducing particular forms of authority and identity, both personal and communal. Indeed, Salafis are determined to create a distinct Muslim subjectivity, one with profound social and political implications.It is important to understand Salafis as constituting a group that defines its reformist project first and foremost through credal tenets (i.e., a theology). Also important, though secondary, for their self-definition are certain legal teachings as well as forms of sociability and politics. I hope to show in this study that Salafism is a term that is heuristically useful because it is a marker of a distinctive form of engagement with the world, and one that is identifiable as such to many Muslims"}}</ref>

The Salafi ''[[da'wa]]'' is a methodology, but it is not a ''[[madhhab]]'' (school) in ''[[fiqh]]'' (jurisprudence) as is commonly misunderstood. Salafis oppose {{transliteration|ar|[[taqlid]]}} to the [[Maliki]], [[Shafi'i]], [[Hanbali]], [[Hanafi]] or [[Zahiri]]te law schools of [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] fiqh. The followers of Salafi school identify themselves as ''[[Sunni Islam|Ahlul Sunna wal Jama'ah]]'' and are also known as ''[[Ahl al-Hadith]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Asadullah al-Ghalib |first=Muhammad |title=AhlenHadeeth Movement – What and Why?|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2012|isbn= 978-9843347992| location=Kajla, Rajshahi, Bangladesh H.F.B. Publication: 35 |pages=625–43|quote=In different books of Hadeeth and in reliable books of Fiqh, the Ahle hadeeth have been described as Ahle hadeeth, Ashabul Hadeeth, Ahle Sunnah wal Jama'at, Ahlul Athar, Ahlul Haq, Muhadditheen, etc. As the followers of Salaf-i-Saleheen, they are also known as Salafi.}}</ref> The ''Salafiyya'' movement champions this early Sunni school of thought, also known as [[Traditionalist Theology (Islam)|traditionalist theology]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Schmidtke |first=Sabine |title=The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0199696703| location=New York|pages=625–43}}</ref>

Salafis place great emphasis on practicing actions in accordance with the known ''[[sunnah]],'' not only in [[Salah|prayer]] but in every activity in daily life. For instance, many are careful always to use three fingers when eating, to drink water in three pauses, and to hold it with the right hand while sitting.<ref name="roy-266">{{cite book |last1=Roy |first1=Olivier |title=Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=266 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b9eFGcsWnwEC&q=use+three+fingers+when+eating+roy&pg=PA266 |access-date=13 October 2016|isbn=978-0231134996 |year=2004 }}</ref> The main doctrines of [[Ibn Taymiyyah|Ibn Taymiyya]]'s school, also referred by various academics as "''al-Salafiyyah al-Tarikhiyah''" (trans: "Historical Salafism") consist of:<ref>{{Cite book |last=G. Rabil |first=Robert |title=Salafism in Lebanon: From Apoliticism to Transnational Jihadism |publisher=Georgetown University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1626161160 |location=Washington, DC |pages=25, 27–28 |chapter=1: The Creed, Ideology, and Manhaj (Methodology) of Salafism: A Historical and Contemporaneous Framework}}</ref>
* revival of "the authentic beliefs and practices" of ''[[Salaf as salih|Salaf al-Salih]]''
* "upholding tawhid (oneness of God)"
* rejection of partisanship towards ''[[Madhhab|madhahib]]''
* literalist adherence to religious scriptures
* loyalty to Islamic rulers who ruled by ''[[Sharia]]'' (Islamic law)
* objection to ''[[bid'ah]]'' and heresies

===Views on ''Taqlid'' (adherence to legal precedent)===
{{See also|Taqlid}}
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 [[Muhammad in Islam|Prophet]], his [[Companions of the Prophet|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).<ref>{{Cite journal|last=ElMasry|first=Shadee|year=2010|title=The Salafis in America|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13602004.2010.494072|journal=Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs|location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden|publisher=Routledge Publishers|volume=56|pages=219–20|doi=10.1080/13602004.2010.494072|s2cid=144096423|via=tandfonline|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In legal approach, Salafis usually support independent legal judgement (''[[ijtihad]]'') and reject strict adherence (''taqlid'') to the four schools of law (''madhahib'').<ref name="al-Yaqoubi">{{Cite book|last=Al-Yaqoubi|first=Muhammad|title=Refuting ISIS: A Rebuttal Of Its Religious And Ideological Foundations|publisher=Sacred Knowledge|year=2015|isbn=978-1908224125|page=xiii}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hamdeh|first=Emad|date=9 June 2017|title=Qurʾān and Sunna or the Madhhabs?: A Salafi Polemic Against Islamic Legal Tradition|journal=Islamic Law and Society|language=en|volume=24|issue=3|pages=211–53|doi=10.1163/15685195-00240A01|issn=1568-5195|url=https://commons.erau.edu/publication/1480|access-date=27 February 2021|archive-date=20 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420041036/https://commons.erau.edu/publication/1480/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>''The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought,'' p. 484</ref>

Although [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab]] (d. 1792 C.E/ 1206 A.H) had personally rejected the practice of ''taqlid'', [[Wahhabism|Wahhabi]] scholars sometimes favoured following the [[Hanbali]] ''madhhab'' and permitted ''taqlid'' in following ''[[fatwa]]s'' (juristic legal opinions).<ref>{{Cite book|last=H. Warren|first=David|title=Rivals in the Gulf|publisher=Routledge: Taylor & Francis|year=2021|isbn=978-0367280628|location=Abingdon, Oxon|page=5|quote=While Wahhab personally rejected the practice of adhering (taqlīd) to a particular legal school, the Wahhabi ʿulamāʾ who follow his thought do, in effect, practice a taqlīd of the Hanbali school...}}</ref> The doctrinal rejection of ''taqlid'' by Wahhabis would lead to subsequent emergence of prominent Wahhabi [[Ulama|ulema]] such as Sa'd ibn 'Atiq, [[Abdul-Rahman al-Sa'di|Abd al-Rahman al-Sa'dii]], [[al-Uthaymin]], [[Abd al-Aziz Bin Baz|Ibn Baz]], etc.; who would depart significantly from Hanbali law.<ref name="al-Yaqoubi" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Lacroix|first=Stéphane |title=Awakening Islam: The Politics of Religious Dissent in Contemporary Saudi Arabia |publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0674049642 |location=Cambridge, MA; London|pages=83–84|chapter= 3: Resistance to Sahwa Ascendancy}}</ref><ref name="muslimmatters.org">{{cite web|last=Qadhi|first=Dr. Yasir|date=22 April 2014|title=On Salafi Islam|url=https://muslimmatters.org/2014/04/22/on-salafi-islam-dr-yasir-qadhi/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170117190311/https://muslimmatters.org/2014/04/22/on-salafi-islam-dr-yasir-qadhi/|archive-date=17 January 2017|website=Muslimmatters}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Meijer|first=Roel|title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0-19-933343-1|location=New York|pages=43, 61–62, 63 |chapter=Between Revolution and Apoliticism: Nasir al-Din al-Albani and his Impact on the Shaping of Contemporary Salafism}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Gauvain|first=Richard|title=Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=2013|isbn= 978-0710313560 |location=New York|pages=8, 293}}</ref> Leading Salafi scholar [[al-Albani]] staunchly opposed following any of the four schools, Hanafi, Hanbali, Maliki or Shafi'i.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Alkatiri |first1=Wardah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=01KuEAAAQBAJ&dq=al-albani+four+school&pg=PA251 |title=American Journal of Islam and Society (AJIS) – Volume 39 Issues 3–4 |last2=al-Daghistani |first2=Sami |last3=Wahb |first3=Yousef Aly |last4=Khan |first4=Tabinda M. |last5=Sadriu |first5=Behar |last6=Amasha |first6=Muhammad |last7=Urban |first7=Elizabeth |last8=Khan |first8=Kamran Ahmad |last9=Dugan |first9=Max Johnson |date=2023-02-16 |publisher=International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) |language=en}}</ref>

Other Salafi movements, however, believe that ''taqlid'' is [[Haram|unlawful]] and challenge the authority of the legal schools. In their perspective, since the ''madhahib'' emerged after the era of ''[[Salaf|Salaf al-Salih]]'' (pious predecessors); those Muslims who follow a ''madhhab'' without directly searching for Scriptural evidences would get deviated.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Olidort|first=Jacob|url=https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Brookings-Analysis-Paper_Jacob-Olidort-Inside_Final_Web.pdf|title=The Politics of "Quietist Salafism"|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2015|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts; London, England|pages=7, 8|access-date=27 September 2021|archive-date=3 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170303201051/https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Brookings-Analysis-Paper_Jacob-Olidort-Inside_Final_Web.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Cooke, B. Lawrence|first=Miriam, Bruce|title=Muslim Networks from Hajj to Hip Hop|publisher=The University of North Carolina Press|year=2005|isbn=0807829234|location=London|pages=212–13|chapter= 10: The Salafi Movement}}</ref> These include the scholars of ''[[Ahl-i Hadith]]'' movement, [[Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani|Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani]] (d. 1999), [[Muhammad Hayyat ibn Ibrahim al-Sindhi|Muḥammad Ḥayāt al-Sindhī]] (d. 1750), [https://iostudies.in/a-brief-biography-of-imam-sayyid-muhammad-bin-ismail-al-amir-by-amir-al-athari/ Ibn 'Amir al-Ṣanʿānī] (d. 1182), [[Al-Shawkani|al-Shawkānī]] (d. 1834), etc.; who completely condemn ''taqlid'' (imitation), rejecting the authority of the legal schools, and oblige Muslims to seek religious rulings (''fatwa'') issued by scholars exclusively based on the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' and ''[[Hadith]]''; with no intermediary involved.<ref name="Bennett, p. 174">"From there he [Albani] learned to oppose taqlid in a madhab." Bennett, ''The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies'', p. 174. "Al-Albani had denounced Wahhabi attachment to the Hanbali school." Stephane Lacroix, George Holoch, ''Awakening Islam,'' p. 85</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Meijer|first=Roel|title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0199333431|location=New York|pages=62–63|chapter=Between Revolution and Apoliticism: Nasir al-Din al-Albani and his Impact on the Shaping of Contemporary Salafism}}</ref><ref name="muslimmatters.org"/> The ''Ahl-i Hadith'' ''[[Ulama|ulema]]'' would distinguish themselves from the Wahhabis who followed the Hanbali school while they considered themselves as following no particular school.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Krawietz, Tamer|first=Birgit, Georges|title=Islamic Theology, Philosophy and Law: Debating Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya|publisher=Walter De Gruyter|year=2013|isbn=978-3110285345|location=Berlin|pages=165–66}}</ref> In contemporary era, al-Albani and his disciples, in particular, would directly criticise Wahhabis on the issue of ''taqlid'' due to their affinity towards the Hanbali school and called for a re-generated Wahhabism purified of elements contrary to doctrines of the Salaf.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Meijer|first=Roel|title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0199333431|location=New York|page=43|chapter=Between Revolution and Apoliticism: Nasir al-Din al-Albani and his Impact on the Shaping of Contemporary Salafism}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Lacroix|first=Stéphane|title=Awakening Islam: The Politics of Religious Dissent in Contemporary Saudi Arabia|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0674049642|location=Cambridge, MA; London|pages=84–85, 220|chapter= 3: Resistance to Sahwa Ascendancy}}</ref><ref name="Bennett, p. 174"/>

Other Salafi scholars like [[Rashid Rida|Sayyid Rashid Rida]] (d. 1935) follow a middle course, allowing the layperson to do ''taqlid'' only when necessary, obliging him to do ''Ittiba'' when the Quranic evidences become known to him. Their legal methodology rejects partisanship to the treatises of any particular schools of law, and refer to the books of all ''madhahib''. Following [[Ibn Taymiyyah|Ibn Taymiyya]] and [[Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya|Ibn Qayyim]], these scholars accept the rich literary heritage of [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] ''fiqh'' and consider the literature of the four Sunni law-schools as beneficial resources to issue rulings for the contemporary era.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Shaham|first=Ron|title=Rethinking Islamic Legal Modernism|publisher=Brill Publishers|year=2018|isbn=978-9004369542|location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands|page=37|quote=In setting forth these premises, Rida appears to prepare the ground to steer a middle course.. Rida did not ignore the rich heritage of Islamic law, as did a number of his strict Salafi contemporaries. Instead, following Ibn Taymiyya and especially his student Ibn al-Qayyim, he viewed the literature of the four Sunni law-schools (without committing himself to the teachings of one school in particular) as a resource from which to draw guidance and inspiration for adapting the law to changing circumstances.}}</ref><ref name="muslimmatters.org"/> At the far end of the spectrum, some Salafis hold that adhering to ''taqlid'' is an act of ''[[Shirk (Islam)|shirk]]'' (polytheism).<ref>"For many Salafis, both modernist and conservative, "worship" of created beings includes practicing taqlid within a madhab of fiqh." Bennett, ''The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies'', p. 165</ref>

Contemporary Salafis generally discard the practice of adhering to the established rulings of any particular ''Madhhab'', condemning the principle of ''taqlid'' (blind imitation) as a ''[[Bidʻah|bid'ah]]'' (innovation) and are significantly influenced by the legal principles of the [[Zahiri]]te school, historically associated with anti-''madhhab'' doctrines that opposed the canonization of legal schools. Early Zahirite scholar [[Ibn Hazm|Ibn Hazm's]] condemnation of ''taqlid'' and calls to break free from the interpretive system of the canonized schools by espousing a ''fiqh'' directly grounded on ''Qur'an'' and ''Hadith''; have conferred a major impact on the ''Salafiyya'' movement.<ref>{{cite web|last=Khan|first=Rehan|date=5 February 2020|title=Salafi Islam and its Reincarnations- Analysis|url=https://www.eurasiareview.com/05022020-salafi-islam-and-its-reincarnations-analysis/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205150143/https://www.eurasiareview.com/05022020-salafi-islam-and-its-reincarnations-analysis/|archive-date=5 Feb 2020|website=Eurasia Review}}</ref> Salafi legalism is most often marked by its departure from the established rulings (''mu'tamad'') of the four Sunni ''madhahib'', as well as frequently aligning with Zahirite views mentioned by Ibn Hazm in his legal compendium ''[[Al-Muhalla]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gauvain|first=Richard|title=Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=978-0710313560|location=New York|pages=8, 11, 229–30, 328, 347|quote=the identity of many modern Salafis is dependent upon their departure from the established rulings of the four Sunni law schools (madhahib), including that of Ibn Hanbal. Modern Salafis generally dislike the practice of following the established rulings of any particular law school and view the principle of legal "imitation" (taqlid) as a significant factor in the overall decline of the Muslim Umma... Zahiri influence on modern Salafi legal thought occurs almost entirely through the Muhalla of Ibn Hazm, .... more important than Ibn Hazm's individual opinions to the Salafi scholars and ritual practitioners mentioned here is the unyielding Zahiri-style logic that underscores them... modern Salafis are endeavouring to shift Zahiri legal from the margins of orthodoxy into its centre }}</ref><ref name="muslimmatters.org"/>

=== Scholarly hierarchy ===
[[Bernard Haykel]] notes that due to the peculiarity of its methodology, Salafis enjoy a relatively less rigid scholarly hierarchy of authorities ([[Ulama|''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".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Haykel|first=Bernard|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/299886802|title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0231154208|editor-last=Meijer|editor-first=Roel|pages=35–36|chapter= 1: On the Nature of Salafi Thought and Action|quote=And because of their adherence to a particular form of textual interpretation-one that emphasises a direct interfaçe with the texts of revelation.Salafis enjoy a relatively shallow and limited hierarchy of scholarly authoritics. Most Salafis – though not all – are unlike traditional, and pre-modern, Muslinms in that they do not subscribe to a developed and layered scholastic tradition of religious interpretation, which otherwise constrains and regulates, in rigorous tashion, the output of opinions. As such, it is striking how relatively easy it is to become an authority figure among the Salafis. In fact, as an interpretive community Salafıs are, in contrast to other Muslim traditions of learning, relatively open, even democratic.}}</ref>

=== 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]].<ref name="TCSI2010: 39-48 +">[[#TCSI2010|Halverson, ''Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam,'' 2010]]: 38–48</ref> 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-Islām|Shaykh al-Islam]]''. Other important figures include major scholars important in Islamic history, such as [[Ahmad ibn Hanbal]].<ref name="auto1">Michael Cook, ''On the Origins of Wahhābism'', Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Third Series, Vol. 2, No. 2 (July, 1992), p. 198</ref> While proponents of [[Kalam]] revere early generations of [[Salaf as salih|Salaf al-Salih]], viewing [[Muhammad in Islam|Muhammad]] and the ''[[Companions of the Prophet|Sahaba]]'' as exemplar role models in religious life, they emulate them through the lens of the classical traditions of the ''[[Madhhab|madhahib]]'' and its [[ulama]]. On the other hand, Salafis attempt to follow the ''Salaf al-Salih'' through recorded scriptural evidences, often bypassing the classical manuals of ''madhahib''. Nonetheless, both Salafis and ''Mutakallimun'' emphasize the significance of the Salaf in the Sunni tradition''.''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wagemakers |first=Joas |date=5 August 2016 |title=Salafism |url=https://oxfordre.com/religion/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-255 |journal=Religion |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.255 |isbn=978-0199340378 |via=Oxford Research Encyclopedias}}</ref>

Salafi Muslims consider [[Qur'an]], ''[[Sunnah]]'' (which they equate with the ''[[Kutub al-Sittah]]'') and the Actions or Sayings of the Sahaba as the only valid authoritative source for Islam.<ref>Evstatiev, Simeon. "Salafism as a contested concept." Knowledge, Authority and Change in Islamic Societies. Brill, 2021. p. 187</ref> While Salafis believe that investigation of novel issues should be understood from the Scriptures in consideration of the context of modern era, they oppose rationalist interpretations of Scriptures. In addition to limiting the usage of logic with regards to textual interpretations, Salafi scholars also reduce the importance given to medieval legal manuals and texts, giving more priority to the texts from the early generations of the ''[[Salaf]]''. Salafis favor practical implementation as opposed to disputes with regards to meanings, meaning may be considered either clear or something beyond human understanding.<ref name="roots" /> As adherents of [[Atharism|Athari theology]], Salafis believe that engagement in [[Kalam|speculative theology]] is absolutely forbidden.<ref name="TCSI2010: 36">[[#TCSI2010|Halverson, ''Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam,'' 2010]]: 36 "For the Atharis, the "clear" (i.e., zahir, apparent, or literal) meaning of the Qur'an and especially the prophetic traditions (ahadith) have sole authority in matters of belief, as well as law, and to engage in rational disputation (jadal), even if one arrives at the truth, is absolutely forbidden. A strictly literal, or perhaps amodal, reading of the Qur'an, as opposed to one engaged in ta'wil (metaphorical interpretation), or an attempt to rationally conceptualize its meanings, cannot be questioned and the "real" meanings should be consigned to God."</ref> Atharis engage in strictly literal and amodal reading of the ''Qur'an'' and ''Hadith'' (prophetic traditions) and only their clear or apparent meanings have the sole authority in creedal affairs. As opposed to one engaged in ''[[Ta'wil]]'' (metaphorical interpretation), they do not attempt to conceptualize the meanings of the ''Qur'an'' rationally; and believe that the real meanings should be consigned to God alone (''[[Tafwid]]'').<ref name="TCSI2010: 36-7">[[#TCSI2010|Halverson, ''Theology and Creed in Sunni Islam,'' 2010]]: 36–37 "For the Atharis, the "clear" (i.e., zahir, apparent, or literal) meaning of the Qur'an and especially the prophetic traditions (ahadith) have sole authority in matters of belief, as well as law, and to engage in rational disputation (jadal), even if one arrives at the truth, is absolutely forbidden. A strictly literal, or perhaps amodal, reading of the Qur'an, as opposed to one engaged in ta'wil (metaphorical interpretation), or an attempt to rationally conceptualize its meanings, cannot be questioned and the "real" meanings should be consigned to God."</ref> Following the Salafi hermeneutic approach, Salafis differ from that of non-Salafis in some regards of permissibility.<ref name="roots" />

Ibn Taymiyya was known for making scholarly refutations of religious groups such as the [[Sufism|Sufis]], [[Jahmi]]tes, [[Ash'ari|Asha'rites]], [[Shias]], ''[[Falsafa|Falasifa]]'' etc., through his numerous treatises.<ref name="G. Rabil 2014 26" /> Explaining the theological approach of "''Salafiyya''", Ibn Taymiyya states in a ''[[fatwa]]'':

{{Blockquote|text="The way of the ''[[Salaf]]'' is to interpret literally the Koranic verses and hadiths that relate to the Divine attributes [''ijra' ayat al-sifat wa ahadith al-sifat 'ala zahiriha''], and without attributing to Him anthropomorphic qualities [''ma' nafy al-kayfiyya wal tashbih'']."|author=Taqi al-Din ibn Taymiyah|title=''Al-Fatawa al-Kubra'' (Great Religious Edicts), vol. 5, p. 152|source=<ref name="G. Rabil 2014 26" />}}

===Teachings of Ibn Taymiyya===
{{See also|Ibn Taymiyyah}}

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 [[Wahhabism|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). Ibn Taymiyya's interpretation of the ''[[Shahada]]'' (Islamic testimony) as the testimony to worship God alone "only by means of what He has legislated", without partners, is adopted by the Salafis as the foundation of their faith. In the contemporary era, Ibn Taymiyya's writings on theology and innovated practices have inspired Salafi movements of diverse kinds.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hoover|first=Jon|title= Ibn Taymiyya (Makers of the Muslim World) |publisher=Oneworld Academic | year=2019 |isbn=978-1786076892 |location=London |pages=11, 19, 46–47, 88, 140}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Schmidtke |first=Sabine |title=The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0199696703| location=New York|page=635|quote=Ibn Taymiyya also speaks of the priority of worship and ethics over metaphysics in theological terms that later became widespread among Wahhābīs and modern Salafīs. He distinguishes two tawḥīds, or two ways of confessing God's unity. Ibn Taymiyya's first tawḥīd is that of God's divinity (ulūhiyya). Al-tawḥīd al-ulūhiyya signifies God's sole worthiness to be a god, that is, God's sole right to be an object of worship (ʿibāda). Al-tawḥīd al-ulūhiyya is exclusive worship of God that refuses to give devotion and love to anything or anyone else. Then flowing out from this is the second tawḥīd, the tawḥīd of God's lordship (rubūbiyya). God's lordship refers to His creative power, and al-tawḥīd al-rubūbiyya means confessing that God is the only source of created beings }}</ref> The increased prominence of these movements in the twentieth century has led to a resurgence in interest of the writings of Ibn Taymiyya far beyond traditional Salafi circles. Salafis commonly refer to Ibn Taymiyya by the title ''[[Shaykh al-Islām]]''. Alongside Ibn Taymiyya, his disciples [[Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya]], [[Ibn Kathir]], [[al-Dhahabi]], etc. constitute the most referenced classical scholarship in Salafi circles.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Schmidtke |first=Sabine |title=The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0199696703| location=New York|pages=427, 626, 641–42 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=C. Martin|first=Richard|title=Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World|publisher=Macmillan Reference|year=2004|isbn=0028656032| location=New York|page=468}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|author1=C.E. Bosworth|author2=E. van Donzel|author3= W.P. Heinrichs|author4=G. Lecomte|title=The Encyclopedia of Islam|edition=New | volume= IX|publisher=Brill |year=1997|isbn=9004104224| location=Leiden, The Netherlands|page=400}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Leaman|first=Oliver|title=The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia|publisher=Routledge: Taylor & Francis |year=2006|isbn=0415326397| location=New York|pages=631–33}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lauziere|first=Henri|title=The Construction Ofsalafiyya: Reconsidering Salafism from the Perspective of Conceptual History|date=2010|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|volume=42|issue=3|pages=369–89|doi=10.1017/S0020743810000401 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The scholarly works of Ibn Taymiyya, which advocate [[Atharism|Traditionalist Creedal]] positions and intensely critique other theological schools, embody the theology of the ''Salafiyya'' school.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Leaman|first=Oliver|title=The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia|publisher=Routledge: Taylor & Francis |year=2006|isbn=0415326397| location=New York|page=282|quote=Ibn Taymiyya's works extend to almost every area of contemporary intellectual life... Nearly all of his works are in the style of a refutation or a critique,... He embodies the theology of the Salafi (Traditionalist) movement and all his works are intense, focused and well-argued.}}</ref> Ibn Taymiyya also cited a scholarly consensus (''Ijma''), on the permissibility of ascribing ones self to the beliefs of the Salaf, stating:{{blockquote|"There is no shame in declaring oneself to be a follower of the salaf, belonging to it and feeling proud of it; rather that must be accepted from him, according to scholarly consensus. The madhhab of the salaf cannot be anything but true. If a person adheres to it inwardly and outwardly, then he is like the believer who is following truth inwardly and outwardly."<ref>{{cite web |title=Is it permissible for people to call themselves "Ahl al-Hadeeth" |url=http://islamhelpline.net/iqa/answer/233/163503/is-it-permissible-for-people-to-call-themselves-ahl-al-hadeeth |website=Islam Helpline |access-date=4 August 2021 |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405021653/http://islamhelpline.net/iqa/answer/233/163503/is-it-permissible-for-people-to-call-themselves-ahl-al-hadeeth |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ibn Taymiyya|first=Ahmad|title=Majmu al-Fatawa Vol.1 |publisher=Dar al-Hadith | location=Cairo |page=141}}</ref>}}

