The Salafi Movement In Global Context Theology Religion Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

Salafism (al-Salafiyyah) is a contemporary Islamic global movement, which is concerned with a search for the pure teachings of Islam as prescribed in the Quran and the Prophet Muhammad's tradition (sunnah) by rejecting any external influences and human involvement in the interpretation of religious texts. The proponents of Salafism define themselves to be the inheritors of the pre-modern Ahl al-Hadits (people of the Prophet tradition). In their view, this school of thought was the only group that remained faithful to the pure teachings of Islam as prescribed in the Quran and the Sunnah so that it was considered the saved sect. They base their claim on a hadith (the Prophet Muhammad sayings) that the Prophet Muhammad was reported to have said that there would always be a group of his people who remained committed to the truth, whom the Salafis identify as the Ahl al-Hadith (Duderija, 2011). By claiming to be the inheritors of the Ahl al-Hadith and followers of its footsteps, the proponents of contemporary Salafi movement attempt to assert that they have privilege and take pride to be the guardians of the pure Islam in modern period.

The proponents of contemporary Salafism identify themselves, and are proud to be, as "salafi" (plural: salafiyyin), the followers of al-salaf al-shalih(the righteous ancestors). For them, the term "salaf" refers to the first three Muslim generations in the early Islam, who were considered as the best Islamic generations as they were directly guided by the Prophet Muhammad and his Companions. This self-ascription is based on their belief that their understanding and practicing Islam is in complete accordance with the footsteps and methodology of the salaf (manhaj al-salaf). 'Abdullah ibn Baz, one of the main Salafi authorities, said that Salafi ideology is "derived from the Qur'an, Sunnah and Consensus (ijma`) which govern the method of acquiring din [religion] and understanding the Qur'an and Sunnah according to the principles agreed upon by the righteous predecessors (salaf)" (Cited in Duderija, 2011:54). Due to this strong emphasis on the Salaf as the only model of understanding and practicing Islam, Salafism can be said as a movement of "return to the forefather" (Marshallsay, 2004).

Major Authorities of the Contemporary Salafi Movement

Within contemporary Salafi movement, the most influential proponents are the Middle Eastern Muslim scholars with Saudi nationality or Saudi-educated, university educated, many gained PhDs in Islamic sciences from Saudi universities. These include Nashir al-Din al-Albani (d.1999), 'Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz (d. 1999), Muhammad ibn Shalih al-Uthaymin (d. 2001), Muqbil ibn Hadi al-Wadi'i (d. 2001), Rabi' ibn Hadi al-Madkhali (b. 1931), Yahya al-Hajuri, and Shalih al-Fawzan. The dominance of Saudi Arabian or Saudi-educated religious scholars (ulama) asserts the centrality of Saudi Arabia as the birth of modern Salafism. As the main representative of the Salafi movement, these ulama become major references that Salafi leaders and ordinary followers in the Muslim world turn to for guidance and advice in their lives.

Outside the Middle East, leading personalities of Salafism in Western countries such as Jamal Zarabozo and Bilal Philips (Duderija, 2011) mostly become the mouthpiece of these Middle East authorities, translating their Salafi messages for the Western Salafi followers. The same is true for the leaders of the Salafi movement in Indonesia. Most of them went to Saudi and Yemen universities or Islamic religious learning institutions (ma'had) to study Islamic knowledge. These include Abu Nida, Ahmad Faiz, Yusuf Baisa, Jafar Umar Thalib, Ayip Syafrudin, Luqman Baabduh and Muhammad Umar Sewed (Hasan, 2007; 2009). Compared to their locally trained Salafi proponents, these Middle East graduates commonly enjoy more authority and recognition from their followers due to their highly-esteemed learning in Mecca or Medinah, two holy cities of Islam. Yet, all of these Salafi exponents make the Saudi and Yemeni Salafi authorities as major, and to some extent, the only references in learning and preaching Salafi ideas among Indonesian Muslims.