==History==
[[File:MuhammadRashidRida.jpg|thumb|right|Syro-Egyptian [[Sunni]] thinker [[Rashid Rida|Sayyid Rashid Rida]] (d. 1935), leader of the Arab ''Salafiyya'' movement]]
[[Historian]]s and academics date the emergence of ''Salafiyya'' movement to the late 19th-century [[Arab world]], an era when [[European colonial powers]] were dominant.<ref>{{Cite book|last=S. Moussalli|first=Ahmad|title=Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalist Movements in the Arab World, Iran and Turkey|publisher=The Scarecrow Press|year=1999|isbn=0810836092|location=Folkestone, Kent|pages=258–59}}</ref><ref name="Harvard Divinity" /><ref name="Saba Mahmood" /><ref name="Oxford Handbook" /><ref name="Dubler 499" /><ref name="Encyclopedia of Islam" /> Notable leaders of the movement included [[Jamal al-Din Qasimi]] (1866–1914), 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Bitar (1837–1917), [[Tahir al-Jazairi|Tahir al-Jazai'iri]] (1852–1920)<ref>{{Cite book|last=S. Moussalli|first=Ahmad|title=Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalist Movements in the Arab World, Iran and Turkey|publisher=The Scarecrow Press|year=1999|isbn=0810836092|location=Folkestone, Kent|pages=258–59|quote=Al-Salafiyya ...  Among the movement's notables were Shaykh Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi, Shaykh 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Bitar, and Shaykh Tahir Bin al-Tazairy.}}</ref> and [[Rashid Rida|Muhammad Rashid Rida]] (1865–1935).<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mattar|first=Philip|title=Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa |edition= 2nd|volume= IV|publisher=Macmillan Reference |year=2004|isbn=002865773X|location= Farmington Hills, MI |page=1923|quote=Rida made the Islamic umma (community) his central concern, asking why it had declined relative to the modern West and blaming the decline on medieval additions to Islam—such as the reverence for Sufi saints—which had obscured the pure religion of the ancestors (salaf, from which comes the name for the Salafiyya movement)}}</ref> Until the [[World War I|First World War]], religious missions of the Salafi call in the [[Middle East|Arab East]] had operated secretively. Following the First World War, the Salafi ideas were spread and established among the intelligentsia.<ref>{{Cite book|last=S. Moussalli|first=Ahmad|title=Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalist Movements in the Arab World, Iran and Turkey|publisher=The Scarecrow Press|year=1999|isbn=0810836092|location=Folkestone, Kent|page=259|quote=Al-Salafiya ... The Salafi call in Arab East was secretive until the end of World War I. After that, the Salafi ideas spread and were established among the intelligentsia.}}</ref> Politically oriented scholars like Rashid Rida had also emphasized the necessity to establish an [[Islamic state]] that implements ''[[Sharia]]'' (Islamic law) and thus laid the intellectual foundations for a more politically active strand of ''Salafiyya'', which would also influence the ideologues of the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] in [[Egypt]].<ref name="auto2">{{Cite book|last=C. Martin|first=Richard|title=Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World |edition=2nd|publisher=Gale|year=2016|isbn=978-0-02-866269-5|location=Farmington Hills, MI|page=955|quote=He was also much more politically oriented... seeing the institution of an Islamic state as the precursor to the application of Islamic law and the promotion of Islamic social mores. Rida thus laid the intellectual foundations for a more conservative strand of Salafi reformism, one that is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. The reformism of Hasan al-Banna (1906–1949) and Sayyid Qutb (1906–1966), the principal ideologues of the Brotherhood, reflects Rida's influence in its advocacy of a holistic conception of Islamic state and society, in which sharia regulates all spheres of life.}}</ref>

The usage of the term "''Salafiyya''" to denote a theological reform movement based on the teachings of the ''[[Salaf as salih|Salaf al-Salih]]''; was popularised by the [[Syrians|Syrian]] disciples of [[Tahir al-Jazairi|Tahir al-Jaza'iri]] who were active in Egypt during the 1900s. They opened the famous "''al-Maktaba al-Salafiyya''" ("The Salafi Bookshop") in [[Cairo]] in 1909. [[Rashid Rida]] co-operated with the owners of the library starting from 1912 and together published classical works, Islamic treatises, pro-[[Wahhabism|Wahhabi]] pamphlets, etc. as well as numerous articles through their official journal "a''l-Majalla al-Salafiyya''". The immense popularity of the term at the time caused the [[Catholics|Catholic]] [[Orientalism|Orientalist]] scholar [[Louis Massignon]] to mistakenly associate the label with Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad 'Abduh, which became the standard practice for Western scholars for much of the 20th century, at the expense of conceptual veracity.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=Clinton |title=The Bloomsbury Companion to Islamic Studies |last2=Shepard |first2=William |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2013 |isbn=978-1441127884 |location= London |page=171 |chapter=6: Salafi Islam: The Study of Contemporary Religious-Political Movements}}</ref>

Salafis believe that the label "''Salafiyya''" existed from the first few generations of Islam and that it is not a modern movement.<ref name="Dubler 499" /> To justify this view, Salafis rely on a handful of quotes from medieval times where the term "Salafi" is used. One of the quotes used as evidence and widely posted on Salafi websites is from the genealogical dictionary of [[Ibn al-Samʿānī|al-Sam'ani]] (d. 1166), who wrote a short entry about the surname "al-Salafi" (the Salafi): "According to what I heard, this [surname indicates one's] ascription to the pious ancestors and [one's] adoption of their doctrine [madhhabihim]."<ref>Abu Saʿd al-Tamimi al-Samʿani, al-Ansab, ed. ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Yahya al-Muʿallimi al-Yamani, vol. 7 (Hayderabad: Matbaʿat Majlis Daʾirat al-Maʿarif al-ʿUthmaniyya, 1976), 167</ref><ref name="LZ63">{{cite book |last=Lauzière |first=Henri |title=The Evolution of the Salafiyya in the Twentieth Century through the life and thought of Taqi al-Din al-Hilali |date= 2008 |publisher=Phd Dissertation Georgetown University |page=63}}</ref> In his biographical dictionary ''[[Siyar A'lam al-Nubala'|Siyar A`lam al-Nubala]],'' [[Atharism|Athari]] theologian [[al-Dhahabi]] described his teacher Ibn Taymiyya as a person who "supported the pure [[Sunnah|Sunna]] and ''al-Tariqa al-Salafiyah'' (''Salafiyah Way'')"; referring to his [[Ghair Muqallid|non-conformist]] juristic approach that was based on direct understanding of Scriptures and his practice of issuing ''[[fatwa]]s'' that contradicted the ''[[Madhhab|madhahib]]''.<ref name="G. Rabil 2014 26" />

At least one scholar, Henri Lauzière, casts doubt on al-Sam'ani, claiming he "could only list two individuals—a father and his son—who were known" as al-Salafi. "Plus, the entry contains blank spaces in lieu of their full names, presumably because al-Sam'ani had forgotten them or did not know them."<ref name="LZ63" /> In addition, Lauzière claims "al-Sam'ani's dictionary suggests that the surname was marginal at best, and the lone quotation taken from [[al-Dhahabi]], who wrote 200 years later, does little to prove Salafi claims."<ref name="LZ65">{{cite book |last=Lauzière |first=Henri |title=The Evolution of the Salafiyya in the Twentieth Century Through the Life and Thought of Taqi al-Din al-Hilali |date=2008 |publisher=Phd Dissertation Georgetown University |page=65}}</ref>

=== Origins ===
{{See also|Ibn Taymiyyah|Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya|Ibn Hazm|Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Shah Waliullah Dehlawi|Al-Shawkani}}

The Salafi movement emphasizes looking up to the era of the ''[[Salaf|Salaf al-Salih]]''; who were the early three generations of Muslims that succeeded [[Muhammad|Prophet Muhammad]]. They consider the faith and practices of S''alaf 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 [[Madhhab|schools of law]] as well as [[Sufism|popular Sufism]]. The emergence of Salafism coincided with the rise of [[Western colonialism]] across many parts of the [[Muslim world|Islamic world]]. Between the eighteenth and the twentieth centuries, these [[Islah|reformist]] movements called for a direct return to the Scriptures, institutional standardisations and ''[[Jihad]]'' against colonial powers.<ref name="Ridgeon 2015 3, 15">{{Cite book|last=Ridgeon|first=Lloyd|title=Sufis and Salafis in the Contemporary Age|publisher=Bloomsbury Academic|year=2015|isbn=978-1472523877|location= London|pages=3, 15}}</ref>

The movement developed across various regions of the Islamic World in the late 19th century as an Islamic response against the rising [[European imperialism]].<ref name="Harvard Divinity" /><ref name="Saba Mahmood">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/politicsofpietyi00mahm_2 |url-access=registration |quote=salafi%20origins%20Abduh. |title=Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject |last=Mahmood |first=Saba |date= 2011 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691149806 |at=p.&nbsp;61, note 45 |language=en }}</ref><ref name="Oxford Handbook">{{Cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Islam and Politics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hc7iAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA38 |publisher=OUP USA |date=1 November 2013 |isbn=978-0195395891 |language=en |first1=John L. |last1=Esposito |first2=Emad El-Din |last2=Shahin |page=38}}</ref><ref name="Dubler 499">{{Cite book |last=Dubler |first=Joshua |chapter=Salafi Muslims |title=Encyclopedia of Muslim-American History |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=owZCMZpYamMC&pg=PA499 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |date=2010 |isbn=978-1438130408 |language=en |editor=Edward E. Curtis |page=499}}</ref><ref name="Encyclopedia of Islam">{{Cite book |last=Campo |first=Juan Eduardo |title=Encyclopedia of Islam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OZbyz_Hr-eIC&q=salafism%252019th%2520century&pg=PA601 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |date=2009 |isbn=978-1438126968 |page=601}}</ref> The Salafi revivalists were inspired by the creedal doctrines of the medieval [[Syrians|Syrian]] [[Hanbali]] theologian [[Ibn Taymiyyah|Ibn Taymiyya]], who had strongly condemned [[Islamic philosophy|philosophy]] and various features of [[Sufism]] as heretical. Ibn Taymiyya's radical reform programme called for Muslims to return to the pristine Islam of the ''Salaf al-Salih'' (pious ancestors); through a direct understanding of Scriptures.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ágoston, Masters |first=Gábor, Bruce |title=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire |publisher=Facts on File |year=2009 |isbn=978-0816062591 |location=New York|pages=500–01 |chapter=Salafiyya}}</ref> Further influences of the early Salafiyya movement included various 18th-century Islamic [[Islah|reform]] movements such as the [[Wahhabism|Wahhabi movement]] in the [[Arabian Peninsula]],<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YAd8efHdVzIC&q=salafism+first+half+18th+century&pg=PA975 |title=The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social, and Military History [4 volumes]: A Political, Social, and Military History |last1=Tucker |first1=Spencer C. |last2=Roberts |first2=Priscilla |date=2008 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1851098422 |page=975 |language=en}}</ref> [[Islam in India|Indian]] reform movements spearheaded by [[Shah Waliullah Dehlawi]], [[Shah Ismail Dehlvi|Shah Ismail Dehlawi]] and [[Syed Ahmad Barelvi|Sayyid Ahmad Shaheed]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Sinan Siyech|first=Mohammed|date=4 February 2020|title=What Makes a Movement Violent: Comparing the Ahle Hadith (Salafists) in India and Pakistan|url=https://www.mei.edu/publications/what-makes-movement-violent-comparing-ahle-hadith-salafists-india-and-pakistan|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418223600/https://www.mei.edu/publications/what-makes-movement-violent-comparing-ahle-hadith-salafists-india-and-pakistan|archive-date=18 April 2021|website=MEI}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Khan|first=Rehan|date=3 February 2020|title=Shah Ismail Dehlawi, a Grandson of Shah Waliullah Dehlawi, Represented a Fusion of Sufism with Salafism|url=https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-personalities/rehan-khan/shah-ismail-dehlawi-grandson-shah-waliullah-dehlawi-represented-fusion-sufism-with-salafism/d/121025|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210509084123/https://www.newageislam.com/islamic-personalities/rehan-khan/shah-ismail-dehlawi-grandson-shah-waliullah-dehlawi-represented-fusion-sufism-with-salafism/d/121025|archive-date=9 May 2021|website=New Age Islam}}</ref> as well as the [[Yemen]]i ''[[Islah]]'' movement led by al-San'aani and [[al-Shawkani]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Shawkani, Muhammad al-|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2181|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204162700/http://oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e2181|archive-date=4 December 2020|website=Oxford Islamic Studies Online}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=2016|title=Salafism|url=https://www.rrg.sg/salafism/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210318101448/https://www.rrg.sg/salafism/|archive-date=18 March 2021|website=RRG}}</ref>
[[File:Al-Shawkani.jpg|thumb|right| Teachings of the influential [[Yemeni]] [[Athari|traditionalist]] theologian [[Al-Shawkani|Muhammad ibn Ali al-Shawkani]] (d. 1834) have profoundly influenced generations of Salafi scholarship.]]

These movements had advocated the belief that the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' and ''[[Sunnah]]'' are the primary sources of ''[[Sharia]]'' and the legal status quo should be scrutinized based on ''Qur'an'' and ''[[Hadith]].'' Far from being novel, this idea was a traditionist thesis kept alive within the [[Hanbali]] school of law. The Wahhabi movement, under the leadership of [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab]], forcefully revived Hanbali traditionism in 18th century [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]]. Influenced by the Hanbali scholars [[Ibn Taymiyya]] (d. 728/1328) and [[Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya]] (d. 751/1350); the teachings of Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab were also closely linked to the formulation of proto-Hanbalism expounded by early Hanbali writers 'Abd Allah ibn Ahmad (d. 290/903), [[Abu Bakr al-Khallal]] (d. 311/923) as well as non-Hanbali scholars like [[Ibn Hazm]], whom he cited frequently. [[Islam in India|Indian]] [[Hadith studies|Hadith specialist]] [[Shah Waliullah Dehlawi]], while criticising ''[[Taqlid]]'', also emphasised on involving the ''[[Fuqaha]]'' (jurisconsultants) in the study of ''Hadith'', their interpretations and rationalisation. Thus, he was accommodative towards classical structures of ''[[Fiqh]]''. In [[Yemen]], influential scholar [[Al-Shawkani|Muhammad ibn Ali al-Shawkani]] (1759–1834) condemned ''Taqlid'' far more fiercely, and his movement advocated radical rejection of classical ''Fiqh'' structures. The promotion of ''[[Ijtihad]]'' of these movements was also accompanied by an emphasis on strict adherence to ''Qur'an'' and ''Hadith''.<ref>{{Cite book|last=W. Brown|first=Daniel|title=Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1999|isbn=978-0521653947|location=Cambridge, MA; London|pages=22–26|chapter= 2: The emergence of modern Challenges to tradition}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ahsan|first=Sayyid|title=Trends in Islam in Saudi Arabia|publisher=Aligarh Muslim University|year=1987|location=Department of Islamic Studies, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh|pages=141–42|chapter=IV Foundations of the Saudi State – II : Reforms of Muhammad Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab}}</ref>

==== Ottoman Empire ====
{{See also|Kadizadeli}}
'''Kadızadelis''' (also ''Qādīzādali'') was a seventeenth-century puritanical reformist religious movement in the [[Ottoman Empire]] that followed [[Kadızade Mehmed]] (1582–1635), a revivalist Islamic preacher. Kadızade and his followers were determined rivals of [[Sufism]] and [[Folk religion#Folk Islam|popular religion]]. They condemned many of the Ottoman practices that Kadızade felt were [[bidʻah]] "non-Islamic innovations", and passionately supported "reviving the beliefs and practices of the first Muslim generation in the first/seventh century" ("[[enjoining good and forbidding wrong]]").<ref name="Evstatiev-2016-213">{{cite book |last1=Evstatiev |first1=Simeon |url=https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004307834/B9789004307834_010.xml |title=Accusations of Unbelief in Islam |date=2016 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-9004307834 |pages=213–14 |chapter=8: The Qāḍīzādeli Movement and the Revival of Takfīr in the Ottoman Age |doi=10.1163/9789004307834_010 |access-date=29 August 2021}}</ref>

Driven by zealous and fiery rhetoric, Kadızade Mehmed was able to inspire many followers to join in his cause and rid themselves of any and all corruption found inside the [[Ottoman Empire]]. Leaders of the movement held official positions as preachers in the major mosques of Baghdad, and "combined popular followings with support from within the Ottoman state apparatus."<ref name=Cook-91>{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Michael |title=Forbidding Wrong in Islam: An Introduction |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2003 |page=91}}</ref> Between 1630 and 1680 there were many violent quarrels that occurred between the Kadızadelis and those that they disapproved of. As the movement progressed, activists became "increasingly violent" and Kadızadelis were known to enter "mosques, [[Khanqah|tekkes]] and [[Ottoman coffeehouse]]s in order to mete out punishments to those contravening their version of orthodoxy."

=== Evolution ===
{{See also|Ahl-i Hadith|Zahiri|Rashid Rida||label 1=Ahl-i Hadith movement|label 2=Zahirite school|label 3=Sayyid Rashid Rida}}
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 [[Hadith studies|study of Hadith]]. They departed from Shah Waliullah's school with a literalist approach to ''[[Hadith]]'', and rejected classical legal structures; inclining towards the ''[[Zahiri]]te'' school. In the 19th century, Hanbali traditionism would be revived in [[Iraq]] by the influential Alusi family. Three generations of Alusis, [[Mahmud al-Alusi]] (d. 1853), [[Nu'man al-Alusi]] (d. 1899) and [[Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi]] (1857–1924); were instrumental in spreading the doctrines of Ibn Taymiyya and the Wahhabi movement in the Arab world. Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi, a defender and historian of the Wahhabi movement, was also a leader of the ''Salafiyya'' movement. All these reformist tendencies merged into the early ''Salafiyya'' movement, a theological faction prevalent across the [[Arab world]] during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, which was closely associated with the works of [[Rashid Rida|Sayyid Rashid Rida]] (1865–1935).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Daniel W. |title=Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999 |isbn=978-0521653947 |location=Cambridge, MA; London |pages=27–30 |chapter=2: The Emergence of Modern Challenges to Tradition}}</ref>

==== Late nineteenth-century ====
{{See also|Damascus|Baghdad|Siddiq Hasan Khan}}
[[File:SiddiqHasanKhan.png|thumb|right| Photo of [[South Asian]] ''[[Ahl-i Hadith]]'' scholar [[Siddiq Hasan Khan]] whose works became popular amongst the Arab Salafi reformers of the 19th century,]]
The first phase of the ''Salafiyya'' movement emerged amidst the reform-minded ''[[Ulama|ulema]]'' of the Arab provinces of the [[Ottoman Empire]] during the late nineteenth century. The movement relied primarily upon the works of [[Hanbali]] theologian [[Ibn Taymiyyah|Ahmad ibn Taymiyya]], whose call to follow the path of ''[[Salaf]]'', inspired their name. The early phase of this tradition sought a middle-way that synthesised between ''[[Ilm (Arabic)|<nowiki/>'Ilm]]'' and ''[[Sufism|Tasawwuf]]''. [[Damascus]], a major centre of scholarship in the Muslim world, played a major role in the emergence and dissemination of the ideas of this early trend of the ''Salafiyya''. Some scholars in this phase like [[Emir Abdelkader|Amir 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza'iri]], re-interpreted [[Ibn Arabi]]'s mystical beliefs and reconciled them with the opposing theological doctrines of Ibn Taymiyya to address new challenges. Other major figures in the movement included [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/al-bitar-abd-al-razzaq-COM_23479 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Bitar], [[Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi]], [[Tahir al-Jazairi]], etc. 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Bitar (the grandfather of [[Muhammad Bahjat Athari|Muhammad Bahjat al-Bitar]], a disciple of Rashid Rida) was the leader of the more traditional branch of the reform trend, which would become the ''Salafiyya'' of Damascus. Years later, Rashid Rida would describe him as the "''mujaddid madhhab al-salaf fil-Sham''" (the reviver of the ancestral doctrine in Syria). While these reformers were critical of various aspects of popular [[Sufism]], they didn't deny Sufism completely. The [[Cairene]] school of [[Muhammad Abduh]] emerged as a separate trend in 1880s, and would be influenced by the Damascene ''Salafiyya'', as well as [[Muʿtazila|Mu'tazilite]] philosophy. Abduh's movement sought a rationalist approach to adapt to the increasing pace of modernisation. While 'Abduh was critical of certain Sufi practices, his writings had Sufi inclinations and he retained love for "true Sufism" as formulated by [[al-Ghazali]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Weismann|first=Itzchak|title=Between Ṣūfī Reformism and Modernist Rationalism: A Reappraisal of the Origins of the Salafiyya from the Damascene Angle|date=2001|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1571353|journal=Die Welt des Islams|location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden|publisher=Brill Publishers|volume=41|issue=2|pages=206–37|doi=10.1163/1570060011201286|jstor=1571353}}</ref><ref name="Ridgeon 2015 3, 15"/>

The Damascene ''Salafiyya'' was also influenced by their reformist counterparts in [[Baghdad]], especially the scholars of the [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/al-alusi-family-COM_22713?lang=en Alusi family]. [[Mahmud al-Alusi|Abu Thana' Shihab al-Din al-Alusi]] (1802–1854) was the first of the Alusi family of ''ulama'' to promote reformist ideas, influenced by [[Wahhabism]] through his teacher 'Ali al-Suwaydi. He also combined the theological ideas of [[Sufism|Sufis]] and ''[[Mutakallimun]]'' (dialecticians) like [[Fakhr al-Din al-Razi]]i in his reformist works. Shihab al-Din's son, [[:ar:نعمان الآلوسي|Nu'man Khayr al-Din al-Alusi]], was also heavily influenced by the treatises of [[Siddiq Hasan Khan]], an early leader of the ''[[Ahl-i Hadith|Ah-i Hadith]]'' movement. He regularly corresponded with him and received an ''[[Ijazah|Ijazat]]'' (license to teach) from Siddiq Hasan Khan, and became the leader of the Salafi trend in Iraq. Later he would also send his son 'Ala' al-Din (1860–1921) to study under Siddiq Hasan Khan. Khayr al-Din Alusi would write lengthy polemics and treatises advocating the teachings of Ibn Taymiyya. The Iraqi reformers rejected the validity of ''Taqlid'' in [[Fiqh|jurisprudence]], calling for ''[[Ijtihad]]'' and condemned ritual [[Bidʻah|innovations]] like tomb-visitations for the purpose of [[Ibadah|worship]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dean Commins|first=David|title=Islamic Reform: Politics and Social Change in Late Ottoman Syria|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|isbn=0195061039|location=New York|pages=24–26}}</ref>
[[File:Tahir al-Jazayiri - Al-Alam, V3, P 363.jpg|thumb|right| [[Tahir al-Jazairi|Tahir al-Jazai'ri]] (1920), one of the early leaders of the Salafi movement]]
''Salafiyya'' tradition had become dominant in [[Syria]] by the 1880s, due to its popularity amongst the reformist ''ulema'' in Damascus. Furthermore; most of the medieval treatises of the classical Syrian theologian Ibn Taymiyya were preserved in various Damascene mosques. Salafi scholars gathered these works and indexed them in the archives of the Zahiriyya Library (''Maktabat Zahiriyya''), one of the most prominent Islamic libraries of the 19th century. Most influential Salafi scholars during this period were [[Tahir al-Jazairi|Tahir al-Jazai'ri]], 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Bitar and [[Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi]]. These scholars took precedent from the 18th-century reformers influenced by Ibn Taymiyya, such as al-Shawkani, Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, etc. and called for a return to the purity of the early era of the ''[[Salaf as salih|Salaf al-Salih]]'' (righteous forebears). Like Ibn Taymiyya during the 13th century; they viewed themselves as determined preachers calling to defend ''[[Tawhid]]'' (Islamic monotheism), attacking ''[[bid'ah]]'' (religious innovations), criticising the Ottoman monarchy and its clerical establishment as well as relentlessly condemning Western ideas such as [[nationalism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weismann |first=Itzchak |title=Taste of Modernity: Sufism, Salafiyya, and Arabism in Late Ottoman Damascus |publisher=Brill |year=2001 |isbn=9004119086 |location=Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands |pages=263–71, 273–76}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mubarak |first=Hadia |title=Rebellious Wives, Neglectful Husbands: Controversies in Modern Qurʾanic Commentaries |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-0197553305 |location= New York |pages=39–41 |chapter=1: Ruptures and Continuities in Modern Islamic Thought}}</ref> According to [[historian]] [[Itzchak Weismann]]: <blockquote>"The Salafi trend of Damascus constituted a religious response to the political alliance forged between the Ottoman State under the modernizing autocracy of [[Abdul Hamid II|Sultan Abdül Hamid II]] and orthodox sufi shaykhs and ''ulama'' who were willing to mobilize the masses in his support."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weismann |first=Itzchak |title=Taste of Modernity: Sufism, Salafiyya, and Arabism in Late Ottoman Damascus |publisher=Brill |year=2001 |isbn=9004119086 |location=Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands |pages=273–74}}</ref></blockquote>

==== Post-WW1 Era ====
{{See also|Interwar period}}
[[File:Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi - Al-Alam, V2, P 153.jpg|thumb|right|[[Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi]] (d. 1914), a major scholar of the Syrian Salafiyya movement]] By the 1900s, the reformers had already become commonly known as "Salafis", which in-part was also used to deflect accusations from their opponents; to emphasize that they were different from the [[Wahhabism|Wahhabis]] of [[Najd]]. The Salafi turn against [[Ibn Arabi|Ibn 'Arabi]] and [[Sufism]] would materialize a decade later, after the [[World War I|First World War]], under the leadership of [[Rashid Rida]]. This second-stage of ''Salafiyya'' was championed by Rashid Rida and his disciples across the Islamic World, advocating a literalist understanding of the Scriptures. They were also characterised by a militant hostility to [[Western imperialism]] and culture. In addition to condemnations of tomb visits, popular Sufi practices, brotherhoods, miracles and mystical orders; Rida's criticism of Sufism extended to all of it and beyond the critiques of his fellow Salafi comrades. He questioned the ''[[murid]]''-''[[murshid]]'' relationship in [[Mysticism in Islam|mysticism]], as well as the ''[[Silsila]]s'' (chains of transmission) upon which ''[[Tariqa]]h'' structures were built. In particular, Rida fiercely rebuked [[Political quietism in Islam#Quietism among Sufis|political quietism]] and pacifist doctrines of various Sufi orders. The ''Salafiyya'' of Rida and his disciples held onto an ideal of the complete return to the religious and political ways of the ''[[Salaf]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Weismann |first=Itzchak |title=Between Ṣūfī Reformism and Modernist Rationalism: A Reappraisal of the Origins of the Salafiyya from the Damascene Angle |date=2001 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1571353 |journal=Die Welt des Islams |volume=41 |issue=2 |publisher=Brill Publishers |pages=206–37 |location=Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden |doi=10.1163/1570060011201286 |jstor=1571353 |access-date=17 September 2021 |archive-date=17 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210917142639/https://www.jstor.org/stable/1571353 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ridgeon |first=Lloyd |title=Sufis and Salafis in the Contemporary Age |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |year=2015 | isbn=978-1472523877 |location= London |pages=3, 16}}</ref> In calling for a return to the ''[[Salaf]]'', Rashid Rida emphasised the path of the first four Rightly-Guided Caliphs (''[[Rashidun Caliphate|Khulafa Rashidin]]'') and the revival of their principles. Rida's revivalist efforts contributed to the construction of a collective Salafi community operating globally, transcending national borders. For this reason, he is regarded as one of the founding pioneers of the ''Salafiyya'' movement and his ideas inspired many [[Islamic revival]]ist movements.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Frampton|first=Martyn|title=The Muslim Brotherhood and the West: A History of Enmity and Engagement|publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press|year=2018|isbn=978-0674970700|location=Cambridge, MA; London|pages=22–23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Ismail |first=Raihan |title=Rethinking Salafism: The Transnational Networks of Salafi ʿUlama in Egypt, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2021|isbn=978-0190948955 |location=New York |page=180|chapter=Transnational Networks}}</ref>
[[File:Cover of the second issue of al-Manar magazine, 1899.jpg|thumb|right| Rashid Rida's monthly ''[[Al-Manār (magazine)|Al-Manar]]'' was an influential religious journal that popularised Salafi ideas across the [[Arab World]], [[South Asia]] and [[South East Asia]].]]

Rashid Rida's religious approach was rooted in reviving Ibn Taymiyya's theology as the solution to rectify the decline and disintegration of the Islamic World. ''Salafiyya'' movement under Rida's mantle became vehemently critical of the clerical establishment. Rida's doctrines deeply impacted [[Islamism|Islamist]] ideologues of the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] such as [[Hassan al-Banna|Hasan al-Banna]] (d. 1949) and [[Sayyid Qutb]] (d. 1966) who advocated a holistic conception of [[Islamic state]] and society; similar to the [[Wahhabism|Wahhabi]] movement.<ref name="auto2"/><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mubarak |first=Hadia |title=Rebellious Wives, Neglectful Husbands: Controversies in Modern Qurʾanic Commentaries |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-0197553305 |location=New York |pages=39–40 |chapter=1: Ruptures and Continuities in Modern Islamic Thought}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Weismann |first=Itzchak |title=Taste of Modernity: Sufism, Salafiyya, and Arabism in Late Ottoman Damascus |publisher=Brill |year=2001 |isbn=9004119086 |location=Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands |page=7 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref> [[Muslim Brotherhood in Syria|Muslim Brotherhood]]'s [[Syrians|Syrian]] leaders like [[Mustafa al-Siba'i|Mustapha al-Siba'i]] and [[Issam al-Attar|'Isam al-'Attar]] were also influential in the movement and their ideas influenced numerous [[Jordan]]ian students. The [[Damascus|Damascene]] ''Salafiyya'' consisted of major scholarly figures like [[:ar:محمد بهجة البيطار|Muhammad Bahjat al-Bitar al-Athari]], [[Ali Al-Tantawi|'Ali al-Tantawi]], [[Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani|Nasir al-Din al-Albani]], 'Abd al-Fattah al-Imam, Mazhar al-'Azma, al-Bashir al-Ibrahimi, [[Muhammad Taqi-ud-Din al-Hilali|Taqiy al-Din al-Hilali]], Muhiy al-Din al-Qulaybi, 'Abd Allah al-Qalqayli, etc. Numerous books of the movement were printed and published through the Islamic Bookstore in [[Lebanon]] owned by Zuhayr Shawish.<ref>{{Cite book |last=S. Moussalli |first=Ahmad |title=Historical Dictionary of Islamic Fundamentalist Movements in the Arab World, Iran and Turkey |publisher=The Scarecrow Press |year=1999 |isbn=0810836092 |location=Folkestone, Kent |page=259 |quote=In Damascus, many Jordanian students were influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood's Shaykh Mustapha al-Siba'i and 'Isam al-'Attar, both with a long history in al-Salafiyya. In Damascus, the movement had a large following, including Allama Shaykh Muhammad Bahjat al-Bitar, 'Ali al-Tantawi, Shaykh Nasir al-Din al-Albani, Shaykh 'Abd al-Fattah al-Imam, Mazhar al-'Azma, Shaykh al-Bashir al-Ibrahimi, Dr. Taqiy al-Din al-Hilal, Shaykh Muhiy al-Din al-Qulaybi and Shaykh 'Abd Allah al-Qalqayli. The Islamic Bookstore in Lebanon owned by Zuhayr Shawish printed many of the movement's books.}}</ref>

The early leaders of ''Salafiyya'' like [[Rashid Rida|Sayyid Rashid Rida]] (d. 1935), [[Jamal al-Din Qasimi|Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi]] (d. 1914), etc. had considered [[Traditionalist theology (Islam)|traditionalist theology]] as central to their comprehensive socio-political reform programme. Rashid Rida, for instance, argued that Athari theology represented [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] [[orthodoxy]], was less divisive and provided a more reliable basis of faith than [[Ash'ari]]sm. According to Rida, Salafi creed was easier to understand than ''[[Kalam]]'' (speculative theology) and hence granted a stronger bulwark against the dangers posed by [[atheism]] and other heresies. Salafi reformers also hailed the medieval theologian [[Ibn Taymiyya]] as a paragon of Sunni orthodoxy and emphasized that his strict conception of ''[[Tawhid]]'' was an important part of the doctrine of the forefathers (''madhhab al-salaf''). Despite this, the Salafi reformers during this era were more concerned with [[Pan-Islamism|pan-Islamic]] unity and hence refrained from accusing the majority of their co-religionists of being heretics; professing their creedal arguments with moderation. Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi decried sectarianism and bitter polemics between Atharis and followers of other [[Schools of Islamic theology|creedal schools]], despite considering them unorthodox. For Rashid Rida, intra-Sunni divisions between Atharis and Ash'arites, were an evil that weakened the strength of the ''[[Ummah]]'' (Muslim community) and enabled foreigners to gain control over [[Dar al-islam|Muslim lands]]. Hence, Rida held back from adopting an exclusivist attitude against Ash'aris during the first two decades of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lauziere|first=Henri|title=The Making of Salafism: Islamic Reform in the Twentieth Century|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0231175500|location=New York|pages=46–49}}</ref>

Beginning from the mid-1920s, this leniency gradually disappeared from Salafi activists and scholars to give way to a more partisan stance. [[Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi]], for example, was more uncompromising in his defense of Salafi theology than Rida and al-Qasimi.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lauziere|first=Henri|title=The Making of Salafism: Islamic Reform in the Twentieth Century|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0231175500|location=New York|page=49}}</ref> The hardening of Salafi stance was best represented by Rashid Rida's disciple [[Muhammad Bahjat Athari|Muhammad Bahjat al-Bitar]] (1894–1976) who made robust criticisms of [[Kalam|speculative theology]], by compiling treatises that revived the creedal polemics of Ibn Taymiyya. One such treatise titled "''Al-Kawthari wa-Ta'liqatuhu''" published in 1938 strongly admonishes the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[Maturidi]]te scholar [[Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari]] (1879–1952); accusing him of heresy. In the treatise, al-Bitar vigorously advocates Ibn Taymiyya's literalist approach to the theological question of the Divine Attributes (''Al- Asma wa-l-Sifat'') and seemingly anthropomorphic expressions in the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]''. At the height of his career, Bitar enjoyed the respect of Syrian ''[[Ulama|ulema]]'' and laypersons of all groups. For his student [[Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani|Nasir al-Din Albani]] (1914–1999) and his purist Salafi followers, al-Bitar was a master of ''[[aqidah]]'' and ''[[hadith]].'' For the Islamist [[Muslim Brotherhood]], Bitar's studies of Islam and the [[Arabic|Arabic language]] were an asset for [[Islamic Renaissance]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Weismann, Adawi |first=Itzchak, Rokaya |date=17 March 2021 |title=Muhammad Bahjat al-Bitar and the Decline of Modernist Salafism in Twentieth-Century Syria |url=https://www.academia.edu/50006508 |url-status=live |journal=Journal of Islamic Studies |volume=32 |issue=2 |pages=237–56 |doi=10.1093/jis/etab017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411085511/https://www.academia.edu/50006508 |archive-date=11 April 2022 |access-date=3 February 2022 |via=Academia.edu}}</ref>

=== Contemporary era ===
{{Main|Development of Salafism after World War II}}
{{See also|Political quietism in Islam#Quietism among Salafists|Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani|label 1=Contemporary Salafism|label 2=Al-Albani|label 3=Salafi Political Quietism}}
[[File:Faculty of Arabic Language, Islamic University of Madinah.jpg|thumb|right| [[Islamic University of Madinah]], an influential religious institution of contemporary Salafi thought]]
Syrian ''Salafiyya'' tradition that emerged in late nineteenth century consisted of two divergent tendencies: an apolitical Quietist trend and a "Salafi-Islamist hybrid". The early ''Salafiyya'' led by Rashid Rida was dominated by revolutionary [[Pan-Islamism|Pan-Islamists]] who had socio-political goals and advocated for the restoration of an [[Caliphate|Islamic Caliphate]] through military struggle against [[European colonial powers]]. However, contemporary ''Salafiyya'' are dominated by [[#Purists|Purists]] who eschew politics and advocate [[Political quietism in Islam|Islamic Political Quietism]]. Contemporary Salafism, widely known as the "''[[Manhaj|Salafi Manhaj]]''" emerged from the 1960s as an intellectual hybrid of three similar, yet distinct, religious reform traditions: the Wahhabi movement in [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]], ''Ahl-i Hadith'' movement in [[India]] and ''Salafiyya'' movement in the [[Arab world]] of the late-19th and early 20th centuries. The person most responsible for this transformation was the Albanian Islamic [[Muhaddith|Hadith scholar]] [[Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani|Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani]], a protege of Rashid Rida, who is generally considered as the "spiritual father" of the Salafi current and respected by all contemporary Salafis as "the greatest hadith scholar of his generation".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Meijer|first=Roel|title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-0199333431|location=New York|pages=47, 59–60, 63–64, 73|chapter=Between Revolution and Apoliticism: Nasir al-Din al-Albani and his Impact on the Shaping of Contemporary Salafism}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Olidort|first=Jacob|title=In Defense of Tradition: Muhammad Naşir Al-Dīn Al-Albānī and the Salafī Method|publisher=Princeton University|year=2015|location=Princeton, NJ|pages=49, 52–54|chapter=A New Curriculum: Rashīd Riḍā and Traditionalist Salafism}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Mubarak |first=Hadia |title=Rebellious Wives, Neglectful Husbands: Controversies in Modern Qurʾanic Commentaries |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-0197553305 |location= New York |pages=40–41 |chapter=1: Ruptures and Continuities in Modern Islamic Thought}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Murray-Miller |first=Gavin |title=Empire Unbound: France and the Muslim Mediterranean, 1880–1918 |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2022 |isbn=978-0192863119 |location=New York |page=74 |chapter=3: Pan-Islamism and Ottoman Imperialism}}</ref>

As of 2017, journalist Graeme Wood estimated that Salafi "probably" make up "fewer than 10%" of Muslims globally,<ref name="Wood-2017-17">{{cite book |last1=Wood |first1=Graeme |title=The Way of the Strangers |date=2017 |publisher=Random House |page=22}}</ref> but by the 21st century, Salafi teachings and ideas had become so mainstreamised that many modern Muslims, even those who do not self-identify as Salafi, have adopted various aspects of Salafism.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Haykel|first=Bernard|title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0231154208|editor-last=Meijer|editor-first=Roel|page=35|quote=Salafi teachings and ideas have become pervasive in recent decades so that many modern Muslims – even ones who do not identify formally as being Salafi – are attracted to certain aspects of Salafism, namely its exclusive emphasis on textual forms of authority, its theology that attacks Ashari voluntarism, its pared down version of legal interpretation and its call for reform of Muslim belief and practice by, among other things, returning to the model of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions.}}</ref>

At times, Salafism has also been deemed a hybrid of [[Wahhabism]] and other post-1960s movements.<ref name="Lacroix">Stephane Lacroix, [https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/17210/ISIM_21_Al-Albani-s_Revolutionary_Approach_to_Hadith.pdf?sequence=1 "Al-Albani's Revolutionary Approach to Hadith"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010091919/https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/17210/ISIM_21_Al-Albani-s_Revolutionary_Approach_to_Hadith.pdf?sequence=1|date=10 October 2017}}. ''[[Leiden University]]'s ISIM Review,'' Spring 2008, #21.</ref> Academics and historians have used the term "Salafism" to denote "a school of thought which surfaced in the second half of the 19th century as a reaction to the spread of European ideas" across the Islamic World and "sought to expose the roots of modernity within Muslim civilization."<ref name="Kepel2006">{{cite book |last=Kepel |first=Gilles |title=Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLvTNk75hUoC |access-date=28 January 2014 |year=2006 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1845112578}}</ref><ref name="jamestown.org">For example: "Salafism originated in the mid to late 19th-century as an intellectual movement at al-Azhar University, led by Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905), Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1839–1897) and Rashid Rida (1865–1935)." from [http://www.jamestown.org/programs/gta/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=528&no_cache=1 Understanding the Origins of Wahhabism and Salafism] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303065210/http://www.jamestown.org/programs/gta/single/?tx_ttnews&|date=3 March 2011}}, by Trevor Stanley. ''Terrorism Monitor'' Volume 3, Issue 14. 15 July 2005.</ref> Starting from the French scholar [[Louis Massignon]], Western scholarship for much of the 20th-century considered the [[Islamic Modernism|Islamic Modernist]] movement of 19th-century figures [[Muhammad Abduh]] and [[Jamal al-Din al-Afghani]] (who were rationalists) to be part of the wider ''Salafiyya'' movement.<ref name="KepelJihad">{{cite book |last1=Kepel |first1=Gilles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OLvTNk75hUoC&q=islamism |title=''Jihad'' |date=2006 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |isbn=978-1845112578 |access-date=18 April 2010}}</ref><ref name="haykel">{{cite web |last=Haykel |first=Bernard |title=Sufism and Salafism in Syria |url=http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/sufism-and-salafism-in-syria-by-itzchak-weismann/ |work=11 May 2007 |publisher=Syria Comment |access-date=22 May 2013 |quote=The Salafis of the Muhammad Abduh variety no longer exist, as far as I can tell, and certainly are not thought of by others as Salafis since this term has been appropriated/co-opted fully by Salafis of the Ahl al-Hadith/Wahhabi variety. |archive-date=19 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019213538/http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/sufism-and-salafism-in-syria-by-itzchak-weismann/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Meijer |first1=Roel |title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement |last2=Haykel |first2=Bernard |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0199333431 |location=New York |pages=45–47 |chapter=On the Nature of Salafi Thought and Action}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lauziere |first=Henri |date=2010 |title=The Construction of Salafiyya: Reconsidering Salafism from the Perspective of Conceptual History |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=42 |issue=3 |pages=369–89 |doi=10.1017/S0020743810000401 |doi-access=free}}</ref> However, contemporary Salafis follow a literalist approach with a "heavy reliance on hadith", looking up to [[Ibn Taymiyya]] and his disciples like [[Ibn Kathir]], [[Ibn Qayyim]], etc. whom they regard as important classical religious authorities.<ref>Oliver Leaman ''The Qur'an: An Encyclopedia'' Taylor & Francis, 2006, {{ISBN|978-0415326391}} p. 632.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lauziere |first=Henri |date=2010 |title=The Construction of Salafiyya: Reconsidering Salafism from the Perspective of Conceptual History |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=42 |issue=3 |page=371 |doi=10.1017/S0020743810000401 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Major contemporary figures in the movement include [[al-Albani]], [[Taqi al-Din al-Hilali]], [[Muhammad ibn al Uthaymeen|Muhammad ibn al-'Uthaymeen]], [[Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz|Ibn Baz]], [[Ehsan Elahi Zaheer|Ehsan Elahi Zahir]], [[Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Al ash-Sheikh|Muhammad ibn Ibrahim]], [[Sanaullah Amritsari|Thanā Allāh Amritsari]], [[Abdel-Hamid ibn Badis|Abd al-Hamid ibn Badis]], [[Zubair Ali Zai|Zubair Ali Zaee]], [[Ahmad Shakir]], [[Saleh al-Fawzan]], [[Zakir Naik]], [[Abdul Ghaffar Hasan]], [[:ar:السيد سابق|Sayyid Sabiq]], [[Muhammad al-Munajjid|Salih al-Munajjid]], [[Abd al-Rahman Abd al-Khaliq]], [https://umm-ul-qura.org/2015/08/17/biography-of-hafiz-muhammad-gondalwi/ Muhammad al-Gondalwi], etc.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gauvin|first=Richard|title=Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God|publisher=Routledge: Taylor & Francis|year=2013|isbn=978-0203124826|location=New York|pages=38, 47, 274, 291, 298, 348}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Lauziere|first=Henri|title=The Making of Salafism: Islamic Reform in the Twentieth Century|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0231175500|location=New York}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Meijer |first=Roel |title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0199333431 |location=New York |pages=58–78, 127–42 |chapter=Between Revolution and Apoliticism, Salafism in Pakistan}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=3 April 2017|title=Biography of Shaykh Al-Islam Thanaullah Amritsari|url=https://umm-ul-qura.org/2017/04/03/biography-of-shaykh-al-islam-thanaullah-amritsari/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115014753/https://umm-ul-qura.org/2017/04/03/biography-of-shaykh-al-islam-thanaullah-amritsari/|archive-date=15 January 2020|website=Umm-ul-Qura Publications}}</ref>

In the modern era, some Salafis tend to take the surname "al-Salafi" and refer to the label "''Salafiyya''" in various circumstances to evoke a specific understanding of Islam that is supposed to differ from that of other [[Sunni Islam|Sunnis]] in terms of ''{{'}}[[Aqidah]]'' (creed) and approach to ''[[Fiqh]]'' (legal tradition).<ref name="LZ65"/>

==Political trends within Salafism==
{{Islamism sidebar|Movements}}
Some Western analysts, most prominently Quintan Wiktorowicz in an article published in 2006, have classified Salafis into three groups – purists, activists, and [[Jihadism|Jihadis]] – based on their approach to politics.<ref name="QW">[http://archives.cerium.ca/IMG/pdf/WIKTOROWICZ_2006_Anatomy_of_the_Salafi_Movement.pdf Anatomy of the Salafi Movement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803194142/http://archives.cerium.ca/IMG/pdf/WIKTOROWICZ_2006_Anatomy_of_the_Salafi_Movement.pdf|date=3 August 2016}} by Quintan Wiktorowicz, Washington, D.C.</ref><ref>Natana J. DeLong-Bas, in ''Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad'',</ref> Purists focus on education and missionary work to solidify the ''[[Tawhid]]''; activists focus on political reform and re-establishing a [[Caliphate]] through the means of political activities, but not violence (sometimes called Salafist activism); and jihadists share similar political goals as the politicians, but engage in violent Jihad (sometimes called [[Salafi jihadism]] and/or [[Qutbism]]).<ref name=QW/>

Following the Arab Spring, Salafis across the [[Arab world|Arab World]] have formed various political parties that actively advocate for Islamic social and political causes in the region.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abdo |first=Geneive |title=The New Sectarianism: The Arab Uprisings and the Rebirth of the Shi'a-Sunni Divide |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0190233143 |location= New York |pages=45–46, 48–49 |chapter=2: The Sunni Salafists}}</ref>