The Middle East Salafi authorities write treatises on Salafi ideas exclusively in Arabic. But, this is not a major barrier for Salafi followers from non-Arabic speaking countries to understand the messages of these Salafi ulama. The Salafi followers and sympathizers have attempted to translate the works of these Salafi ulama into local languages. For this purpose, in Western countries, they have established publishing houses, including Tarbiyyah Publications in Toronto, Invitation to Islam and Al-Khilafat Publications in London, and Salafi Publications and Maktabah Darussalam in Birmingham. Mobilizing the information and communication technologies, they have created websites such as www.salafipublications.com, www.tarbiyyahbookstore.com, http://sunna.com, www.salaf.com, and www.fatwa-online.com. Individual Salafi authorities websites have been also established by the Salafi supporters, such as www.binbaz.com (on the works of 'Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz), www.rabee.net (on the works of Rabi ibn Hadi al-Madkhali), and www.ibnothaimeen.com (on the works of Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymin) (Duderija, 2011).

The Puzzle of the Origin and Meaning of Salafism

For decades, there has been conviction among Western and Western-educated scholars that history of Salafism is a history of Islamic modernism; that Salafi ideas are regarded as similar to those of Islamic modernist movement; and the Salafis are representatives of Muslim modernist. It is believed that Salafism dates back to the 19th Islamic modernism, which was associated with Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (d. 1897), Muhammad 'Abduh (d. 1905), and Rashid Ridha (d. 1935), whose principles and ideas include rejection of taqlid (blind following), promotion of ijtihad (independent interpretation), and support of progress and rationality in its responses to the decline of the Muslim world. As Lauziere (2010) identifies, this conception can be seen in the "standard" academic works of Islamic thought such as Brill's Encyclopedia of Islam, Malcolm Kerr's Islamic Reform (1966), M. A. Zaki Badawi's The Reformers of Egypt (1978), and Daniel Brown's Rethinking Tradition in Modern Islamic Thought (1996). Some recent studies by scholars of contemporary Islam, such as Ali Hassan Zaidi (2006) and Dumber and Tayob (2011), also connect Salafi orientations with Muslim reformists in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

However, this conception is problematic in some respects. First, there is no convincing evidence to the claim of the connection among Salafism, al-Afghani, and 'Abduh. According to Lauziere (2010), there are no primary sources including al-'Urwat al-Wuthqa, a flagship journal of al-Afghani and 'Abduh, that substantially prove the claim that al-Afghani and 'Abduh coined the term Salafism and used it to identify themselves and their reform movement in the 19th century. It is true that Abduh mentioned the term al-Salafiyyin (the Salafis) in Al-Manar (Al-Manar 5, 1902 cited in Lauziere 2010) to designate Sunni Muslims who were against Ash'ariyyah, a 10th century school of speculative Islamic theology, [1] in terms of theological issues based on their strict adherence to the creed of the forefathers (Lauziere, 2010). But, '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).

Moreover, Rasyid Ridha, one of Muhammad 'Abduh's main disciples, recognized the fundamental differences between Salafism and Islamic modernist school, which his mentor promoted. According to Ridha, following the Salafi creed did not necessarily make one committed to Islamic modernist school. During his time, Ridha identified Salafism as Wahhabism to which he called al-Wahhabiyyah al-Salafiyyah. Later, in 1928 he and some of his disciples declared their passage to becoming Salafis not only with respect to Islamic theology but also in fiqh or Islamic jurisprudence (Lauziere, 2010).

Second, the unconfirmed claim of ideological connection between contemporary Salafism and the early 20th century Islamic modernism can be seen in the issue of how each defines the term Salaf. While the two movements shared the idea of the importance of the pious ancestors, they differ in the issue of to what extent the Salaf is defined and how it should be modelled. The proponents of Islamic modernism conceived that the term Salaf includes virtually the Muslim scholars of all schools of thought in the medieval period whose success and achievements should be contextually propagated and imitated within modern Muslim contexts. The early 20th century Salafism understood the Salaf as Muslim scholars in religious science as well as in 'secular' science of the golden age of Islam in the medieval period that should be contextually followed.

In contrast, the proponents of contemporary Salafism restrict the Salaf to the first three generations in the early Islam, namely the companions of the Prophet Muhammad (al-shahabat), those after them (al-tabi'in) and the next generation after them (atba`u al-tabi'in). They also include religious scholars ('ulama`) in the first and second centuries of Islam who were considered to adhere to the way of these first three Muslim generations, particularly Ahmad bin Hanbal and the followers of his textual school. These Salaf generations and Salafi 'ulama` were considered rightly guided forefathers and, hence, role models to whom Muslims are obliged to follow their ways in any circumstances. In addition, when the proponents of contemporary Salafism speak about the Salaf, they use it in its narrow religious sense. Practically, they exclude, show suspicion and hostility towards social, cultural and scientific heritage of the Muslim forefathers. In their view, the perfect method of modelling the Salaf in the contemporary Muslim societies is preserving and imitating their footsteps without contextualizing them in the present contexts.