=== Purists ===

[[File:Ustaz Idris Sulaiman.png|thumb|Dr. Idris Sulaiman, one of the purist scholars and active Salafi preachers in Malaysia.<ref>{{cite web
 |title=Idris Sulaiman|url=https://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idris_Sulaiman|website=Wikipedia Bahasa Melayu|language=Malay|access-date=14 November 2025}}</ref>]]
"Purists" are Salafists who focus on non-violent ''[[da'wah]]'' (preaching of Islam), education, and "purification of religious beliefs and practices", who follow the Salafi ''{{'}}aqida'' (creed).<ref>Hamid, Sadek. "The development of British salafism." Isim Review 21.1 (2008): 10–11.</ref> They dismiss politics as "a diversion or even innovation that leads people away from Islam".<ref name="Whatever Happened to the Islamists">[https://books.google.com/books?id=fDZwf-3NnxoC&dq=%22yet+another+field+in+which+the+Salafi+creed+has+to+be+applied%22&pg=PA161 Whatever Happened to the Islamists?] edited by Olivier Roy and Amel Boubekeur, Columbia University Press, 2012</ref> Also known as conservative Salafism, its adherents seek to distance themselves from politics. This strand focuses its attention on the study of Islamic ''[[sharia]]'', educating the masses and preaching to the society. This methodology is seen as attracting a significant section of pious Muslims who seek to be driven solely by religious objectives but not political objectives. Conservative Salafis are disinterested in getting entangled in the problems and consequences that accompany political activism. According to them, a prolonged movement of "purification and education" of Muslims is essential for Islamic revival through reaping a "pure, uncontaminated Islamic society" and thereby establish an Islamic state.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Abu Rumman, Abu Hanieh |first=Mohammad, Hassan|title=Jordanian Salafism: A Strategy for the "Islamization of Society" and an Ambiguous Relationship with the State|publisher=Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung |year=2010|isbn=978-9957484132| location= Amman, Jordan|pages=74–77, 138–40}}</ref>

Some of them never oppose rulers. [[Madkhalism]], as an example, is a strain of Salafists viewed as supportive of [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian regimes]] in the Middle East.<ref name="rich41">Richard Gauvain, ''Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God'', p. 41. [[New York City|New York]]: Routledge, 2013.</ref><ref name="Roel Meijer pg. 49">Roel Meijer, ''Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement'', p. 49. [[New York City|New York]]: [[Columbia University Press]], 2009.</ref><ref name="jof"/> Taking its name from the controversial Saudi Arabian cleric [[Rabee al-Madkhali]], the movement lost its support in Saudi Arabia proper when several members of the [[Permanent Committee]] (the country's clerical body) denounced Madkhali personally.<ref name="harald">''The Transmission and Dynamics of the Textual Sources of Islam: Essays in Honour of Harald Motzki'', eds. Nicolet Boekhoff-van der Voort, [[Kees Versteegh]] and Joas Wagemakers, p. 382. [[Leiden]]: [[Brill Publishers]], 2011.</ref> Influence of both the movement and its figureheads have waned so much within the Muslim world that analysts have declared it to be a largely European phenomenon.<ref name=harald/>

=== Salafi activists ===
{{Main|Activism}}

Further along the spectrum are the Salafi-Activists (or ''haraki'') who advocate the transformation of societies through political action. They include Islamist organizations such as the [[Muslim Brotherhood]], [[Egypt]]ian ''[[Al-Nour Party|Hizb al-Nour]]'' (Party of Light), the [[Al-Islah (Yemen)|Al Islah Party]] of Yemen, the [[Al Asalah]] of Bahrain, and the ''[[Ulama|ulema]]'' affiliated to the movement known as ''Al-Sahwa al-Islamiyya'' (Islamic Awakening). Committed to advancing "the Islamic solution" for all socio-political problems; Salafi-Activists are vehemently hostile to [[secularism]], [[Israel]], and [[Western world|the West]]. Their strategy involves working within the established order, to achieve the ultimate objective of replacing that order with an [[Islamic state]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Morrissey|first=Fitzroy|title=A Short History of Islamic Thought|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2021|isbn=978-0197522011|location=New York|page=209|chapter=Epilogue: Islam Today}}</ref>
[[File:Dr Zakir Naik (cropped) 2.jpg|thumb|[[Zakir Naik]]]]
Activists are different from the [[Salafi jihadism|Salafi-jihadists]] in that they eschew violence and differ from Salafi purists in that they engage in modern political processes.<ref name="meij48">Meijer, p. 48.</ref> Salafi-Activists have a long tradition of political activism in major [[Arabs|Arab]] [[Islamist]] movements like the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] and its various branches and affiliates.<ref>{{Cite news|date=25 July 2015|title=Salafism: Politics and the puritanical|url=https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2015/06/25/politics-and-the-puritanical|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002082341/https://amp.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2015/06/25/politics-and-the-puritanical|archive-date=2 October 2019|newspaper=The Economist}}</ref> Salafi activism originated in the 1950s to 60s Saudi Arabia, where many [[Muslim Brothers]] took refuge from the prosecution by the [[Nasser]] regime.<ref name="Co">Commins, David, ''The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia'', I. B. Tauris, 2006, p. 152</ref> There, they synthesized their Muslim Brotherhood beliefs with Salafism, which led to the creation of the Salafi activist trend exemplified by the [[Sahwa movement]] in the 80s,<ref name="Mo">Mohie-Eldin, Fatima. ''The Evolution of Salafism A History of Salafi Doctrine''. Al-Noor, Fall 2015. pp. 44–47.</ref> promulgated by [[Safar Al-Hawali]] and [[Salman al-Ouda]].

In addition to being strong advocates of [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] empowerment in the post-[[Arab Spring]] context, Salafi parties regularly warn against Iran's interventionist and expansionist ambitions in the [[Arab world|Arab World]]. Salafi activist scholars have attacked the [[Khomeinism|Khomeinist]] [[Shia crescent|Shia Crescent]] project and attempts to Shi'itization through demographic shifts in countries like Iraq, [[Syria]], [[Lebanon]], etc. As early as the 1980s Syrian Salafi Islamist clerics like [[Muhammad Surur]] had launched staunch critiques of [[Khomeini]], denouncing him as a proponent of Iranian domination over the Arab World.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abdo |first=Geneive |title=The New Sectarianism: The Arab Uprisings and the Rebirth of the Shi'a-Sunni Divide |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0190233143 |location=New York |pages=45–46, 49, 55–56 |chapter=2: The Sunni Salafists}}</ref>

Islamist movements like the Muslim Brotherhood, [[Jamaat-e-Islami|Jamaat-e Islami]], etc. are heavily influenced by the Activist Salafi thought.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lenz-Raymann|first=Kathrin|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1fxgjp.7|title=Securitization of Islam: A Vicious Circle: Counter-Terrorism and Freedom of Religion in Central Asia|publisher=Transcript Verlag|year=2014|isbn=978-3837629040|location=United Kingdom|page=80|chapter= 3: Salafi Isalm: Social Transformation and Political Islam|jstor=j.ctv1fxgjp.7|access-date=31 October 2021|archive-date=27 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230527222848/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1fxgjp.7|url-status=live}}</ref> The movement is very popular amongst the followers of the Salafiyya school, and is often referred to as "mainstream Salafism". The activist Salafis condemn violence, yet engage actively in the political processes of their societies to advocate for ''[[Sharia|shari'a]]''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sazanov, Ploom|first=Vladimir, Illimar|title=Some Remarks on the Ideological Core and Political Pillars of the So-Called Islamic State|date=2021|url=https://www.academia.edu/50040064|journal=Modern Management Review|volume=26|issue=1|pages=59–80|doi=10.7862/rz.2021.mmr.06|s2cid=237957039|issn=|quote="The third Salafi branch is the most populous branch of the Salafi movement, usually referred to as mainstream Salafism or political Salafism. It condemns violence, but contrary to the Purist and Madkhalist branches, they are quite actively engaged in the political processes in their home countries and societies.."|via=Academia.edu|doi-access=free|access-date=2 November 2021|archive-date=11 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411085512/https://www.academia.edu/50040064|url-status=live}}</ref> As of 2013, this school makes up the majority of Salafism.<ref name="jof">George Joffé, ''Islamist Radicalisation in Europe and the Middle East: Reassessing the Causes of Terrorism'', p. 317. London: [[I.B. Tauris]], 2013.</ref>

The movement is fiercely attacked by the followers of the [[Madkhalism|Madkhalist]] strand of Quietist Salafism; who totally withdraw themselves from politics.<ref name="abukhadeejah.com">{{cite web|date=23 March 2017|title=Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, Muhammad Abduh, Rashid Rida, Hasan al-Banna: Modernism, Revolution and the Muslim Brotherhood|url=https://www.abukhadeejah.com/jamal-aldin-afghani-muhammad-abduh-rashid-rida-hasan-albanna-radicals-modernists/|access-date=2019-08-28|website=www.abukhadeejah.com|archive-date=28 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190828092102/https://www.abukhadeejah.com/jamal-aldin-afghani-muhammad-abduh-rashid-rida-hasan-albanna-radicals-modernists/|url-status=live}}</ref> Many Salafi activists are critical of the policies of [[Gulf monarchies|Gulf kingdoms]] and have attacked Madkhalis for blindly toeing the political line of the Gulf monarchs.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abdo |first=Geneive |title=The New Sectarianism: The Arab Uprisings and the Rebirth of the Shi'a-Sunni Divide |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0190233143 |location= New York |page=50 |chapter=2: The Sunni Salafists}}</ref> The Activist trend, who some call "politicos", see politics as "yet another field in which the Salafi creed has to be applied" in order to safeguard justice and "guarantee that the political rule is based upon the Shari'a".<ref name="Whatever Happened to the Islamists" /> [[Al–Sahwa Al-Islamiyya]] (Islamic Awakening), as example, has been involved in peaceful political reform. [[Safar Al-Hawali]], [[Salman al-Ouda]], [[Abu Qatada al-Filistini|Abu Qatada]], [[Zakir Naik]], etc. are representatives of this trend. Because of being active on social media, they have earned some support among youth.<ref name="abukhadeejah.com" /><ref>[http://cdn.muslimmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/On-Salafi-Islam_Dr.-Yasir-Qadhi.pdf On Salafism] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214141342/http://cdn.muslimmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/On-Salafi-Islam_Dr.-Yasir-Qadhi.pdf |date=14 February 2015 }} By Yasir Qadhi | p. 7</ref><ref>[https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/03/20/saudi-arabias-muslim-brotherhood-predicament Saudi Arabia's Muslim Brotherhood predicament] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151012165808/https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2014/03/20/saudi-arabias-muslim-brotherhood-predicament/ |date=12 October 2015 }} washingtonpost.com</ref>

{{blockquote|text=It's very simple. We want [[sharia]]. Sharia in economy, in politics, in judiciary, in our borders and our foreign relations.|sign=Mohammed Abdel-Rahman, the son of [[Omar Abdel-Rahman]]|source=''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine. October 8, 2012<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Ghosh |first=Bobby |date=October 8, 2012 |title=The Rise Of The Salafis |url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2125502,00.html |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |volume=180 |issue=15 |ref=Ghosh |access-date=2014-05-06 |archive-date=7 May 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140507013348/http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2125502,00.html |url-status=live }}</ref> }}After the eruption of [[Arab Spring]], Salafi Muslims have been becoming increasingly active in the political sphere, championing various Islamic causes. Salafi activists are highly critical of the foreign policies of Western countries as well as Iran's aggressive activities in the region, such as its [[Iranian intervention in the Syrian civil war|military intervention in Syria]] that backed the Alawite-dominated regime of [[Bashar al-Assad]] against Sunnis. Some Quietist Salafis have also began organizing political parties, in response to threats posed by wars and external interference in Arab countries. These include the [[Al-Nour Party]] in Egypt and Ansar al-Sunna in Sudan.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abdo |first=Geneive |title=The New Sectarianism: The Arab Uprisings and the Rebirth of the Shi'a-Sunni Divide |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0190233143 |location= New York |pages=49, 50 |chapter=2: The Sunni Salafists}}</ref>

=== Salafi jihadists ===
{{Main|Salafi jihadism}}
{{Jihadism sidebar|expanded=Islamic fundamentalism}}

"Salafi Jihadism" was a term invented by [[Gilles Kepel]]<ref name="BLivesey">{{cite web|title=Special Reports – The Salafist Movement – Al Qaeda's New Front|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/special/sala.html|website=www.pbs.org|access-date=11 September 2017|archive-date=28 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628202818/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/front/special/sala.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20030801132248/http://www.geocities.com/martinkramerorg/Terms.htm Coming to Terms: Fundamentalists or Islamists?], Martin Kramer, ''Middle East Quarterly'', Spring 2003, pp.&nbsp;65–77.</ref> to describe those self-claiming Salafi groups who began developing an interest in (armed) [[jihad]] during the mid-1990s. Practitioners are often referred to as "Salafi jihadis", "Salafi jihadists", "Revolutionary Salafis" or "armed Salafis". Journalist Bruce Livesey estimates that Salafi jihadists constitute less than 1.0 percent of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims (i.e., less than 10 million).<ref name="BLivesey"/><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Amghar, Cavatorta |first=Samir, Francesco |date=17 March 2023 |title=Salafism in the contemporary age: Wiktorowicz revisited |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11562-023-00524-x |journal=Contemporary Islam |volume=17 |issue=2 |doi=10.1007/s11562-023-00524-x |via=Springer |page=3 |s2cid=257933043 |access-date=5 May 2023 |archive-date=8 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508090448/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11562-023-00524-x |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

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 from apolitical and conservative Salafi scholars (such as [[Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani]], [[Al-Uthaymin|Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen]], [[Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah ibn Baaz]] and [[Abdul-Azeez ibn Abdullaah Aal ash-Shaikh]]), but also from the [[sahwa movement]] associated with [[Salman al-Ouda]] or [[Safar Al-Hawali]].<ref name="MHafez">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0I8m2CnuVooC&q=jihadi+salafi&pg=PA64 |title=Suicide Bombers in Iraq: The Strategy and Ideology of Martyrdom |first=Mohammed M. |last=Hafez |date=2017 |publisher=US Institute of Peace Press |via=Google Books|isbn=978-1601270047 }}</ref> Dr. Joas Wagemakers defines Salafi-Jihadists as those Salafis who advocate ''[[Jihad]]'' against secular rulers through armed, [[revolutionary]] methods.<ref name="auto4">{{Cite journal |last=Deschamps‑Laporte |first=Laurence |date=1 April 2023 |title=Exploring the fluidity of Egyptian Salafsm: from quietism to politics and co‑optation |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11562-023-00518-9 |journal=Contemporary Islam |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=223–41 |doi=10.1007/s11562-023-00518-9 |s2cid=257938255 |via=Springer |access-date=5 May 2023 |archive-date=5 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230505124624/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11562-023-00518-9 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi|Abu Muhammad al-Maqidisi]], Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir, [[Abu Musab al-Zarqawi|Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi]], [[Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi|Abubakr al-Baghdadi]], etc. are the major contemporary figures in this movement. Major Jihadi Salafi groups include the [[Islamic State]] organization, [[Boko Haram]], and [[Al-Shabaab (militant group)|Al-Shabaab]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wagemakers |first=Joas |date=August 2009 |title=A Purist Jihadi-Salafi: The Ideology of Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |publisher=Routledge |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=281–97 |doi=10.1080/13530190903007327 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Elmaz |first=Orhan |title=In New Approaches to the Analysis of Jihadism: Online and offline |publisher=Vienna University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-3899719000 |editor-last=Lohlker |editor-first=Rüdiger |pages=15–36 |chapter=Jihadi-Salafist Creed: Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi's imperatives of faith}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cakmaktas |first=Nurullah |date=14 February 2024 |title=Abu Abdullah al-Muhajir: 'the jurisprudence of blood' and the ideology of ISIS |journal=Politics, Religion & Ideology |publisher=Routledge |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=93–110 |doi=10.1080/21567689.2024.2315423 |via=Taylor&Francis Online}}</ref>

All Salafi-Jihadists agree on the revolutionary overthrow of existing ruling order through armed [[Jihad]]; and its replacement with a [[Caliphate|Global Caliphate]]. They believe that Jihad is essential to Islamic piety and belief, an individual obligation (''[[Fard|fard 'al-Ayn]]'') on all [[Muslims]]; which the [[Palestinians|Palestinian]] Jihadist scholar [[Abdullah Yusuf Azzam|'Abdallah 'Azzam]] (1941–89) asserted as "the most excellent form of worship". Salafi-Jihadists regard themselves as the heirs of [[Sayyid Qutb]], an influential Islamist scholar who led the radical wing of the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] during the 1960s. Inspired by their reading of [[Ibn Taymiyyah|Ibn Taymiyya]], they are strong advocates of {{Transliteration|ar|[[takfir]]}} ''(''excommunication) and the principles of ''[[Al-Wala' wal-Bara'|Al-Wala' wa'l- Bara'<nowiki/>]]''. Like Qutb, they also made the belief in the exclusive sovereignty (''Hakimiyya'') of Allah central to ''[[Tawhid]]'', and condemn all other political doctrines as ''[[Jahiliyyah|Jahiliyya]]''. Sayyid Qutb's ''[[Milestones (book)|Al-Ma'alim Fi'l-tariq]]'' (The Milestones), a short tract which outlined his militant strategy of destroying ''[[Jahiliyyah|Jahiliyya]]'' and replacing it with [[Islam]], would become an influential treatise in the Salafi-Jihadi intellectual circles.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Morrissey|first=Fitzroy|title=A Short History of Islamic Thought|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2021|isbn=978-0197522011|location=New York|pages=201, 209}}</ref>

American invasion of Iraq in 2003 became An analysis of the [[Caucasus Emirate]], a Salafi jihadist group, was made in 2014 by Darion Rhodes.<ref name="DarionRhodes">Darion Rhodes, [http://www.ict.org.il/Article/132/Salafist-Takfiri%20Jihadism%20the%20Ideology%20of%20the%20Caucasus%20Emirate Salafist-Takfiri Jihadism: the Ideology of the Caucasus Emirate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140903083632/http://www.ict.org.il/Article/132/Salafist-Takfiri%20Jihadism%20the%20Ideology%20of%20the%20Caucasus%20Emirate |date=3 September 2014 }}, International Institute for Counter-terrorism, March 2014</ref> It analyzes the group's strict observance of [[tawhid]] and its rejection of ''[[Shirk (Islam)|shirk]]'', ''[[taqlid]]'' and ''[[Bidʻah|bid'ah]]'', while believing that [[Jihad]] ( holy war) is the only way to advance the cause of [[Allah]] on the Earth.<ref name="DarionRhodes" /> The purist and Activist Salafis often strongly disapprove of the Jihadists and rejects its Islamic character.<ref>Abou El Fadl, Khaled, ''The Great Theft'' Harper San Francisco, 2005, pp. 62–8</ref> Although rooted in certain fringe interpretations of the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' and ''[[Hadith]]'', scholars point out that Salafi-Jihadi views are not representative of the broader Islamic tradition. Scholars, thinkers and intellectuals from across the Islamic spectrum – [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]], [[Shi'a]], Salafi, [[Sufism|Sufi]], [[Wahhabism|Wahhabi]], [[Modernism|modernists]] and [[Islamic neo-traditionalism|Islamic neo-traditionalists]] – have come out strongly against various Salafi-jihadi groups and their doctrines; regarding them as "a perversion" of Islamic teachings.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Morrissey|first=Fitzroy|title=A Short History of Islamic Thought|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2021|isbn=978-0197522011|location=New York|page=210}}</ref>

=== Academic review ===
Wiktorowicz's typology has largely been discarded by recent scholarship due to its simplistic assumptions regarding religion, in addition to other limitations, such as its neglect of the changing social, political and cultural realities occurring across the [[Muslim world|Muslim World]]. Several researchers have criticised the classification for being unobservant regarding the dynamism of the ''Salafiyya'', such it's evolving relations with [[Islamic Politics|Islamic politics]]; as well as for its rigid compartmentalisation of Salafi Muslims.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Revisiting Wiktorowicz – Salafism, Politics and Violence in the Contemporary World |url=https://link.springer.com/collections/bidffhafjb |website=Springer}}</ref><ref name="auto5">{{Cite journal |last=Amghar, Cavatorta |first=Samir, Francesco |date=17 March 2023 |title=Salafism in the contemporary age: Wiktorowicz revisited |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11562-023-00524-x |journal=Contemporary Islam |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=195–204 |doi=10.1007/s11562-023-00524-x |s2cid=257933043 |via=Springer |access-date=5 May 2023 |archive-date=8 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230508090448/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11562-023-00524-x |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref> According to Samir Amghar and Francesco Cavatorta: <blockquote>"studies question fundamentally the theoretical and scientific relevance of the typology between quietists, politicians and revolutionaries and argue that it is crucial to refine this typology by affirming that it is no longer apt in explaining Salafism in the contemporary age... If Wiktorowicz's categorisation has the merit of shedding light on the plural and contradictory character of a movement that is too often caricatured, it prevents us from thinking about its dynamic and evolving character. The changing reality on the ground across the [[Arab world]] and beyond demands that traditional categories be revisited."<ref name="auto5"/></blockquote>

By making a case study of Egyptian Salafis and the "quietist" ''[[Al-Nour Party|Al-Nour]]'' party, one scholar Laurence Deschamps-Laporte, demonstrates that Wiktorowicz's "non-dynamic typology" merely denotes "time-bounded pragmatic political strategies" rather than any solid identity. Laurence proposes re-defining the triple classification of "Quietist, Activist and Jihadist" into "proselytizing, politico and revolutionary"; and re-conceptualise these categories as "temporal strategies" instead of a solid spiritual identity. She further calls for a holistic approach that accounts for the "fluidity, diversity, and evolution of Salafi groups" and focus more on the strategic adaptation of Salafi Muslims in their respective environments rather than creedal issues.<ref name="auto4"/> Based on his study of European Salafi movements, Samir Amghar asserts that [[Jihadism]] no longer can be classified as part of proper Salafism since, according to Amghar, both movements have diverged significantly over the course of decades and have no "shared doctrinal background".<ref name="auto5"/>

Wiktorowicz's proposition that all self-professed Salafi groups have the same "''[[Aqidah]]''" (creed) has also been challenged. According to scholar Massimo Ramaioli: <blockquote>"Salafis do not vary, as Wiktorowicz claimed, only at the level of reading social reality and its attendant socio-political manifestations (their ''manhaj''), while retaining sameness and coherence at the theoretical level. From a philosophy of praxis perspective, we can account for the variations of ''{{'}}aqīdah'' that we witness. On issues such as ''[[Iman (Islam)|imān]]'' (faith), ''[[kufr]]'' (unbelief) and ''[[Takfir|takfīr]]'' (excommunication), [[Al-Wala' wal-Bara'|''al-wala' wa al-bara{{'}}'']], and of course violence and ''[[Jihad|jihād]]'', Salafis clearly do not hold the same views precisely because they read social reality, and consequently behave, so differently... Negotiating the constraints and opportunities of the political prods Salafis to engage in thorough and at times painful ideological (re)positioning... the political affects Salafism on both levels: ideational and methodological/practical."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ramaioli |first=Massimo |date=13 February 2023 |title=Salafism as Gramscian informed vanguardism |journal=Contemporary Islam |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=297–318 |doi=10.1007/s11562-023-00514-z |s2cid=256867289 |doi-access=free }}</ref></blockquote>

==Regional groups and movements==

===Saudi Arabia===
{{main | Wahhabism}}

Modern Salafists consider the 18th-century scholar [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab]] and many of his students to have been Salafis.<ref>Quintan Wiktorowicz, Anatomy of the Salafi Movement, p. 216.</ref> He started a reform movement in the remote, sparsely populated region of [[Najd]].<ref name="thinnly">{{cite book |last=Commins |first=David |title=The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia |date=2006 |publisher=I.B.Tauris |page=7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKf3AgAAQBAJ&q=wahhabi+nejd+thinly+populated&pg=PA7 |quote=The Wahhabi religious reform movement arose in Najd, the vast, thinly populated heart of Central Arabia. |isbn=978-0857731357}}</ref> He invited people to ''[[Tawhid]]'' (monotheism) and advocated the purging of animist rituals and practices associated with shrine and tomb veneration, which were widespread among the nomadic tribes of Najd.<ref>{{Cite book |last=W. Stump |first=Roger |title=The Geography of Religion: Faith, Place, and Space |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. |year=2008 |isbn=978-0742510807 |location=US|pages=199, 200}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ahmad Khan, Jones |first=Mu'īnuddīn, Harford |date=March 1968 |title=A Diplomat's Report on Wahhabism of Arabia |journal=Islamic Studies |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=33–46 |jstor=20832903}}</ref> Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab considered such practices as aspects of [[idolatry]], representative of impurities and inappropriate innovations in [[Islam]] which contradicted ''Tawhid''.<ref name="Esposito333">{{harvnb|Esposito|2003|p=333}}</ref> While Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab stressed on the importance of obedience to ''[[sharia]]'', he also obliged Muslims to uphold ''sharia'' by reading and following the Scriptures. Like their paragon scholar [[Ibn Taymiyyah|Ibn Taymiyya]], Wahhabis did not believe in blind-adherence (''[[Taqlid]]'') and advocated engaging with the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' and ''[[Hadith]]'' through ''[[Ijtihad]]'' (legal reasoning), emphasizing simplicity in religious rituals and practices. Thus, classical-era [[Islamic jurisprudence|legal works]] by ''[[Fuqaha]]'' were not considered as authoritative as the [[Islamic holy books|Scriptures]] themselves, since the former were human interpretations while the ''Qur'an'' is the Universal, Eternal Word of God.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jackson|first=Roy|title=Fifty Key Figures in Islam|publisher=Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group|year=2006|isbn=0415354676|location=New York|pages=162–63|chapter=Muhammad Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab (1703–1792)}}</ref>

The Salafi movement in [[Saudi Arabia]] is the result of [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab]]'s reform movement. Unlike other [[Islah|reform movements]], Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his disciples were also able to secure a religio-political pact with [[Muhammad bin Saud Al Muqrin|Muhammad ibn Saud]] and his [[House of Saud|House]]; which enabled them to engage in military expansionism and establish an [[Islamic state]] in the [[Arabian Peninsula]]. While the mainstream constituency believed in [[Islamic revival]] through education and welfare reforms, the militant elements of the movement advocated armed campaigns to eradicate local practices considered as [[Bidʻah|innovation]] and demolished numerous shrines and tombs of saints (''[[Awliya'|awliya]]'').<ref>{{Cite book|last=Jackson|first=Roy|title=Fifty Key Figures in Islam|publisher=Routledge: Taylor & Francis Group|year=2006|isbn=0415354676|location=New York|pages=161–63|chapter=Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1792)}}</ref> It is believed that the [[Wahhabism]] is a more strict, Saudi form of Salafism,<ref name="Murphy">{{cite news |last=Murphy |first=Caryle |title=For Conservative Muslims, Goal of Isolation a Challenge |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090401107_pf.html |newspaper=Washington Post |date=5 September 2006 |quote=The kind of Islam practiced at Dar-us-Salaam, known as Salafism, once had a significant foothold among area Muslims, in large part because of an aggressive missionary effort by the government of Saudi Arabia. Salafism and its strict Saudi version, known as Wahhabism, struck a chord with many Muslim immigrants who took a dim view of the United States' sexually saturated pop culture and who were ambivalent about participating in a secular political system. |access-date=11 September 2017 |archive-date=10 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210210234500/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/04/AR2006090401107_pf.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="lewis-salaf">{{cite web |last1=Lewis |first1=Bernard |title=Islam and the West: A Conversation with Bernard Lewis (transcript) |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2006/04/27/islam-and-the-west-a-conversation-with-bernard-lewis/ |website=pewforum.org |publisher=Pew |access-date=5 August 2014 |date=27 April 2006 |quote=There are others, the so-called Salafia. It's run along parallel lines to the Wahhabis, but they are less violent and less extreme – still violent and extreme but less so than the Wahhabis. |archive-date=10 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130910015148/http://www.pewforum.org/2006/04/27/islam-and-the-west-a-conversation-with-bernard-lewis/ |url-status=live }}</ref> according to [[Mark Durie]], who states that Saudi leaders "are active and diligent" using their considerable financial resources "in funding and promoting Salafism all around the world".<ref>{{cite web |author=Mark Durie |title=Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood: What is the difference? |work=Middle East Forum |date=6 June 2013 |url=http://www.meforum.org/3541/salafis-muslim-brotherhood |quote=What is called Wahhabism – the official religious ideology of the Saudi state – is a form of Salafism. Strictly speaking, 'Wahhabism' is not a movement, but a label used mainly by non-Muslims to refer to Saudi Salafism, referencing the name of an influential 18th-century Salafi teacher, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. ... The continuing impact of Salafi dogma in Saudi Arabia means that Saudi leaders are active and diligent in funding and promoting Salafism all around the world. If there is a mosque receiving Saudi funding in your city today, in every likelihood it is a Salafi mosque. Saudi money has also leveraged Salafi teachings through TV stations, websites and publications. |access-date=28 March 2015 |archive-date=24 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324135429/http://www.meforum.org/3541/salafis-muslim-brotherhood |url-status=live }}</ref> Ahmad Moussalli tends to agree with the view that Wahhabism is a subset of Salafism, saying "As a rule, all Wahhabis are salafists, but not all salafists are Wahhabis".<ref name="Moussalli">{{cite book |last=Moussalli |first=Ahmad |title=Wahhabism, Salafism and Islamism: Who Is The Enemy? |date=30 January 2009 |publisher=A Conflicts Forum Monograph |page=3 |url=http://conflictsforum.org/briefings/Wahhabism-Salafism-and-Islamism.pdf |access-date=10 March 2015 |archive-date=23 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140623113340/http://conflictsforum.org/briefings/Wahhabism-Salafism-and-Islamism.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

However, many scholars and critics distinguish between the old form of Saudi Salafism (termed as Wahhabism) and the new Salafism in Saudi Arabia. Stéphane Lacroix, a fellow and lecturer at [[Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris|Sciences Po]] in [[Paris]], also affirmed a distinction between the two: "As opposed to Wahhabism, Salafism refers [...] to all the hybridations that have taken place since the 1960s between the teachings of Muhammad bin 'Abd al-Wahhab and other Islamic schools of thought". Hamid Algar and [[Khaled Abou El Fadl]] believe, during the 1960s and 70s, Wahhabism rebranded itself as Salafism knowing it could not "spread in the modern Muslim world" as Wahhabism.<ref name="Dillon">{{cite web|last=Dillon|first=Michael R.|title=Wahhabism: Is It a Factor in the Spread of Global Terrorism?|url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a509109.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407090159/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a509109.pdf|archive-date=7 April 2014|url-status=live|access-date=2 April 2014|work=September 2009|publisher=Naval Post-Graduate School|pages=3–4|quote=Hamid Algar [...] emphasizes the strong influence of the Saudi petrodollar in the propagation of Wahhabism, but also attributes the political situation of the Arab world at the time as a contributing factor that led to the co-opting of Salafism. [...] Khaled Abou El Fadl, [...] expresses the opinion that Wahhabism would not have been able to spread in the modern Muslim world [...] it would have to be spread under the banner of Salafism.8 This attachment of Wahhabism to Salafism was needed as Salafism was a much more 'credible paradigm in Islam'; making it an ideal medium for Wahhabism. [...] The co-opting of Salafism by Wahhabism was not completed until the 1970s when the Wahhabis stripped away some of their extreme intolerance and co-opted the symbolism and language of Salafism; making them practically indistinguishable.}}</ref><ref name="fadl-75">{{cite book |last=Abou El Fadl |first=Khaled |title=The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists |url=https://archive.org/details/greattheftwrestl00abou |url-access=registration |date=2005 |page=[https://archive.org/details/greattheftwrestl00abou/page/75 75]|publisher=Harper San Francisco |isbn=978-0060563394 }}</ref>

Its largesse funded an estimated "90% of the expenses of the entire faith", throughout the Muslim World, according to journalist Dawood al-Shirian.<ref name="ReferenceA">Dawood al-Shirian, 'What Is Saudi Arabia Going to Do?' ''Al-Hayat'', 19 May 2003</ref> It extended to young and old, from children's [[madrasah|madrasas]] to high-level scholarship.<ref>Abou al Fadl, Khaled, ''The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists'', Harper San Francisco, 2005, pp. 48–64</ref> "Books, scholarships, fellowships, mosques" (for example, "more than 1,500 mosques were built from Saudi public funds over the last 50 years") were paid for.<ref>Kepel, p. 72</ref> It rewarded journalists and academics, who followed it and built satellite campuses around [[Egypt]] for [[Al-Azhar University|Al Azhar]], the oldest and most influential Islamic university.<ref name="Murphy, Caryle p. 32">Murphy, Caryle, ''Passion for Islam – Shaping the Modern Middle East: the Egyptian Experience'', Simon & Schuster, 2002 p. 32</ref> Yahya Birt counts spending on "1,500 mosques, 210 Islamic centres and dozens of Muslim academies and schools"<ref name="Coolsaet">{{cite book |last=Coolsaet |first=Rik |title=Jihadi Terrorism and the Radicalisation Challenge: European and American |publisher=Ashgate Publishing Ltd |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GOKhAgAAQBAJ&q=wahabi+difference+salafi&pg=PT126 |editor=Rik Coolsaet |chapter=7. Cycles of Revolutionary Terrorism|date=2013 |isbn=978-1409476450 |quote=The proliferation of brochures, free qurans and new Islamic centres in Malaga, Madrid, Milat, Mantes-la-Jolie, Edinburgh, Brussels, Lisbon, Zagreb, Washington, Chicago, and Toronto; the financing of Islamic Studies chairs in American universities; the growth of Internet sites: all of these elements have facilitated access to Wahhabi teachings and the promotion of Wahhabism as the sole legitimate guardian of Islamic thought.}}</ref> at a cost of around $2–3bn annually since 1975.<ref name="independent_1jul2007">{{cite news |title=Wahhabism: A deadly scripture |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/wahhabism-a-deadly-scripture-5924632.html |access-date=4 October 2015 |work=[[The Independent]] |date=1 November 2007 |archive-date=5 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005094746/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/wahhabism-a-deadly-scripture-5924632.html |url-status=live }}</ref> To put the number into perspective, the propaganda budget of the [[Soviet Union]] was about $1bn per annum.<ref name=independent_1jul2007/>

This spending has done much to overwhelm less strict local interpretations of Islam, according to observers like Dawood al-Shirian and [[Lee Kuan Yew]],<ref name="ReferenceA"/> and has caused the Saudi interpretation (sometimes called "[[petro-Islam]]"<ref>{{harvnb|Kepel|2002|pp=69–75}}</ref>) to be perceived as the correct interpretation – or the "gold standard" of Islam – in many Muslims' minds.<ref name="Radical Islam in Central Asia">{{cite web |url=http://www.kashmirherald.com/featuredarticle/radicalislam.html |title=Radical Islam in Central Asia |access-date=13 November 2014 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304030845/http://www.kashmirherald.com/featuredarticle/radicalislam.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=geiCymK1IWIC&q=lee+kuan+yew+%22gold+standard%22+islam&pg=PA71 |title=Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master's Insights on China, the United States, and .. |author=Kuan Yew Lee |author2=Ali Wyne |publisher=MIT Press |quote=But over the last 30-odd years, since the oil crisis and the petrodollars became a major factor in the Muslim world, the extremists have been proleytizing, building mosques, religious schools where they teach Wahhabism [...] sending out preachers, and having conferences. Globalizing, networking. And slowly they have convinced the Southeast Asian Muslims, and indeed Muslims throughout the world, that the gold standard is Saudi Arabia, that that is the real good Muslim.|isbn=978-0262019125 |year=2012 }}</ref>

Salafis are sometimes labelled "Wahhabis", often in a derogatory manner by their sectarian opponents.<ref>Laurent Bonnefoy, ''Salafism in Yemen: Transnationalism and Religious Identity,'' Columbia University Press/Hurst, 2011, {{ISBN|978-1849041317}}, p. 245.</ref> Some Western critics often conflate Wahhabis and Salafis, although numerous Western academics have challenged such depictions. While Wahhabism is viewed as a Salafist movement in [[Arabian Peninsula]] that took inspiration from [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab|Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab]] and his successors in the [[Al ash-Sheikh|Aal al-Shaykh]], the broader Salafist movement have deeper roots across the [[Muslim world|Muslim World]]. Often times, other Salafis oppose the stance of Gulf-based Wahhabis on various issues and engage in a variety of political activities.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Abdo |first=Geneive |title=The New Sectarianism: The Arab Uprisings and the Rebirth of the Shi'a-Sunni Divide |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-0190233143 |location= New York |pages=47, 48 |chapter=2: The Sunni Salafists}}</ref>

===Indian subcontinent===
{{main | Ahl-i Hadith | Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen}}
In Indian subcontinent, a number of Salafi streams exist including [[Ahl-i Hadith|Ahl i Hadith]] and [[Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen]].
''Ahl-i Hadith'' is a religious movement that emerged in Northern India in the mid-nineteenth century.<ref name="ODI2">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Ahl-i Hadith |editor=John L. Esposito |encyclopedia=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2014 |url=https://archive.org/details/oxforddictionary00bada |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0195125580 }}</ref> Adherents of Ahl-i-Hadith regard the Quran, [[sunnah]], and [[hadith]] as the sole sources of religious authority and oppose everything introduced in Islam after the earliest times.<ref name="roy-islamism">{{cite book|editor1-last=Olivier|editor1-first=Roy|editor2-last=Sfeir|editor2-first=Antoine |title=The Columbia World Dictionary of Islamism |date=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rNrMilgHKKEC&pg=PA27 |publisher=Columbia University Press |page=27|isbn=978-0231146401}}</ref> In particular, they reject ''[[taqlid]]'' (following legal precedent) and favor ''[[ijtihad]]'' (independent legal reasoning) based on the scriptures.<ref name=ODI2/> The movement's followers call themselves Salafi, while others refer to them as [[Wahhabi movement|Wahhabi]],<ref>Rabasa, Angel M. ''The Muslim World After 9/11'' By Angel M. Rabasa, p. 275</ref> or consider them a variation on the Wahhabi movement.<ref>Alex Strick Van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn, ''An Enemy We Created: The Myth of the Taliban-Al Qaeda Merger in Afghanistan'', p. 427. [[New York City|New York]]: [[Oxford University Press]], 2012. {{ISBN|978-0199927319}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lieven |first=Anatol |author-link=Anatol Lieven |date=2011 |title=Pakistan: A Hard Country |location=New York |publisher=PublicAffairs |page=128 |isbn=978-1610390231 |quote=Ahl-e-Hadith ... a branch of the international Salafi ... tradition, heavily influenced by Wahabism.}}</ref> In recent decades the movement has expanded its presence in [[Pakistan]], [[Bangladesh]], and [[Afghanistan]].<ref name=ODI2/><ref name=roy-islamism/>

[[Shah Waliullah Dehlawi]] (1703–1762) is considered as the intellectual forefather of the movement and its followers regard him as ''[[Shaykh al-Islām|Shaykh al-Islam]]''. Waliullah 's rejection of ''Taqlid'' would be emphasized by his son [[Shah Abdul Aziz Dehlavi|Shah Abdul Aziz]] (1746–1824) and later successors like [[Shah Ismail Dehlvi|Shah Ismail]] (1779–1831) in a puritanical manner; stripping it of their eclectic and rational aspects. This tendency culminated in the Jihad movement of [[Syed Ahmad Barelvi|Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi]] (1786–1831). This iconoclastic movement expanded Shah Waliullah's rejection of ''Taqlid'' as a fundamental creedal doctrine. They focused on waging [[Jihad|physical Jihad]] against [[Kuffar|non-Muslims]] and banishing syncretic rituals prevalent amongst Muslims. Although the Indian ''Mujahidin'' movement led by Sayyid Ahmad shared close parallels with the Arabian Wahhabi movement and hence labelled as "Wahhabi" by the British; both movements mostly evolved independently. After the death of Sayyid Ahmad in 1831; his successors Wilayat Ali, Inayat Ali, Muhammad Hussain, and Farhat Hussain continued Jihad activities of the "Wahhabi" movement throughout [[British India]]; spreading from [[Chittagong]] to [[Peshawar]] and from [[Madras]] to [[Kashmir]]. They played an important role in the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Rebellion of 1857]] and their anti-British Jihad has been described as "the most strident challenge" faced by the British during the 1850s. After the defeat of the revolt, the British would fully crush the ''Mujahidin'' through a series of expeditions, "Wahhabi" trials and sedition laws. By 1883, the movement was fully suppressed and no longer posed any political threat. Many adherents of the movement abandoned physical Jihad and opted for [[Political quietism in Islam|political quietism]]. The Ahl-i-Hadith movement emerged from these circles of religious activists.<ref>{{Cite book |last=W. Brown |first=Daniel |title=Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999 |isbn=9780521653947 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts; London |pages=25, 27 |chapter=2: The emergence of modern Challenges to tradition}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Ahmed|first=Imtiaz|date=15 August 2020|title=From Wahabi Movement to 1857 Revolt: Muslims in India's Freedom Struggle|url=https://millichronicle.com/2020/08/from-wahabi-movement-to-1857-revolt-muslims-in-indias-freedom-struggle/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309192600/https://millichronicle.com/2020/08/from-wahabi-movement-to-1857-revolt-muslims-in-indias-freedom-struggle/|archive-date=9 March 2021|website=The Milli Chronicle}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=13 June 2016|title=What was Wahabi Movement?|url=https://www.gktoday.in/topic/wahabi-movement/|website=GK Today|access-date=13 September 2021|archive-date=13 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210913031227/https://www.gktoday.in/topic/wahabi-movement/|url-status=live}}</ref>

After the failure of the 1857 Rebellion, the Ahl-i Hadith movement got established as the [[Political quietism in Islam|quietist]] manifestation of the Indian ''Mujahidin''. The early leaders of the movement were the influential hadith scholars [[Syed Nazeer Husain|Sayyid Nazir Hussein Dehlawi]] (1805–1902) and [[Siddiq Hasan Khan]] of [[Bhopal]] (1832–1890) who had direct tutelage under the lineage of Shah Waliullah and the Indian ''Mujahidin'' movement. Syed Nazeer Hussein was a student of [[Shah Muhammad Ishaq]], the grandson of Shah Waliullah, and appropriated the title "''Miyan Sahib''", signifying spiritual inheritence of Shah Waliullah. Siddiq Hasan Khan was a student of Sadar al-Din Khan (1789–1868) who inturn, had studied under [[Shah Abdul Aziz Dehlavi|Shah 'Abd al-Azeez]] and Shah 'Abd al-Qadir, the sons of Shah Waliullah. Yemeni scholars were also active in the [[Bhopal State|Bhopal court]] of Siddiq Hasan Khan, who became a student of Muhaddith 'Abd al-Haqq of Benarus, a disciple of [[Al-Shawkani|Shawkani]] in Yemen. He became profoundly influenced by the works Shawkani; claiming frequent contacts with him via visions and in this way, an ''[[Ijazah|ijaza]]'' (permission) to transmit his works. Thus, the Ahl-i Hadith movement drew directly from the teachings of Shah Waliullah and Al-Shawkani; advocating rejection of ''Taqlid'' and revival of hadith. However, its followers departed from Shah Waliullah's conciliatory approach to classical legal theory; aligning themselves with ''[[Zahiri]]te'' (literalist) school and adopted a literalist hadith approach. They also rejected the authority of the four legal schools and restrict ''[[Ijma]]'' (consensus) to the [[Companions of the Prophet|companions]]. Their ideal was to lead a pious and ethical life in conformity to the [[Sunnah|Prophetic example]] in every aspect of life.<ref>{{Cite book |last=W. Brown |first=Daniel |title=Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1999 |isbn=9780521653947 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts; London |pages=27–29 |chapter=2: The emergence of modern Challenges to tradition |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6RPcYgx5u_MC&pg=PA27}}</ref>

[[Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen]] (KNM) was founded in 1950 in [[Kerala]] as a popular reform movement by the Kerala Jamiyat al Ulama (KJU). It traces its root to Kerala Aikya Sangam established in 1922 by [[Vakkom Moulavi]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kerala.com/kerala_Celebrities/celebrity.php?recid=102|title=Kerala Celebrity, Celebrity of the week|website=Kerala.com|access-date=2 October 2017|archive-date=2 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171002215522/http://www.kerala.com/kerala_Celebrities/celebrity.php?recid=102|url-status=live}}</ref> KNM witnessed a number of splits since 2002 and all existing fractions maintain a good connection with Arab Salafi groups especially in [[Saudi Arabia]] and [[Kuwait]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Miller|first=Roland E.|title=Mappila Muslims of Kerala: Study in Islamic Trends|publisher=Orient Longman Limited|year=1976|isbn=0863112706|location=Madras |page=337}}</ref>

[[Folk Islam]] and [[Sufism]], popular amongst the poor and working classes in the region, are anathema to Ahl-i Hadith beliefs and practices. This attitude towards [[Sufism]] has brought the movement into conflict with the rival [[Barelvi]] movement even more so than the Barelvis' traditional rivals, the [[Deobandi]]s.<ref name="art">Arthur F Buehler, [https://books.google.com/books?id=MDsFTw76GZMC&dq=ahl+e+hadith+followers&pg=PA179 Sufi Heirs of the Prophet: the Indian Naqshbandiyya and the Rise of the Mediating Sufi Shaykh], p. 179. Part of the ''Studies in Comparative Religion'' series. [[Columbia, South Carolina|Columbia]]: [[University of South Carolina Press]], 1998. {{ISBN|978-1570032011}}</ref> Ahl-i Hadith followers identify with the [[Zahiri]] madhhab.<ref>Daniel W. Brown, ''Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought'': Vol. 5 of Cambridge Middle East Studies, p. 32. [[Cambridge]]: [[Cambridge University Press]], 1996. {{ISBN|978-0521653947}}. Quote: "Ahl-i-Hadith [...] consciously identified themselves with Zahiri doctrine."</ref> The movement draws both inspiration and financial support from [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref>Rubin, p. 348</ref><ref>Sushant Sareen, ''The Jihad Factory: Pakistan's Islamic Revolution in the Making'', p. 282. [[New Delhi]]: Har Anand Publications, 2005.</ref> [[Jamia Salafia (India)|Jamia Salafia]] is their largest institution in India.