Third, the issue of the unconfirmed ideological connection between Salafism and the late 19th century Islamic modernism can be discerned in differences between them with respect to methodology and objectives. In response to the decline of the Islamic world, the Islamic modernism of al-Aghani and 'Abduh was committed to islah (reform) in Muslim society through promotion of i'tidal (moderation and balance) by which Muslims were expected to conduct conciliation between Islam and Western civilization. It encouraged the appreciation and adoption of social, political and scientific achievements of Western civilization and at the same rooted firmly in Islamic principles and civilization. In other words, al-Afghani and 'Abduh's Islamic modernism was a moderate approach to Islam and Western civilization in that it was able to balance between revelation and reason, and between strict Islamic conservatism and blind following of the West (Lauziere, 2010).

Contemporary Salafism, in contrast, aims to revive the golden age of Islam by adhering strictly to the ways of the first three Muslim generations in the early Islam understood and practiced Islam to protect its purity from forbidden religious innovation. From this perspective, the making of the Salaf as a perfect model requires strict applying the Salaf method in social and cultural vacuum, without contextualizing their ideas and practices within present contexts of the Muslim world. Subsequently, this movement regards revealed texts as the only primary sources so that its proponents tend to be anti-rationalistic approach to revelation. The proponents of contemporary Salafism are also suspicious of anything not textually written in the scripture, taught or done by the Prophet Muhammad, his companions and religious scholars adhered to their ways. Conservatism, or even ultra conservatism, is highly represented in contemporary Salafi movement.

As a result, there is no adequate evidence to claim ideological connection between the late 19th and early 20th century's Islamic modernism and the contemporary Salafi movement. There is no support that Al-Afghani and 'Abduh proclaimed they were Salafis or exponents of the Salafi movement or their ideas were in accordance with contemporary Salafism. The modernist conception of "Salafism" substantially differs from the contemporary Salafism's understanding of the same term. Within contemporary Salafi movement, salafism is conceived first and foremost as label by Sunni purist-literalist-traditionalists to designate their particular approach to Islam.

Conceptual History of Salafism

Undoubtedly, the uncertainty of the origin and meaning of Salafism within modern scholarship has caused the substance of Salafism remain puzzling. Fortunately, a recent study by Henri Lauziere (2010) is helpful in solving this puzzle and gaining relative certainty in the issues of the origin and meaning of Salafism. He argues that the puzzle of the meaning and origins of Salafism is attributable to the "faulty scholarship" and the fact that there is little scholarly attention to the examination of the history of knowledge production of Salafism (Lauziere, 2010:369).

The First Use of the Term "Salafism"

Historically speaking, Salafism as a religious orientation is not purely a modern phenomenon. Rather, it rooted in the Islamic scholarship in pre-modern history of Islam. The early use of the term Salafism (Salafiyyah) as an approach to religious texts is found in a number of religious scholars' works in the medieval period. For example, Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1238) writes in his al-Fatawa al-Kubra:

As for the Salafiyya it is as [Hamd ibn Muhammad] al-Khattabi and Abu Bakr al-Khatib [al-Bagdadi] and other have stated: The way of the Salaf is to interpret literally the Qur'an verses and hadiths that relate to the Divine attributes (ijra' ayat al-sifat wa ahadits al-sifat 'ala zahiriha), and without indicating modality and without attributing to Him anthropomorphic qualities. So that one is not to state that the meaning of "hand" is power or that of "hearing" is knowledge (Cited in Haykel, 2009:38).

However, as Haykel (2009) and Dumbe & Tayob (2011) suggest, the historical precedent of the Salafi orientations even dates back earlier to the 9th century theological and juridical debates between the Ahl al-Ra'y (people of opinion), which was associated with the Mu'tazilah, [2] and Ahl al-Hadith (people of the Prophet Muhammad's tradition), which was related to Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855), the inspirer of the Hanbali school of law (Hanbaliyyah). [3] Particularly, the early use of the term Salaf and its derivatives in this period can be traced back to the Ahl al Hadits. It is reported that Ibn Hanbal said:

It has been transmitted from more than one of our ancestors (salafina) that they said 'the Qur'an is the speech of God and is uncreated', and this is what I endorse. I do not engage in speculative theology and I hold that there is nothing to be said other than what is in God's Book (Qur'an), the traditions of His messenger or those of his companions and their followers- may God have mercy on them. It is not praiseworthy to engage in theological discussion in matters not contained therein (Cited in Haykel, 2009:38).