===Egypt===
The [[Egyptians|Egyptian]] Salafi movement is one of the most influential branches of the Salafi movement which profoundly impacted religious currents across the [[Arab world]], including the scholars of [[Saudi Arabia]].<ref name="auto">{{Cite book|last1=Mandaville|first1=Peter|title=Wahhabism and the World: Understanding Saudi Arabia's Global Influence on Islam|last2=Lacroix|first2=Stéphane|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2022|isbn=978-0197532577|location=New York|pages=255–64|chapter=13: Unpacking the Saudi-Salafi Connection in Egypt}}</ref> Salafis in [[Egypt]] are not united under a single banner or unified leadership. The main Salafi trends in Egypt are Al-Sunna Al-Muhammadeyya Society, The Salafist Calling, al-Madkhaliyya Salafism, Activist Salafism, and al-Gam'eyya Al-Shar'eyya.<ref name="SE">{{cite web |url=http://www.islamopediaonline.org/country-profile/egypt/salafists/salafi-groups-egypt |title=Salafi Groups in Egypt |website=www.islamopediaonline.org |access-date=4 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018115141/http://www.islamopediaonline.org/country-profile/egypt/salafists/salafi-groups-egypt |archive-date=18 October 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Salafi-Wahhabi doctrines were introduced in Egypt by the Syrian scholar [[Muhammad Rashid Rida|Muhammad Rashid Riḍā]] starting from the 1920s.<ref>{{cite web|date=2 June 2011|title=2011: An Arab Springtime?|url=https://monthlyreview.org/commentary/2011-an-arab-springtime/|website=Monthly Review|quote="The introduction of Wahhabite Islam into Egypt was begun by Rachid Reda in the 1920's..."}}</ref> Rashid Riḍā opposed the [[Westernization|Westernising]] cultural trends adopted by Egyptian [[liberal elite]] and denounced [[Nationalism|nationalist]] ideas as a plot to undermine [[Pan-Islamism|Islamic unity]]. Riḍā and his disciples campaigned for the establishment of an [[Islamic state]] based on Salafi principles; thus becoming the biggest adversary of the [[Secularism in Egypt|Egyptian secularists]] and [[Egyptian nationalism|nationalists]].<ref name="Youssef 1985 57">{{Cite book |last=Youssef |first=Michael |title=Revolt Against Modernity: Muslim Zealots and the West |publisher=Brill |year=1985 |isbn=9004075593 |location=E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands |page=57 |chapter=9: Egyptian Nationalism at the Dawn of the Twentieth Century}}</ref>

====''Al-Sunna Al-Muhammadeyya'' Society====
''Al-Sunna Al-Muhammadeyya Society'', also known as ''Ansar Al-Sunna'', was founded in 1926 by Sheikh Mohamed Hamed El-Fiqi, a 1916 graduate of [[Al-Azhar Mosque|Al-Azhar]] and a student of the famed Muslim reformer
[[Muhammed Abduh]]. It is considered the main Salafi group in Egypt. El-Fiqi's ideas were resentful of [[Sufism]]. But unlike Muhammed Abduh, Ansar Al-Sunna follows the ''Tawhid'' as preached by [[Ibn Taymiyya]].<ref name=SE/> Many Saudi scholars became disciples of prominent ''[[Ulama|ulema]]'' of ''Ansar al Sunna'' like ʿAbd al-Razzaq ʿAfifi and Muhammad Khalil Harras.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Mandaville|first1=Peter|title=Wahhabism and the World: Understanding Saudi Arabia's Global Influence on Islam|last2=Lacroix|first2=Stéphane|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2022|isbn=978-0197532577|location=New York|page=263|chapter=13: Unpacking the Saudi-Salafi Connection in Egypt}}</ref>

Majority of Egyptian Salafis are affiliated to ''Ansar al-Sunna al-Muhammadiyya''. Established by Muhammad Hamid al-Fiqqi (a student of Salafi scholar Rashid Rida) to defend traditionalist Salafism, the movement shares a warm relationship with Arabian Wahhabi scholars and was a major benefactor of Salafi resurgence since the 1970s. The movement traces its initial Wahhabi contacts to Rashid Rida. [[Al-Azhar University|Al-Azhar]] shares a close relation with Ansar al-Sunna. Most of the early leaders of ''Ansar al-Sunna'' were Azhari graduates and many of its contemporary scholars studied under Al-Azhar. Prominent scholars in the movement include Rashid Rida, Muhammad Hamid al-Fiqqi, Abd al-Razzaq 'Afifi, Sayyid Sabiq, Muhammad Khalil Harass, etc.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Gauvain|first=Richard|title=Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|location=New York|pages=38, 46–47, 284–86 }}</ref>

====Salafist Call (''al-daʿwa al-salafiyya'')====
[[Salafist Call]] (''al-daʿwa al-salafiyya'') is another influential Salafist organisation. It is the outcome of student activism during the 1970s. While many of the activists joined the [[Muslim Brotherhood]], a faction led by Mohammad Ismail al-Muqaddim, influenced by Salafists of Saudi Arabia established the Salafist Calling between 1972 and 1977.<ref>[http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/3171/al-nour-party Al-Nour Party] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111202150750/http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/3171/al-nour-party |date=2 December 2011 }} Jadaliyya. Retrieved 19 December 2013.</ref> Salafist call is the most popular and localised of the Salafi organisations in Egypt. Due to it being an indigenous mass movement with strong political stances on various issues, it doesn't enjoy good relationship with Saudi Arabia. Emphasising its Egyptian heritage more robustly than ''Ansar al-Sunna'', ''Da'wa Salafiyya'' traces its history through the persecution and [[Ibn Taymiyyah#Life in Egypt|imprisonment of Ibn Taymiyya in Egypt]], to the trials faced by the ''[[Wahhabism|Muwahhidun]]'' movement in [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabia]] and then finally to scholars like Sayyid Rashid Rida, Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib, etc. who popularised Ibn Taymiyya's thought during the early twentieth century Egypt. Unlike ''Ansar al-Sunna'' which preaches [[Political quietism in Islam|political quietism]], Salafist call is a politically activist movement.<ref name="auto"/>

====The Al-Nour Party====
The [[Al-Nour Party]] was created by [[Salafist Call]] after the [[2011 Egyptian Revolution]]. It has an ultra-conservative [[Islamism|Islamist]] ideology, which believes in implementing strict [[Sharia]] law.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Omar Ashour |url=http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2012/Jan-06/159027-the-unexpected-rise-of-salafists-has-complicated-egyptian-politics.ashx#ixzz1iz2mHPKa |title=The unexpected rise of Salafists has complicated Egyptian politics |journal=The Daily Star |date=6 January 2012 |access-date=19 December 2013 |archive-date=23 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023074516/http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Opinion/Commentary/2012/Jan-06/159027-the-unexpected-rise-of-salafists-has-complicated-egyptian-politics.ashx#ixzz1iz2mHPKa |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the [[2011–12 Egyptian parliamentary election|2011–12 Egypt parliamentary elections]], the [[Islamist Bloc]] led by Al‑Nour party received 7,534,266 votes out of a total 27,065,135 correct votes (28%). The [[Islamist Bloc]] gained 127 of the 498 parliamentary seats contested,<ref name="Brown">[http://carnegieendowment.org/2011/12/20/salafis-and-sufis-in-egypt/8fj4 Salafis and Sufis in Egypt] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007124029/http://carnegieendowment.org/2011/12/20/salafis-and-sufis-in-egypt/8fj4 |date=7 October 2022 }}, Jonathan Brown, Carnegie Paper, December 2011.</ref> second-place after the Muslim Brotherhood's [[Freedom and Justice Party (Egypt)|Freedom and Justice Party]]. Al‑Nour Party itself won 111 of the 127 seats. From January 2013 onward, the party gradually distanced itself from [[Mohamed Morsi]]'s Brotherhood regime, and was involved in the [[June 2013 Egyptian protests|large-scale protests]] in late June against Morsi's rule that subsequently led to a [[2013 Egyptian coup d'état|military coup removing him from office]] in July that year.<ref>{{cite news |author=Patrick Kingsley |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/07/egypt-salafist-al-nour-party |title=Egypt's Salafist al-Nour party wields new influence on post-Morsi coalition &#124; World news |work=The Guardian |date=7 July 2013 |access-date=19 December 2013 |location=London}}</ref> A lawsuit against the party was dismissed on 22 September 2014 because the court indicated it had no jurisdiction.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/111394/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-court-says-it-has-no-power-to-dissolve-Nour-.aspx |title=Egypt court says it has no power to dissolve Nour Party |date=22 September 2014 |access-date=22 September 2014 |work=Ahram Online |archive-date=29 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129030210/http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/111394/Egypt/Politics-/Egypt-court-says-it-has-no-power-to-dissolve-Nour-.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> A case on the dissolution of the party was adjourned until 17 January 2015.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/115574.aspx |title=Cairo court adjourns case on dissolution of Islamist Nour Party |date=15 November 2014 |access-date=15 November 2014 |work=Ahram Online |archive-date=29 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129030206/http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/115574.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref> Another court case that was brought forth to dissolve the party<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/egyptsource/political-islam-s-fate-in-egypt-lies-in-the-hands-of-the-courts |title=Political Islam's Fate in Egypt Lies in the Hands of the Courts |first=Yussef |last=Auf |date=25 November 2014 |work=Atlantic Council |access-date=1 December 2014 |archive-date=20 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230120062446/https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/egyptsource/political-islam-s-fate-in-egypt-lies-in-the-hands-of-the-courts |url-status=live }}</ref> was dismissed after the Alexandria Urgent Matters Court ruled on 26 November 2014 that it lacked jurisdiction.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/11/26/court-claims-jurisdiction-religiously-affiliated-parties/ |title=Court claims no jurisdiction over religiously affiliated parties |date=26 November 2014 |work=Daily News Egypt |access-date=1 December 2014 |archive-date=3 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403020411/https://www.dailynewsegypt.com/2014/11/26/court-claims-jurisdiction-religiously-affiliated-parties/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to Ammar Ali Hassan of ''[[Al-Ahram]]'', while Salafis and the Muslim Brotherhood agree on many issues such as the need to "Islamize" society and legally requiring all Muslims to give alms, the former has nevertheless rejected the flexibility of the latter on the issue of whether women and Christians should be entitled to serve in high office, as well as its relatively tolerant attitude towards [[Iran]].<ref name="ahram">{{cite web |last=Hassan |first=Ammar Ali |title=Muslim Brothers and Salafis |url=http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/502/32/Muslim%20Brothers%20and%20Salafis.aspx |work=06-12-2012 |publisher=Al Ahram |access-date=19 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180228170628/http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/502/32/Muslim%20Brothers%20and%20Salafis.aspx |archive-date=28 February 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Malaysia===
[[File:SS PROF MADYA DATO' ARIF PERKASA DR MOHD ASRI BIN ZAINUL ABIDIN.jpg|thumb|right|[[Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin|Dr. Asri]] is the Mufti of the state of [[Perlis]] in [[Malaysia]], a Salafi-inclined state.]]

The roots of Salafism in the [[Malay Peninsula]], before the formation of [[Malaysia]], can be traced to the ''Kaum Muda'' reformist movement of the early 20th century. This group drew its inspiration from Middle Eastern reformers associated with the [[Pan-Islamism|Pan-Islamic]] ideas of [[Muhammad Abduh]] and [[Jamal al-Din al-Afghani]]. Although the early ''Kaum Muda'' movement differed in certain aspects from the modern global Salafi trend, both originated from similar reformist foundations. Historical studies also note that contemporary Salafism in Malaysia became more visible during the Islamic revival of the 1970s and 1980s, further strengthened by the return of Malaysian graduates from Middle Eastern universities in the 1990s and early 2000s. The spread of Salafi thought has since influenced theological discussions and Islamic intellectual discourse among Malaysian Muslims and religious institutions.<ref>Salafism in Malaysia: Historical Account on Its Emergence and Motivations, by Dr Maszlee Malik (Former Minister of Education of Malaysia) on December 2017, via ResearchGate</ref>

In 1980, Prince [[Mohammed bin Faisal Al Saud]] of Saudi Arabia offered [[Malaysia]] $100 million for an interest-free finance corporation, and two years later the Saudis helped finance the government-sponsored [[Bank Islam Malaysia]].<ref name="pipes-314">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x4oNgMS3n6IC&q=pipes+%22in+the+path+of+god%22+%22islamic+economic+system%22&pg=PA314|title=In the Path of God: Islam and Political Power|orig-year=1980|year=2009|publisher=Transaction Publishers|edition=5th|page=314|quote=When Prince Muhammad al-Faysal of Saudi Arabia visited Malaysia in December 1980, he offered $100 million for an interest-free finance corporation. Not surprisingly, the Malaysian finance minister responded by announcing that the government would study the possibility of establishing an `Islamic economic system.` Two years later, the Saudis helped finance the government-sponsored Bank Islam Malaysia. These actions led some cynics to argue `that the expanded interest in Islam among Malaysian politicians reflects a desire to obtain economic aid from the Arabs or to guarantee continued oil during future embargoes.`|last1=Pipes|first1=Daniel|access-date=30 March 2015|isbn=978-1412826167}}</ref> In 2017 it was reported that Salafi doctrines are spreading among Malaysia's elite, and the traditional Islamic theology currently taught in Government schools is shifted to a Salafi view of theology derived from the Middle East, particularly Saudi Arabia.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2017/01/14/wahabism-spreading-among-malaysias-elite/|title=Wahabism spreading among Malaysia's elite|date=14 January 2017|access-date=29 June 2022|archive-date=21 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211121110710/https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2017/01/14/wahabism-spreading-among-malaysias-elite/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/08/28/the-radicalisation-of-islam-in-malaysia-academicians-worry-that-an-exclusivist-way-of-interpretating/|title=The radicalisation of Islam in Malaysia|date=28 August 2016|access-date=29 June 2022|archive-date=20 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221120135612/https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2016/08/28/the-radicalisation-of-islam-in-malaysia-academicians-worry-that-an-exclusivist-way-of-interpretating/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Saudi-backed Salafist wave in Malaysia has particularly manifested itself in the growing trends of anti-Shi'a Muslim rhetoric and the encroaching [[Arabization]] of Malay culture.<ref>{{cite web|last=Alatas|first=Seyd Farid|url=https://www.mei.edu/publications/salafism-and-persecution-shiites-malaysia|title=Salafism and the Persecution of Shi'ites in Malaysia|date=30 July 2014|access-date=29 June 2022|archive-date=29 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629175029/https://www.mei.edu/publications/salafism-and-persecution-shiites-malaysia|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Musa|first1=Mohd Faizal|last2=Hui|first2=Tan Beng|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14672715.2017.1335848?scroll=top&needAccess=true|title=State-backed discrimination against Shia Muslims in Malaysia|journal=Critical Asian Studies|date=20 June 2017|volume=49|issue=3|pages=308–29|doi=10.1080/14672715.2017.1335848|s2cid=148886484|access-date=29 June 2022|archive-date=29 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629175109/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14672715.2017.1335848?scroll=top&needAccess=true|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Tarrant|first1=Tavleen|last2=Sipalan|first2=Joseph|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malaysia-politics-religion-analysis/worries-about-malaysias-arabisation-grow-as-saudi-ties-strengthen-idUSKBN1EF103|title=Worries about Malaysia's 'Arabisation' grow as Saudi ties strengthen|work=Reuters|date=21 December 2017|access-date=29 June 2022|archive-date=29 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629175029/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-malaysia-politics-religion-analysis/worries-about-malaysias-arabisation-grow-as-saudi-ties-strengthen-idUSKBN1EF103|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Kingston|first=Jeff|url=https://asiatimes.com/2019/12/how-arabization-changed-islam-in-asia/|title=How Arabization changed Islam in Asia|work=Asia Times|date=23 December 2019|access-date=29 June 2022|archive-date=18 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818201444/https://asiatimes.com/2019/12/how-arabization-changed-islam-in-asia/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Hunter|first=Murray|url=https://www.eurasiareview.com/13062022-malaysia-power-struggle-between-wahhabi-salafism-and-muslim-brotherhood-analysis/|title=Malaysia: Power Struggle Between Wahhabi-Salafism And Muslim Brotherhood – Analysis|date=13 June 2022|access-date=29 June 2022|archive-date=29 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629175109/https://www.eurasiareview.com/13062022-malaysia-power-struggle-between-wahhabi-salafism-and-muslim-brotherhood-analysis/|url-status=live}}</ref>  In addition, unlike other states in Malaysia that adhere to the Ash‘ari creed and follow the Shafi‘i school of thought in fiqh, the state of [[Perlis]] is the only state that practices the Salafi creed and recognizes all Sunni schools of jurisprudence. <ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://muftiperlis.gov.my/index.php/en/himpunan-fatwa-negeri/922-pendirian-terhadap-perbezaan-dalam-aqidah-ahl-sunnah-wa-al-jama-ah|title=Pendirian Terhadap Perbezaan Dalam Aqidah Ahl Al-Sunnah Wa Al-Jamā'ah & Pendirian Kepelbagaian Ahl Sunnah Wa Al-Jamā'ah Berkaitan Tazkiyah Al-Nafs|date=2024-06-13|last=Jabatan Mufti Negeri Perlis|access-date=2025-10-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://muftiperlis.gov.my/index.php/en/himpunan-fatwa-negeri/788-pegangan-pendirian-perlis-mengenai-mazhab-mazhab-fiqah|title=PEGANGAN & PENDIRIAN PERLIS MENGENAI MAZHAB-MAZHAB FIQAH|date=2023-06-13|last=Jabatan Mufti Negeri Perlis|access-date=2025-10-21}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://www.eurasiareview.com/07032020-dr-mazas-salafi-styled-theocracy-analysis/|title=Dr. Maza’s Salafi-Styled Theocracy – Analysis|date=2020-03-07|last=Murray Hunter|access-date=2025-10-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://fulcrum.sg/the-ahlus-sunnah-or-salafist-movement-in-perlis-what-is-madanis-stand/|title=The Ahlus Sunnah (or Salafist) Movement in Perlis: What is Madani’s Stand?|date=2025-01-23|last=Mohd Faizal Musa|access-date=2025-10-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244017726356|title=The Historical Development of the “Sunnah” Reform Ideology in the State of Perlis, Malaysia|date=2017-08-30|last=Maszlee Malik and Hamidah Mat|access-date=2025-10-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://malaysiagazette.com/2024/07/11/takrif-ahli-sunnah-wal-jamaah-tidak-wajar-disempitkan-raja-perlis/|title=Takrif Ahli Sunnah Wal Jamaah tidak wajar disempitkan- Raja Perlis|date=2024-07-11|last= Wartawan MalaysiaGazette |access-date=2025-10-05}}</ref>

===Yemen===
Islamic scholar [[Al-Shawkani|Muhammad ibn 'Ali ash-Shawkani]] (1759–1839 C.E) is regarded as their intellectual precursor by the Salafis in [[Yemen]], upholding his works to promote Salafi revivalist ideas.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Barak A. Salmoni|title=Regime and Periphery in Northern Yemen: The Huthi Phenomenon|author2=Bryce Loidolt|author3=Madeleine Wells|date= 2010|publisher=Rand Corporation|isbn=978-0833049742|page=72}}</ref> Beyond Yemen, his works are widely used in Salafi schools.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Oxford University Press|title=Islam in Yemen: Oxford Bibliographies Online Research Guide|date=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0199804351|page=6}}</ref> He also profoundly influenced other Salafi movements across the world such as the ''[[Ahl-i Hadith]]'' in the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought|date=2013|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-0691134840|editor1-last=Böwering|editor1-first=Gerhard|edition=ill.|page=507|editor2-last=Crone|editor2-first=Patricia|editor3-last=Mirza|editor3-first=Mahan}}</ref>

===Tunisia===
Salafi movement in Tunisia was labeled as "ultra-conservative" by Philip Nalyor, in the context of [[Tunisia#Post-revolution (since 2011)|Tunisia after the 2011 revolution]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Naylor |first1=Phillip |title=North Africa Revised |date= 2015 |publisher=University of Texas Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SSUKBgAAQBAJ&q=salafi+movement+ultra-conservative&pg=PT302 |access-date=5 December 2015|isbn=978-0292761926 }}</ref>

===Turkey===
[[Turkey]] has been largely absent from the growing literature on the phenomenon of transnational Salafism. Salafism is a minority strand of [[Islam in Turkey|Turkish Islam]] that evolved in the context of the state's effort in the 1980s to recalibrate religion as a complement to [[Turkish nationalism]]. Although Salafism became a topic of discussion in media and scholarly writing in Turkish religious studies faculties, a continued lack of orthographic stability (variously, Selfye, Selefiyye, Selfyyecilik, Selefizm)" gives an indication both of the denial of its relevance to Turkey and the success of [[Secular state|republican secularism]] in clearing religion from public discourse. Yet since the 1980s Salafi preachers trained in Saudi Arabia have been able to find a niche through publishing houses that have endeavoured to translate Arabic texts from the Saudi Salafi scene in an attempt to change the discursive landscape of Turkish Islam. In 1999, the Turkish Directorate of Religious Affairs ''[[Diyanet]]'', recognized Salafism as a Sunni school of thought.<ref>{{cite news |title=Future of Salafism in Turkey |url=https://www.thereference-paris.com/1466 |access-date=3 June 2020 |work=The Reference Paris |date=4 October 2018 |archive-date=3 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200603142038/https://www.thereference-paris.com/1466 |url-status=live }}</ref> Salafist preachers then started to make inroads into the Turkish society. With the implication of Turkish citizens and the [[Justice and Development Party (Turkey)|Justice and Development Party]] (AKP) government in [[Syrian civil war]], public discussion began to question the narrative of Salafism as a phenomenon alien to Turkey. Salafism becomes an observable element of religious discourse in Turkey in the context of the military regime's attempt to outmanoeuvre movements emerging as a challenge to the [[Kemalist]] secular order, namely the left, [[Necmettin Erbakan]]'s Islamism, [[Kurdish nationalism]], and Iran. Through the Turkish—Islamic Synthesis (Turk islam Sentezi), the scientific positivism that had been the guiding principle of the republic since 1923 was modified to make room for Islam as a central element of [[Turkish culture|Turkish national culture]]. The military authorities oversaw an increase of more than 50 percent in the budget of the religious affairs administration (known as [[Diyanet]]), expanding it from 50,000 employees in 1979 to 85,000 in 1989. Pursuing closer ties with Saudi Arabia, Turkey involved itself in a more meaningful manner in the [[Pan-Islamism|pan-Islamic]] institutions under Saudi tutelage, and Diyanet received [[Muslim World League]] funding to send officials to Europe to develop outreach activities in Turkish immigrant communities." A network of commercial and cultural links was established with Saudi businesses and institutions in banking and financial services, publishing houses, newspapers, magazines, and children's books.

Preachers who had studied at the [[Islamic University of Madinah]], and applied the Salafi designation, also established publishing houses and charity organizations (dernek), the most prominent example is Iraqi-Turkish descent Salafi scholar and preacher [[:tr:Abdullah Yolcu|Abdullah Yolcu]], who preaches under the banner of Guraba publishing house.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Al-Rasheed |first1=Madawi |title=Salman's Legacy: The Dilemmas of a New Era in Saudi Arabia |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0190901745 |page=158 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wfhyDwAAQBAJ&dq=abdullah+yolcu&pg=PA158 |accessdate=3 July 2023 |language=en}}</ref> Subject to periodic harassment and arrest by security forces, they adopted markedly more public profiles with AKP ascendancy over the military following a resounding electoral victory in 2002. The Turkish Salafis became active on [[YouTube]], [[Twitter]], and [[Facebook]], complementing websites for their publishing enterprises. Saudi-based scholars such as [[Bin Baz]], [[al-Albani]], [[Saleh Al-Fawzan]] (b. 1933), and [[Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen]] (1925–2001) form the core of their references, while they avoid contemporary '[[ulama]]' associated with the [[Muslim Brotherhood]] such as [[Yusuf al-Qaradawi]] (b. 1926), an Egyptian scholar based in [[Qatar]]. Turkish is their prime language of communication, but Arabic is prominent in special sections on websites, Arabic-language Salafi texts in their bookshops, and heavy use of Arabic terminology in their Turkish texts. The most well-established among them is Ablullah Yolcu, who is said to do "production of Turkish Salafism from Arabic texts". While Turkey has been outside the discussion on transnational Salafism, [[Meijer]]'s observation that Salafism may succeed `when its quietist current can find a niche or the nationalist movement has failed' seems to speak surprisingly well to the Turkish case."<ref name="sl">{{cite book |last1=Al-Rasheed |first1=Madawi |title=Salman's Legacy: The Dilemmas of a New Era in Saudi Arabia |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0190901745 |pages=158, 169, 160, 161, 162 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wfhyDwAAQBAJ&q=abdullah+yolcu&pg=PA158 |access-date=29 May 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

===China===
{{main | Sailaifengye}}

Salafism is opposed by a number of [[Hui people|Hui]] [[Islam in China|Muslims Sects in China]] such as by the [[Gedimu]], Sufi [[Ma Laichi|Khafiya]] and [[Jahriyya]], to the extent that even the fundamentalist [[Yihewani]] (Ikhwan) Chinese sect, founded by [[Ma Wanfu]] after Salafi inspiration, condemned Ma Debao and Ma Zhengqing as heretics when they attempted to introduce Salafism as the main form of Islam. Ma Debao established a Salafi school, called the [[Sailaifengye]] (Salafi), in [[Lanzhou]] and [[Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture|Linxia]]. It is completely separate from other [[Muslim groups in China|Muslim sects in China]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hUEswLE4SWUC&q=wahhabism%20ma%20debao&pg=PA72 |title=China's Muslim Hui community: migration, settlement and sects |author=Michael Dillon |year=1999 |publisher=Curzon Press |location=Richmond |page=208 |isbn=978-0700710263 |access-date=28 June 2010}}</ref>

The number of Salafis in China are not included on percentage lists of Muslim sects in China.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofi00john |url-access=registration |quote=kubrawiyya percent gedimu hui ma tong. |title=The Oxford History of Islam |author=John L. Esposito |year=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press US |page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordhistoryofi00john/page/749 749] |isbn=0195107993 |access-date=28 June 2010}}</ref> The [[Kuomintang]] Sufi Muslim General [[Ma Bufang]], who backed the Yihewani (Ikhwan) Muslims, persecuted the Salafis and forced them into hiding. They were not allowed to move or worship openly. The Yihewani had become secular and Chinese nationalists; they considered the Salafiyya to be "heterodox" (''xie jiao'') and people who followed foreigners' teachings (''waidao''). After the [[Communist Party of China|Communists]] took power, Salafis were allowed to worship openly again.<ref>{{cite book|author=Rubin|first=Barry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wEih57-GWQQC&q=ma+bufang+secret+war&pg=PA79|title=Guide to Islamist Movements|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|year=2000|isbn=0765617471|page=800|access-date=28 June 2010}}</ref>

===Vietnam===
An attempt at Salafist expansion among the Muslim [[Chams]] in Vietnam has been halted by Vietnamese government controls, however, the loss of the Salafis among Chams has been to be benefit of [[Tablighi Jamaat]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Féo |first=Agnès De |title=Les musulmans de Châu Đốc (Vietnam) à l'épreuve du salafisme |url=http://moussons.revues.org/976 |journal=Recherches en Sciences Sociales Sur l'Asie du Sud-Est |year=2009 |issue=13–14 |publisher=Moussons |pages=359–72 |doi=10.4000/moussons.976 |doi-access=free |access-date=1 October 2016 |archive-date=12 October 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012074003/http://moussons.revues.org/976 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Qatar ===
Similar to Saudi Arabia, most citizens of Qatar adhere to a strict sect of Salafism referred to as Wahhabism.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-13229852 |title=Tiny Qatar's growing global clout |date=1 May 2011 |newspaper=BBC News |language=en |access-date=30 November 2016 |archive-date=12 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150312015508/http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-13229852 |url-status=live }}</ref> The national mosque of Qatar is the [[Imam Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Mosque]] named after the founder of Wahhabism.<ref>{{Cite news|date=16 December 2011|title=Photos: Qatar's state mosque opens to the public|newspaper=Doha News|url=http://dohanews.co/the-state-mosque-of-qatar-now-officially/|url-status=dead|access-date=30 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619092225/http://dohanews.co/the-state-mosque-of-qatar-now-officially/|archive-date=19 June 2015}}</ref>

Unlike the strict practice of Wahhabi Salafism in Saudi Arabia, Qatar has demonstrated an alternative view of Wahhabism. In Qatar, women are allowed by law to drive, non-Muslims have access to pork and liquor through a state-owned distribution center, and religious police do not force businesses to close during prayer times.<ref name=":4">{{Cite news |url=https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21699960-kinder-gentler-puritanism-some-other-wahhabi-state |title=The other Wahhabi state |date=4 June 2016 |newspaper=The Economist |issn=0013-0613 |access-date=30 November 2016 |archive-date=30 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161130103053/http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21699960-kinder-gentler-puritanism-some-other-wahhabi-state |url-status=live }}</ref> Also, Qatar hosts branches of several American universities and a "Church City" in which migrant workers may practice their religion.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.topuniversities.com/where-to-study/asia/qatar/guide |title=Study in Qatar |date=14 September 2016 |newspaper=Top Universities |access-date=30 November 2016 |archive-date=1 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201021853/http://www.topuniversities.com/where-to-study/asia/qatar/guide |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://dohanews.co/qatars-church-city-grows-as-christianity-loses-taboo/ |title=Qatar's 'Church City' grows as Christianity loses taboo status |date=16 May 2011 |newspaper=Doha News |access-date=30 November 2016 |archive-date=1 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201015919/http://dohanews.co/qatars-church-city-grows-as-christianity-loses-taboo/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The adoption of a more liberal interpretation of Wahhabism is largely credited to Qatar's young Emir, [[Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani]].

Yet, Qatar's more tolerant interpretation of Wahhabism compared to Saudi Arabia has drawn backlash from Qatari citizens and foreigners. [[The Economist]] reported that a Qatari cleric criticized the state's acceptance of un-Islamic practices away from the public sphere and complained that Qatari citizens are oppressed.<ref name=":4" /> Although Qatari gender separation is less strict than that found in Saudi Arabia, plans to offer co-ed lectures were put aside after threats to boycott Qatar's segregated public university.<ref name=":4" /> Meanwhile, there have been reports of local discontent with the sale of alcohol in Qatar.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203686204577115923124889872 |title=Qatar, Unveiling Tensions, Suspends Sale of Alcohol |last=Delmar-Morgan |first=Alex |date=7 January 2012 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |access-date=30 November 2016 |archive-date=3 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503004647/https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203686204577115923124889872 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Qatar has also drawn widespread criticism for attempting to spread its fundamental religious interpretation both through military and non-military channels. Militarily, Qatar has been criticized for funding rebel Islamist extremist fighters in the Libyan Crisis and the Syrian Civil War. In Libya, Qatar funded allies of [[Ansar al-Sharia (Libya)|Ansar al-Sharia]], the jihadist group thought to be behind the killing of former U.S. ambassador [[J. Christopher Stevens|Christopher Stevens]], while channeling weapons and money to the Islamist [[Ahrar al-Sham]] group in Syria.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/qatar/11110931/How-Qatar-is-funding-the-rise-of-Islamist-extremists.html |title=How Qatar is funding the rise of Islamist extremists |last=Spencer |first=David Blair and Richard |newspaper=The Telegraph |access-date=30 November 2016 |archive-date=30 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190330155327/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/qatar/11110931/How-Qatar-is-funding-the-rise-of-Islamist-extremists.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition, Qatar-based charities and online campaigns, such as [[Sheikh Eid bin Mohammad Al Thani Charitable Association|Eid Charity]] and [[Madid Ahl al-Sham]], have a history of financing terrorist groups in Syria.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://stopterrorfinance.org/stories/510952392-eid-charity-s-al-baraka-initiative-admirable-or-alarming |title=Eid Charity's Al Baraka Initiative: Admirable or Alarming? |author=CATF |access-date=30 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917170003/http://stopterrorfinance.org/stories/510952392-eid-charity-s-al-baraka-initiative-admirable-or-alarming |archive-date=17 September 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/08/analysis-qatar-still-negligent-on-terror-finance.php|title=Analysis: Qatar still negligent on terror finance {{!}} FDD's Long War Journal|website=FDD's Long War Journal|date=19 August 2015|access-date=30 November 2016|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417142200/https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/08/analysis-qatar-still-negligent-on-terror-finance.php|url-status=live}}</ref> Qatar has also repeatedly provided financial support to the [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]] government led by the militant [[Hamas]] organisation while senior Hamas officials have visited [[Doha]] and hosted Qatari leaders in Gaza.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinians-gaza-qatar-idUSKCN1021AQ |title=Qatar says gives $30 million to pay Gaza public sector workers |date=22 July 2016 |newspaper=Reuters |access-date=30 November 2016 |archive-date=1 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201015210/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinians-gaza-qatar-idUSKCN1021AQ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/06/18/414693807/why-israel-lets-qatar-give-millions-to-hamas |title=Why Israel Lets Qatar Give Millions To Hamas |newspaper=NPR |access-date=30 November 2016 |archive-date=27 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231127175414/https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/06/18/414693807/why-israel-lets-qatar-give-millions-to-hamas |url-status=live }}</ref> Qatar also gave approximately $10 billion to the government of Egypt during [[Mohamed Morsi]]'s time in office.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-23185441 |title=Egypt crisis: Fall of Morsi challenges Qatar's new emir |last=Law |first=Bill |date=5 July 2013 |newspaper=BBC News |language=en |access-date=30 November 2016 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308083746/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-23185441 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Non-militarily, Qatar state-funded broadcaster [[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]] has come under criticism for selective reporting in coordination with Qatar's foreign policy objectives.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/al-jazeera-tv-network-draws-criticism-praise-for-coverage-of-arab-revolutions/2011/05/08/AFoHWs2G_story.html |title=Al-Jazeera TV network draws criticism, praise for coverage of Arab revolutions |newspaper=Washington Post |access-date=30 November 2016 |archive-date=1 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201015759/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/al-jazeera-tv-network-draws-criticism-praise-for-coverage-of-arab-revolutions/2011/05/08/AFoHWs2G_story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The nearby Persian Gulf States of Saudi Arabia, [[Bahrain]], and the [[United Arab Emirates]] have been among the countries that have condemned Qatar's actions. In 2014, the three Persian Gulf countries withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar referencing Qatar's failure to commit to non-interference in the affairs of other [[Gulf Cooperation Council]] (GCC) countries.<ref name="Arabi">{{cite web |title=Gulf trio pull Qatar ambassadors – why now? |date=5 March 2014 |url=http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2014/03/05/Gulf-trio-pull-Qatar-ambassadors-why-now-.html |publisher=Al-Arabiya |access-date=28 September 2018}}</ref> Saudi Arabia has also threatened to block land and sea borders with Qatar.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.arabianbusiness.com/saudi-threatens-block-qatar-s-land-sea-borders-541971.html |title=Saudi threatens to block Qatar's land, sea borders |newspaper=Arabian Business |access-date=30 November 2016 |archive-date=1 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201075716/http://www.arabianbusiness.com/saudi-threatens-block-qatar-s-land-sea-borders-541971.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
This blockade came to an end on 5 January 2021, when authorities from both Saudi and Qatar came on common grounds, with the midmanship of Kuwait.<ref>{{Cite news |first=Abigail |last=Ng |date=6 January 2021 |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/end-of-qatar-blockade-is-a-win-for-the-region-saudi-foreign-minister.html |title=End of Qatar blockade is 'a win for the region,' Saudi foreign minister says |work=CNBC |access-date=21 February 2021 |archive-date=19 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119092715/https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/end-of-qatar-blockade-is-a-win-for-the-region-saudi-foreign-minister.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Statistics==
It is often reported from various sources, including Germany's [[Bundesnachrichtendienst|federal intelligence agency]], that Salafism is the fastest-growing [[Islamic revival|Islamic movement]] in the world.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Barby Grant |title=Center wins NEH grant to study Salafism |url=http://csrc.asu.edu/news/center-wins-neh-grant-study-salafism |publisher=Arizona State University |access-date=9 June 2014 |quote=It also reveals that Salafism was cited in 2010 as the fastest growing Islamic movement on the planet. |archive-date=14 July 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714170909/http://csrc.asu.edu/news/center-wins-neh-grant-study-salafism |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author1=Simon Shuster |title=Comment: Underground Islam in Russia |url=http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/08/03/comment-underground-islam-russia |access-date=9 June 2014 |work=Slate |date=3 August 2013 |quote=It is the fastest-growing movement within the fastest-growing religion in the world. |archive-date=27 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131127133445/http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/08/03/comment-underground-islam-russia |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |author1=Christian, Caryl |title=The Salafi Moment |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/09/12/the_salafi_moment |access-date=9 June 2014 |work=FP |date=12 September 2012 |quote=Though solid numbers are hard to come by, they're routinely described as the fastest-growing movement in modern-day Islam. |archive-date=2 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131102161251/http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/09/12/the_salafi_moment |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Uproar in Germany Over Salafi Drive to Hand Out Millions of Qurans |url=http://www.aina.org/news/20120416150547.htm |access-date=9 June 2014 |work=AFP |date=16 April 2012 |quote=The service [German domestic intelligence service] said in its most recent annual report dating from 2010 that Salafism was the fastest growing Islamic movement in the world... |archive-date=18 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140818035829/http://www.aina.org/news/20120416150547.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The [[Süddeutsche Zeitung]] (Southern German Newspaper) also reports that Salafism increasingly takes on a leading role on spiritual matters.<ref>{{cite web | title=Islam: Warum der Sufismus gar nicht so friedlich ist | date=6 August 2016 | url=https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/islamische-mystik-warum-der-sufismus-gar-nicht-so-friedlich-ist-1.3109023 }}</ref>

The ''Salafiyya'' movement has also gained popular acceptance as a "respected [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] tradition" in [[Turkey]] starting from the 1980s, when the Turkish government forged closer ties to [[Saudi Arabia]]. This paved the way for cooperation between the Salafi [[Muslim World League]] and the Turkish [[Directorate of Religious Affairs|Diyanet]], which recognised Salafism as a traditional Sunni theological school, thus introducing Salafi teachings to Turkish society. Globally, Salafisation of Islamic religious discourse occurred simultaneously alongside the rise of [[Pan-Islamism|pan-Islamist]] Movements, with an emphasis on the concept of ''[[Tawhid]]''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.mei.edu/publications/salafism-infiltrates-turkish-religious-discourse|work=Middle East Institute|access-date=16 February 2018|language=en|title=Salafism Infiltrates Turkish Religious Discourse|archive-date=11 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210911213512/https://www.mei.edu/publications/salafism-infiltrates-turkish-religious-discourse|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hammond |first=Andrew |title=Salafi Thought in Turkish Public Discourse Since 1980 |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743817000319 |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2017|volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=417–35 |doi=10.1017/S0020743817000319 |s2cid=149269334 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Other usage==

=== ''Al-Salafiyya Al-Tanwiriyya'' (Enlightened Salafism) ===
{{aqidah|Five Pillars}}
{{main|Islamic modernism}}

As opposed to the traditionalist Salafism discussed throughout this article, some Western academics and historians have used the term "Salafism" to denote [[Islamic modernism|modernists]], "a school of thought which surfaced in the second half of the 19th century as a reaction to the spread of European ideas" and "sought to expose the roots of modernity within Muslim civilization".<ref name="Kepel2006"/><ref name="jamestown.org"/> They are also known as ''Modernist Salafis''.<ref>[http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195390155/obo-9780195390155-0070.xml Salafism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224194307/http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195390155/obo-9780195390155-0070.xml |date=24 December 2018 }} Modernist Salafism from the 20th Century to the Present</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://i-cias.com/e.o/salafism.htm |title=Salafism – LookLex Encyclopaedia |first=Tore |last=Kjeilen |website=i-cias.com |date=30 December 2020 |access-date=10 March 2015 |archive-date=31 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831211509/http://i-cias.com/e.o/salafism.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/religion-geopolitics/glossary/salafism Salafism] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150311113435/http://tonyblairfaithfoundation.org/religion-geopolitics/glossary/salafism |date=11 March 2015 }} Tony Blair Faith Foundation</ref> This trend, which was also known as ''Al-Salafiyya Al-Tanwiriyya'' (Enlightened Salafism) was represented by the Islamic scholars [[Jamal al-Din al-Afghani|Jamal al-Din Afghani]] (1839–1897 C.E/ 1255–1314 A.H) and [[Muhammad Abduh|Muhammad 'Abduh]] (1849–1905 C.E/ 1265–1323 A.H ); whose writings had distinct [[Muʿtazila|Mu'tazilite]] and [[Sufism|Sufi]] mystical inclinations opposed by Salafism.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ridgeon|first=Lloyd|title=Sufis and Salafis in the Contemporary Age|publisher=Bloomsbury|year=2015|isbn=978-1472523877|location=London|pages=2–3|chapter=Introduction}}</ref>

The origins of contemporary Salafism in the modernist "Salafi Movement" of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh is noted by some,<ref>[http://www.jamestown.org/programs/tm/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=528& Understanding the Origins of Wahhabism and Salafism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329081128/http://www.jamestown.org/programs/tm/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=528& |date=29 March 2016 }}| Terrorism Monitor| Volume 3 Issue: 14| 15 July 2005| by: Trevor Stanley</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a509109.pdf|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407090159/http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a509109.pdf|url-status=dead|title=Dillon, Michael R|archivedate=7 April 2014}}</ref> while others say Islamic Modernism only influenced contemporary [[Salafism]].<ref name="qadhi">[http://muslimmatters.org/2014/04/22/on-salafi-islam-dr-yasir-qadhi/5/ On Salafi Islam | IV Conclusion] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220205421/http://muslimmatters.org/2014/04/22/on-salafi-islam-dr-yasir-qadhi/5/ |date=20 December 2014 }}| Yasir Qadhi
22 April 2014</ref> However, the former notion has been rejected by majority.<ref name="WIK">[http://archives.cerium.ca/IMG/pdf/WIKTOROWICZ_2006_Anatomy_of_the_Salafi_Movement.pdf Anatomy of the Salafi Movement] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160803194142/http://archives.cerium.ca/IMG/pdf/WIKTOROWICZ_2006_Anatomy_of_the_Salafi_Movement.pdf|date=3 August 2016}} By Quintan Wiktorowicz, Washington, D.C. p. 212</ref><ref name="conflictsforum.org">[http://conflictsforum.org/briefings/Wahhabism-Salafism-and-Islamism.pdf Wahhabism, Salafismm and Islamism Who Is The Enemy?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140623113340/http://conflictsforum.org/briefings/Wahhabism-Salafism-and-Islamism.pdf |date=23 June 2014 }} By Pfr. Ahmad Mousali | American University of Beirut | p. 11</ref>{{#tag:ref|"'Abduh clearly did not claim to be a Salafi nor identified his followers as Salafis. He simply referred al-Salafiyyin in the context of theological debates as Sunni Muslims who differed from Ash'arites based on their strict adherence to 'aqidat al-salaf (the creed of the forefather) (Lauziere, 2010)"}} According to Quintan Wiktorowicz:

{{blockquote|There has been some confusion in recent years because both the Islamic modernists and the contemporary Salafis refer (referred) to themselves as al-salafiyya, leading some observers to erroneously conclude a common ideological lineage. The earlier salafiyya (modernists), however, were predominantly rationalist Asharis.<ref name=QW/>}}

The second stage of Arab Salafiyya movement emerged after the [[World War I|First World War]] and was championed by the Syrian-Egyptian Islamic scholar [[Rashid Rida|Muhammad Rashid Rida]] (d. 1935), who called for a purist return to the ''[[Quran|Qur'an]]'' and the ''[[Sunnah]]''. These Salafis favoured a literalist understanding of scriptures rather than the allegorical readings of Afghani and ʿAbduh, and were characterised by a deep resistance and hostility to [[Western imperialism]] and [[Western world|Western]] ideologies. Rida's ''Salafiyya'' also championed pan-Islamist fraternity encompassing ''[[Ahl-i Hadith]]'' in [[South Asia]] to the [[Arabian Peninsula|Arabian]] [[Wahhabism|Wahhabis]]; and clashed with [[Nationalism|nationalist]] and [[Secularism|secular]] trends throughout the Islamic World. These themes would be re-inforced and popularised by a number of similar-minded [[Islamic revival]]ists like [[Hassan al-Banna]] (1906–1949 C.E/1324-1368 A.H) in Egypt and other Islamic fundamentalists like [[Abul A'la Maududi|Abul A'la Mawdudi]] (1903–1979 C.E/1321-1399 A.H) in India.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lloyd|first=Ridgeon|title=Sufis and Salafis in the Contemporary Age|publisher=Bloomsbury|year=2015|isbn=978-1472523877|location=London|page=3|chapter=Introduction}}</ref><ref name="Youssef 1985 57"/>

Groups like [[Muslim Brotherhood]], [[Jamaat-e-Islami]] etc. are inspired by Salafism as well as the [[Islamic modernism|modernist]] movement.<ref>[http://thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/the-split-between-qatar-and-the-gcc-wont-be-permanent The split between Qatar and the GCC won't be permanent] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117173729/http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/the-split-between-qatar-and-the-gcc-wont-be-permanent |date=17 November 2016 }} "However, the intra-Sunni divides have not been so clear to foreign observers. Those divides include the following: purist Salafism (which many call "Wahhabism"), modernist Salafism (which is the main intellectual ancestor of the Muslim Brotherhood) and classical Sunnism (which is the mainstream of Islamic religious institutions in the region historically"</ref> [[Muslim Brotherhood]] include the term ''salafi'' in the "About Us" section of its website.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ikhwanonline.net/Article.asp?ArtID=120&SecID=0|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129080121/http://ikhwanonline.net/Article.asp?ArtID=120&SecID=0|url-status=dead|title=ikhwanonline.net|archive-date=29 November 2014}}</ref>

====Influence on contemporary Salafism====
In terms of their respective formation, Wahhabism and Salafism are quite distinct. Wahhabism was a pared-down Islam that rejected modern influences, while Salafism sought to reconcile Islam with modernism. What they had in common is that both rejected traditional teachings on Islam in favor of direct, 'fundamentalist' reinterpretation. Although Salafism and [[Wahhabism]] began as two distinct movements, Faisal's embrace of Salafi (Muslim Brotherhood) pan-Islamism resulted in cross-pollination between Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab's teachings on ''[[Tawhid]]'', ''[[Shirk (Islam)|Shirk]]'' and ''[[Bidʻah|bid'ah]]'' and [[Salafi interpretation|Salafi interpretations of ahadith]] (the sayings of Muhammad). Some Salafis nominated Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab as one of the Salaf (retrospectively bringing Wahhabism into the fold of Salafism), and the [[Muwahideen|''Muwahidun'']] began calling themselves Salafis.<ref>[http://www.jamestown.org/programs/tm/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=528& Understanding al-Khajnadee, Muhammad Abduh, the Origins of Wahhabism and Salafism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329081128/http://www.jamestown.org/programs/tm/single/?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=528& |date=29 March 2016 }} www.jamestown.org</ref>

===In the broadest sense===
In a broad sense, Salafism is similar to [[Non-denominational Islam]] (NDM), in the sense some of its adherents do not follow a particular creed.<ref>Račius, Egdūnas. "Islamic Law in Lithuania? Its Institutionalisation, Limits and Prospects for Application." Exploring the Multitude of Muslims in Europe: Essays in Honour of Jørgen S. Nielsen (2018): p. 109.</ref> Salafi (follower of [[Salaf]]) means any reform movement that calls for resurrection of [[Islam]] by going back to its origin. In line with [[Wahhabism]] they promote a literal understanding of the sacred texts of Islam and reject other more liberal reformist movements such as those inspired for example by<ref>[http://www.ide.go.jp/Japanese/Publish/Download/Seisaku/pdf/201307_mide_08.pdf Wahhābis and the Development of Salafism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924033133/http://www.ide.go.jp/Japanese/Publish/Download/Seisaku/pdf/201307_mide_08.pdf |date=24 September 2015 }} by Sadashi Fukuda| p. 4</ref> [[Muhammad Abduh]] or by [[Muhammad Iqbal]].<ref name="conflictsforum.org"/>

==Criticisms==
===Criticism===
Due to its approach of rejecting ''[[taqlid]]'', Salafiyya school is considered as deviant by certain ''[[ulema]]'' (clerics) of the [[Ash'arite]] and [[Maturidite]] schools, who portray themselves as the [[Sunni|Sunni Islamic]] orthodoxy and believe ''Taqlid'' of the four [[madhabs]] to be ''[[wajib]]'' (obligatory) for the matter of ''[[Fiqh]]'' (Islamic jurisprudence).<ref>{{Cite book|last=L. Esposito|first=John|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2003|isbn=0195125584|location=New York|pages=10, 333}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=C. Martin |first=Richard |title=Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World |publisher=Macmillan Reference |year=2004 |isbn=9780028656045 |pages=26–27, 608–09, 727–28}}</ref> Some of these scholars also accuse Salafis of falling into certain forms of unapparent ''tajsim'' and ''[[tashbih]]''<ref>{{cite book|last1=Opwis|first1=Felicitas|author-link1=Felicitas Opwis|last2=Reisman|first2=David|title=Islamic Philosophy, Science, Culture, and Religion: Studies in Honor of Dimitri Gutas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WAK5Ale9-sAC&pg=PA458|year=2011|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-20274-0|page=458}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Izutsu 井筒|first=Toshihiko 俊彦|author-link=Toshihiko Izutsu|title=Sufism and Taoism: A Comparative Study of Key Philosophical Concepts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GPT9uAypnOEC&pg=PA49|year=1984|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0520052642|page=49}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=نور|first=مكتبة|title=Detailed Response to Ash'aris (pdf)|url=https://www.noor-book.com/%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%AF-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A9-pdf|access-date=2021-05-29|website=www.noor-book.com|language=ar|archive-date=2 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602212501/https://www.noor-book.com/%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B1%D8%AF-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B4%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A9-pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> in ''{{'}}[[Aqidah]]'' which they consider as [[Bid'ah|deviation]] from orthodox Sunni doctrines, while clarifying that this deviancy does not expel them from the fold of [[Islam]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/albijory|title=تحقيق المقام علي كفايه العوام في علم الكلام|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.iium.edu.my/deed/articles/bpsc.html#:~:text=A%20man%20joins%20the%20fold,%3B%20Muhammad%20is%20His%20Prophet.)|title=Islam: Basic Principles and Characteristics|access-date=4 December 2021|archive-date=5 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405021656/https://www.iium.edu.my/deed/articles/bpsc.html#:~:text=A%20man%20joins%20the%20fold,%3B%20Muhammad%20is%20His%20Prophet.)|url-status=live}}</ref>

Some scholars of the [[Al-Azhar University]] of [[Cairo]] produced a work of religious opinions entitled ''al-Radd'' (The Response) to refute various views of the Salafi movement.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |title=Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LCL5fElYbnYC |publisher=Routledge |date= 2012 |isbn=978-1136446931 |first=Richard |last=Gauvain |page=268}}</ref> ''Al-Radd'' singles out numerous Salafi aberrations – in terms of ritual prayer alone it targets for criticism the following Salafi claims:<ref>{{Cite book |title=Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LCL5fElYbnYC |publisher=Routledge |date= 2012 |isbn=978-1136446931 |first=Richard |last=Gauvain |page=318}}</ref>
* The claim that it is prohibited to recite God's name during the minor ablution [Fatwa 50];
* The claim that it is obligatory for men and women to perform the major ablution on Friday [Fatwa 63];
* The claim that it is prohibited to own a dog for reasons other than hunting [Fatwa 134];
* The claim that it is prohibited to use alcohol for perfumes [Fatwa 85].
One of the authors of ''al-Radd'', the Professor of Law Anas Abu Shady states that, "they [the Salafis] want to be everything to everyone. They're interested not only in the evident (al-zahir), although most of their law goes back to the ''Muhalla'' [of the [[Ẓāhirī]] scholar [[Ibn Hazm]]], but they also are convinced that they alone understand the hidden (al-batin)!"<ref>{{Cite book |title=Salafi Ritual Purity: In the Presence of God |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LCL5fElYbnYC |publisher=Routledge |date= 2012 |isbn=978-1136446931 |first=Richard |last=Gauvain |page=4}}</ref>

Sunni critics of Salafism accuse Salafis of altering the actual teachings of [[Ahmad ibn Hanbal]] and that of the other eponyms of the four Sunni legal schools.<ref name="auto1"/> The term "''[[Wahhabi (epithet)|Wahhabi]]''" is sometimes used by opponents of the movement in a sectarian manner to label Salafi Muslims.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Rohan |title=Western Imaginings: The Intellectual Contest to Define Wahhabism |publisher=The American University in Cairo Press |year=2018 |isbn=978-9774168642 |location=Cairo}}</ref> The Syrian [[Ash'ari]]te scholar [[Mohamed Said Ramadan Al-Bouti]] wrote a number of works refuting Salafism including ''Al-La Madhhabiyya (Abandoning the Madhahib) is the most dangerous Bid'ah Threatening the Islamic Shari'a (Damascus: Dar al-Farabi 2010)'' and ''Al-Salafiyya'' ''was a blessed epoch, not a school of thought (Damascus: Dar al-Fikr, 1990).''<ref name=":2" /> The latter is perhaps the most widespread refutation of Salafism in the twentieth century.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Making of Salafism: Islamic Reform in the Twentieth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NHjICgAAQBAJ |publisher=Columbia University Press |date= 2015 |isbn=978-0231540179 |language=en |first=Henri |last=Lauzire}}</ref>

Numerous academic rebuttals of Salafism have been produced in the English language by [[Islamic modernism|modernists]] such as [[Khaled Abou El Fadl]] of the [[UCLA School of Law]], and by [[Sufism|Sufi]] intellectuals like [[Timothy Winter]] of [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge University]] and G. F. Haddad.<ref name=":2" /> According to El Fadl, Islamist militant groups such as [[Al-Qaeda]] "derive their theological premises from the intolerant Puritanism of the Wahhabi and Salafi creeds".<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |title=Are Muslims Distinctive?: A Look at the Evidence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eBA0fZpetBgC |publisher=Oxford University Press, US |date= 2011 |isbn=978-0199769209 |language=en |first=M. Steven |last=Fish |page=132}}</ref> He claimed that the intolerance and alleged endorsement of terrorism manifest in the fringe elements of Wahhabism and Salafism was due to a deviation from [[History of Islam|Muslim historical]] traditions.<ref name=":3" /> El-Fadl also argued that the Salafi methodology "drifted into stifling apologetics" by the 1960s, marked by "anxiety" to "render Islam compatible with modernity". These apologetic efforts sought the defense of Islamic traditions from the onslaught of [[Westernization]]; while simultaneously maintaining the supremacy of [[Islam]] and its compatibility with modernity. However, according to El Fadl, such efforts were being increasingly tainted by political opportunism and an unwillingness for critical engagement with the Islamic traditions.<ref>Abou El Fadl, Khaled, ''The Great Theft'', Harper San Francisco, 2005, p. 77</ref>

The [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi]] government was criticised by Jerome Taylor in the British tabloid ''[[The Independent]]'', for its role in the [[Destruction of early Islamic heritage sites in Saudi Arabia|destruction of early Islamic heritage sites in Arabia]]. There has been controversies over the recent expansionist projects in [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]] that destroyed historically important Islamic heritage sites to make way for "skyscrapers, shopping malls and luxury hotels". The actions of the Saudi government stirred controversy across the [[Muslim world]] and Islamic activists across all sects, including Salafis, [[Sufism|Sufis]], [[Shia Islam|Shias]], etc.; condemned the actions of the Saudi government.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/why-dont-more-muslims-speak-out-against-the-wanton-destruction-of-meccas-holy-sites-8229682.html The Independent] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725211428/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/why-dont-more-muslims-speak-out-against-the-wanton-destruction-of-meccas-holy-sites-8229682.html |date=25 July 2020 }}, ''Why don't more Muslims speak out against the wanton destruction of Mecca's holy sites?'', by Jerome Taylor, 28 October 2012.</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Taylor|first=Jerome|date=22 October 2018|title=Mecca for the rich: Islam's holiest site 'turning into Vegas'|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mecca-rich-islam-s-holiest-site-turning-vegas-2360114.html|website=Independent|access-date=2 October 2021|archive-date=4 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211104143004/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/mecca-rich-islam-s-holiest-site-turning-vegas-2360114.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Abu Ammaar Yasir Qadhi]], an American Islamic cleric and former Salafi, has critiqued what he perceived as the hostility of the movement against non-Salafi [[Muslims]], as well as its lack of intellectualism.<ref name="nytimes.com">Elliot, Andrea (17 April 2011). [https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/magazine/mag-20Salafis-t.html/ "Why Yasir Qadhi Wants to Talk About Jihad"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130427064314/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/magazine/mag-20Salafis-t.html |date=27 April 2013 }}, ''[[New York Times]]''.</ref><ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/Xo8ykbyYIgI Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20200607005353/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo8ykbyYIgI&gl=US&hl=en Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo8ykbyYIgI| title = Dr. Yasir Qadhi on why he left Salafi or Wahabi movement of Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahab. | website=[[YouTube]]| date = 10 November 2019 }}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/hZv5eKzoA8Y Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20130622050538/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZv5eKzoA8Y Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZv5eKzoA8Y| title = [Ex-Salafi] Yasir Qadhi talks about Salafies & Wahabies | website=[[YouTube]]| date = 8 April 2013 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> While noting his own belief that the of following the generations of the ''[[Salaf]]'' is "a fundamental part" of [[Islamic faith]], he has stated his disagreement with the methodological approach of Salafism.<ref>{{cite web|title=Have you left the way of the Salaf? ~ Dr. Yasir Qadhi|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GYkedPkxlI&feature=youtu.be |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/8GYkedPkxlI |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|access-date=2020-07-07|website=www.youtube.com| date=9 April 2015 }}{{cbignore}}</ref>

=== Western criticism ===
In 2012, [[German government]] officials<ref name="verfassungsschuetz">{{cite web |url=http://www.verfassungsschutz.de/en/en_fields_of_work/islamism/ |title=Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz) 7/18/2012: latest 2011 report on Islamic Salafist extremism in Germany (English) |access-date=17 July 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130217003940/http://www.verfassungsschutz.de/en/en_fields_of_work/islamism/ |archive-date=17 February 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> alleged that Salafi Muslims in Germany had links to various Islamist militant groups but later clarified that it does not consider all Salafis are terrorists. The statements by German government officials criticizing Salafism were televised by ''[[Deutsche Welle]]'' during April 2012.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15935366,00.html |title=Salafist extremism spreading in Germany|date=8 May 2012 |work=Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com) }}</ref><ref>{{Citation|url=http://www.pipeline.de/www/index.php?&kat=10&artikel=110085213&red=1&ausgabe=|title=Verfassungsschutzbericht warnt vor Salafisten |trans-title=Constitutional protection report warns of Salafists|date=17 June 2012|website=Pipeline|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130520190058/http://www.pipeline.de/www/index.php?&kat=10&artikel=110085213&red=1&ausgabe= |archive-date=20 May 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>
According to the German political scientist Thorsten Gerald Schneiders, despite the Salafi claims to re-establish Islamic values and defend [[Islamic culture]], some members of the movement interpret it in a manner which does not match with Islamic traditions and regard certain elements of Muslim culture such as poetry, literature, singing, philosophy, etc. as works of the devil.<ref>Thorsten Gerald Schneiders ''Salafismus in Deutschland: Ursprünge und Gefahren einer islamisch-fundamentalistischen Bewegung'' transcript Verlag 2014 {{ISBN|978-3839427118}} p. 392</ref> According to the French political scientist [[Olivier Roy (political scientist)|Olivier Roy]], most of the third generation Western Muslim immigrants tend to adopt Salafism and some of them may break off from their family heritage, marrying other converts, rather than a bride from their country of origin, chosen by their parents.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stevens, O'hara |first=David, Kieron |year=2015 |title=The Devil's Long Tail: Religious and Other Radicals in the Internet Marketplace |page= 76 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn= 978-0199396245 |quote=They do not represent an Islamic tradition; on the contrary they break with the religion of their parents. When they convert or become born-again, they always adopt some sort of Salafism, which is a scriptualist version of Islam that discards traditional Muslim culture. They do not revert to traditions: for instance when they marry, it is with the sisters of their friends or with converts, and not with a bride from the country of origin chosen by their parents.}}</ref> According to ex-CIA officer [[Marc Sageman]], sections of the Salafi movement are linked to some Jihadist groups around the world, like Al-Qaeda.<ref>[http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/911/hearings/hearing3/witness_sageman.htm Third public hearing of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States], ''Statement of Marc Sageman to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States'', 9 July 2003</ref>

However, according to other analysts, Salafis are not inherently political. Salafis may exhibit all sorts of diverse relations with the state depending on the environment, like the general populations to which they belong. They exhibit no demonstrable proclivity toward violence as a monolithic group. Those Salafis who engage in political participation or armed insurgencies, do so as part of a wider umbrella of political projects.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Li |first=Darryl |year=2015 |title=The Universal Enemy: Jihad, Empire, and the Challenge of Solidarity |pages= 105–06 |publisher=Stanford University Press |location=Stanford, California|isbn=978-1503610873}}</ref> Historian Roel Meijer has asserted that attempts to associate Salafi Muslims with violence by certain Western critics stem from the literature related to the state-sponsored "security studies" conducted by various Western governments during the early 2000s, as well as from [[Orientalism|Orientalist]] depictions that attempted to link [[Islamic revivalist]]s with violence during the [[Colonial Era|colonial era]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Meijer |first=Roel|editor-first=Roel|editor-last=Meijer |title=Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |page=2 |chapter=Introduction |isbn=978-0231154208}}</ref>

==Prominent Salafis==
{{columns-list|*[[Abdur-Rahman al-Mu'allimee al-Yamani]], Yemeni Scholar and the Librarian of the Grand Mosque's Library in Mecca (d.1966)
* [[Abd al-Aziz Ibn Baz]], Saudi Grand Mufti (d. 1999)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Abd-al-Aziz-ibn-Abdallah-ibn-Baz|title=ʿAbd al-Aziz ibn Abdallah ibn Baz &#124; Saudi Arabian cleric|website=Encyclopedia Britannica}}</ref>
* [[Ali Warsame]], Somali Islamic cleric, preacher, and scholar of Dawah (d. 2022)<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2022-05-28 |title=Sheekh Cali Warsame oo ahaa caalim weyn oo Soomaaliyeed oo geeriyooday |url=https://www.voasomali.com/a/6593288.html |access-date=2024-09-10 |website=Voice of America |language=so}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=2014-07-11 |title=علي ورسمه حسن (عالم وداعية صومالي) {{!}} الصومال – شبكة الشاهد الإخبارية |url=http://arabic.alshahid.net/biographies/57818 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140711083657/http://arabic.alshahid.net/biographies/57818 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-07-11 |access-date=2025-01-02 }}</ref>
* [[Abdelhamid Ben Badis|'Abd al-Hamid ibn Baadis]], an [[Algerians|Algerian]] scholar (d. 1940)<ref>{{Cite book|last=L. Esposito|first=John|title=Islam : the straight path|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1998|isbn=0-19-511234-2|location=New York|page=193}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Lauzière|first=Henri|title=The Evolution of the Salafiyya in the Twentieth Century through the life and thought of Taqi al-Din al-Hilali|publisher=Georgetown University|year=2008|location=Washington, DC|pages=126, 136}}</ref>
* [[Abdur Raheem Green|'Abd al-Rahim Green]]<ref>Bowen, Innes [https://books.google.com/books?id=XhcoBgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Abdur+Raheem+Green%22+salafi&pg=PT73 ''Medina in Birmingham, Najaf in Brent: Inside British Islam''], Quote: "He remained a Salafi but became a popular speaker at events organised by a wide range of Islamic organisations"</ref>
* [[Abdullah al-Ghudayyan]], Saudi Arabian Salafi scholar (d. 2010)
* [[Abdullah Yusuf Azzam]], Arab Islamist, jihadist and theologian, mentor to [[Osama bin Laden]] (d. 1989)
* [[Abu Qatada al-Filistini|Abu Qatada]], Palestinian-Jordanian cleric<ref>{{cite web |title=Jordanian cleric Abu Qatada acquitted of terror charges |url=http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/9/24/abu-qatada-acquitted.html |website=america.aljazeera.com |access-date=5 January 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Why the West Fears Islam: An Exploration of Muslims in Liberal Democracies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QV6YAAAAQBAJ |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |date= 2013 |isbn=978-1137258205 |first=Jocelyne |last=Cesari}}</ref>
* [[Ali al-Tamimi]], contemporary American Islamic leader<ref>{{Cite book |title=Medina in Birmingham, Najaf in Brent: Inside British Islam |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XhcoBgAAQBAJ |publisher=Hurst |date= 2014 |isbn=978-1849045308 |first=Innes |last=Bowen}}</ref>
* [[Bilal Philips]], Canadian Salafi imam<ref>[https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/controversial-imam-bilal-philips-says-banning-him-wont-stop-his-message/article20611079/ The Globe and Mail: "Controversial imam Bilal Philips says banning him won't stop his message"] 15 September 2014 |"If Salafi means that you're a traditionalist that follows the scripture according to the early traditions, then yeah. I'm not a modernist. I'm not a person who makes his own individual interpretations according to the times."</ref>
* [[Ehsan Elahi Zaheer]], Pakistani scholar (d. 1987)<ref name="auto3">{{Cite book|last1=Syed, Pio, Kamran, Zaidi|first1=Jawad, Edwina, Tahir, Abbas|title=Faith-Based Violence and Deobandi Militancy in Pakistan|last2=Sewag|first2=Zulqarnain|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2016|isbn=978-1349949656|location=London|page=324|chapter=11: The Intra-Sunni Conflicts in Pakistan|doi=10.1057/978-1-349-94966-3}}</ref>
* [[Feiz Mohammad]]<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/21/us/boston-marathon-bombings.html?pagewanted=all |title=Bombing Inquiry Turns to Motive and Russian Trip |website=[[The New York Times]] |date=20 April 2013 |last1=Schmitt |first1=Eric |last2=Schmidt |first2=Michael S. |last3=Barry |first3=Ellen }}</ref>
* [[Haitham al-Haddad]], British Salafi cleric<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XhcoBgAAQBAJ&q=Haitham+al-Haddad+salafi&pg=PT75 |title=Medina in Birmingham, Najaf in Brent: Inside British Islam |last=Bowen |first=Innes |date= 2014 |publisher=Hurst |isbn=978-1849045308 |language=en}}</ref>
* [[Muhammad Asadullah Al-Ghalib]], a [[Bangladeshis|Bangladeshi]] reformist Islamic scholar and leader of the Salafi organisation [[Ahle Hadith Andolon Bangladesh|Ahlehadith Movement Bangladesh]]<ref name="ahlehadeethbd.org">{{cite web|url=http://www.ahlehadeethbd.org/index.html|title=আহলেহাদীছ আন্দোলন বাংলাদেশ|website=www.ahlehadeethbd.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ahlehadeethbd.org/porichitienglish.html |script-title=bn:আহলেহাদীছ আন্দোলন বাংলাদেশ |website=Ahlehadeethbd.org |language=bn |access-date=2 February 2016 |archive-date=5 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160205102912/http://ahlehadeethbd.org/porichitienglish.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="at-tahreek1">{{cite web |url=http://www.at-tahreek.com/ |script-title=bn:মাসিক আত-তাহরীক – জানুয়ারী ২০১৬ |website=At-tahreek.com |language=bn |access-date=2 February 2016}}</ref>
* [[Muhammad Al-Munajjid|Muhammad ibn Salih al-Munajjid]], founder of [[IslamQA]] website<ref>[http://studies.aljazeera.net/ResourceGallery/media/Documents/2014/12/10/2014121095530494580Arab-World-Journalism.pdf Al Jazeera Studies: "Arab World Journalism in a Post-Beheading Era" by Thembisa Fakude] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190323195238/http://studies.aljazeera.net/ResourceGallery/media/Documents/2014/12/10/2014121095530494580Arab-World-Journalism.pdf |date=23 March 2019 }} 2013 |"Al-Munajjid is considered one of the respected scholars of the Salafi movement, an Islamic school of thought whose teachings are said to inspire radical movements in the Arab world, including al-Qaeda and a group called al-Dawla al-Islamiya fil Iraq wal Sham (also known as the Islamic State, IS or Daesh)."</ref>
* [[Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen]], Saudi Arabian scholar (d. 1999)<ref>{{cite web |author=Caryle Murphy |date=15 July 2010 |title=A Kingdom Divided |publisher=GlobalPost |url=http://islamdag.info/story/415 |quote=First, there is the void created by the 1999 death of the elder Bin Baz and that of another senior scholar, Muhammad Salih al Uthaymin, two years later. Both were regarded as giants in conservative Salafi Islam and are still revered by its adherents. Since their death no one "has emerged with that degree of authority in the Saudi religious establishment," said David Dean Commins, history professor at [[Dickinson College]] and author of ''The Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia.'' |access-date=6 May 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505024018/http://islamdag.info/story/415 |archive-date=5 May 2014}}</ref>
* [[Al-Albani|Muhammad Nasir al-Din Al-Albani]], [[Syrians|Syrian]]-[[Albanians|Albanian]] [[hadith scholar]] and theologian (d. 1999)<ref name=Lacroix />
* [[Rashid Rida|Muhammad Rashid Rida]], a Syrian-Egyptian scholar (d. 1935)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Frampton|first=Martyn|title=The Muslim Brotherhood and the West: A History of Enmity and Engagement|publisher=The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press|year=2018|isbn=978-0674970700|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts; London|pages=22–23|quote=(Rida)... is often seen as one of the fathers of the modern Salafist movement.}}</ref>
* [[Rabee al-Madkhali]], leader of the [[Madkhalism|Madkhalist]] movement<ref name="aal">{{cite web |publisher=The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre (MABDA المركز الملكي للبحوث و الدراسات الإسلامية ), see [[Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought]] |title=Profile: Sheikh Rabi' Ibn Haadi 'Umayr Al Madkhali |work=The Muslim 500: The World's Most Influential Muslims |url=http://themuslim500.com/profile/sheikh-rabi-ibn-haadi-umayr-al-madkhali |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130322021833/http://themuslim500.com/profile/sheikh-rabi-ibn-haadi-umayr-al-madkhali |archive-date=22 March 2013 |url-status=dead |access-date=19 December 2015 }}</ref><ref>Omayma Abdel-Latif, "Trends in Salafism." Taken from ''Islamist Radicalisation: The Challenge for Euro-Mediterranean Relations,'' p. 74. Eds. Michael Emerson, Kristina Kausch and Richard Youngs. [[Brussels]]: [[Centre for European Policy Studies]], 2009. {{ISBN|978-9290798651}}</ref>
* [[Saleh Al-Fawzan]], a Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar
* [[Umar Sulaiman Al-Ashqar|Umar Sulaiman Ashqar]], author of the ''Islamic Creed''-series
* [[Zakir Naik]], Salafi ideologue in India<ref>{{cite book |first=Praveen |last=Swami | editor-first=Kulbhushan | editor-last=Warikoo |year=2011 |title=Religion and Security in South and Central Asia |chapter=Islamist terrorism in India |publisher=Taylor & Francis |location=London |page=61 |isbn=978-0415575904 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=spGlo1WbpAoC&pg=PA61 |quote=To examine this infrastructure, it is useful to consider the case of Zakir Naik, perhaps the most influential Salafi ideologue in India.}}</ref>
* [[Zubair Ali Zai|Zubair Alizai]] (1957–2013); [[Pakistanis|Pakistani]] [[Hadith scholar|''hadith'' scholar]] and ''[[Hafiz (Quran)|Hafiz]]''<ref name="auto3"/>
* [[Othman al-Khamees]], Salafi ideologue in Kuwait
* [[Abu Khadeejah]]- Salafi scholar within the United Kingdom}}

==See also==
* [[Deobandi|Deobandi movement]]
* [[International propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism]]
* [[Islam in Saudi Arabia]]
* [[Islam in Qatar]]
* [[Islamic fundamentalism]]
* [[Islamic schools and branches]]
* [[Glossary of Islam#Manhaj]]
* [[Sufi–Salafi relations]]
* [[2016 international conference on Sunni Islam in Grozny]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name="G. Rabil 2014 26">{{cite book |last=G. Rabil |first=Robert |title=Salafism in Lebanon: From Apoliticism to Transnational Jihadism |publisher=Georgetown University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1626161160 |location=Washington, DC |page=26 |chapter=1: The Creed, Ideology, and Manhaj (Methodology) of Salafism: A Historical and Contemporaneous Framework}}</ref>

<ref name="G. Rabil 2014 27, 28">{{cite book |last=G. Rabil |first=Robert |title=Salafism in Lebanon: From Apoliticism to Transnational Jihadism |publisher=Georgetown University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-1626161160 |location=Washington, DC|pages=27, 28 |chapter=1: The Creed, Ideology, and Manhaj (Methodology) of Salafism: A Historical and Contemporaneous Framework}}</ref>

}}

==Further reading==
{{Sister project links}}
* ''Muhammad in History, Thought, and Culture: An Encyclopedia of the Prophet of God'' (2 vols.), Edited by C. Fitzpatrick and A. Walker, Santa Barbara, ABC-CLIO, 2014. {{ISBN|1610691776}}.
* {{cite book |last=Botobekov |first=Uran |year=2021 |chapter=How Central Asian Salafi-Jihadi Groups are Exploiting the Covid-19 Pandemic: New Opportunities and Challenges |editor-last=Käsehage |editor-first=Nina |title=Religious Fundamentalism in the Age of Pandemic |series=Religionswissenschaft |volume=21 |location=[[Bielefeld]] |publisher=Transcript Verlag |doi=10.14361/9783839454855-005 |doi-access=free |pages=107–48 |isbn=978-3837654851}}

{{Islam topics |collapsed}}
{{Islamism |contemporary Salafi movement}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Salafi movement| ]]
[[Category:Islamic fundamentalism]]
[[Category:Sunni Islamic branches]]
[[Category:19th-century Islam]]