These statements not only refer to the early use of the terms Salaf and Salafism within Islamic scholarship, but also points out the way of thinking that the early 'Salafis' advocated in regard to theological issues such as the nature of the Qur'an as God's messages revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. With respect to the approach to the interpretation of religious texts, the Ahl al-Ra`y represented Muslims scholars who sought explanations from personal opinions and borrowings from other cultures and intellectual traditions, while the Ahl al-Hadits sufficed themselves with literal meanings of the texts and tradition of the Prophet and his companions believed as pure and original sources of Islam.

Another corresponding term, madhhab al-salaf (the school of forefathers), is found in the literature of Muslim scholars of medieval period. As Lauziere (2010:372) suggests, written sources also indicate that medieval Muslims scholars used this term primarily in the theological debates within early schools of theology in Islam. The notion of madhhab al-salaf was used to designate those who hold a theological purity in a time when early Muslims were not faced yet with speculative theology (ilm al-kalam) resulted from the encounter of Islam and other world civilizations. The proponents of madhhab al-salaf showed hostility towards Islamic speculative theology ('ilm al-kalam) which was influenced by Greek inspiration and rationalism such 'ilm al-mantiq (syllogistic logic) and falsafah (philosophy). Contrary to Islamic theologians (mutakalimin) such as Mu'tazilis and Asharites, the people of the madhhab al-salaf distanced themselves from intellectualizing the divine issues, such as al asma` wal sifat (the divine names and attributes). However, the word Salafi or Salafism was not commonly used by medieval purist Muslims to refer to themselves and their approach to Islam. Instead, the common epithets used to refer to the purists at the period were not derived from the word salaf, but rather from the terms associated with the Prophet Muhammad's tradition, such as Ahl al-Sunnah (people of the prophetic tradition), Ahl al-Hadist (people of prophetic sayings and sayings) or al-Atsari (the follower of the prophetic report) (Lauziere, 2010:373).

The Origin of the Confusion of Salafism: Louis Massignon and the Salafyah Review

A recent study by Lauziere (2010) revealed the origin of the confusion between Salafism and Islamic modernism in scholarly literature. He argues that puzzle of Salafism lies in the fact Massignon and scholars who quoted him were not aware of the complex development of the Salafi epithets within Muslim scholars in the Middle East. They simply relied on al-Majallah al-Salafiyyah, a monthly reformist journal published by Salafiyya Bookstore in Egypt -whose key role in Salafi discourses will be examined in the following section- that reached overseas including Paris. Being established in 1917, the journal was edited by 'Abd al-Fattah Qatlan and rendered by him into English as Salafyah Review. The journal was purported to serve as a marketing vehicle for reaching a wider readership of the Salafiyyah Bookstore. More importantly, the journal was created in the period in which the reform spirit overwhelmed the Salafiyyah Bookstore before the coming of the Saudi-Wahhabi influence on the type of literature it published. So, in line with the reform spirit, the journal aimed to spread the achievements of the pious ancestors (al-salaf) in a wide range of scientific, cultural and intellectual fields. In line with this spirit, the content of the journal encompassed various themes such as literature, linguistics, and astronomy in addition to religious topics (Lauziere, 2010:379).

It was through this journal that the term Salafism caught the attention of Western scholars (Lauziere, 2010). Louis Massignon, a well-known French orientalist and the major contributor to the leading journal Revue du monde musulman, subscribed to Arabic journals including al-Majallah al-Salafiyyah. When the first issue of the journal reached his journal office, Massignon provided explanation of the Majallah al-Salafiyyah to the readers of his journal. He said that "the Salafiyyah was an intellectual movement that emerged in early 19th century India at the time of Sayyid Ahmad Barelwi (d. 1931) [and] Siddiq Hasan Khan (d. 1890), the founder of the Ahl-i Hadith movement, had later rehashed its ideas" (Cited in Lauziere, 2010:380). Then, he added that "from there, [the Salafiyyah] was spread by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Syaikh 'Abduh and established itself in Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo and even in the Maghrib and Java" (Revue du monde musulman 34, 1916-18 in Lauziere, 2010:380). But, later Massignon abolished the connection of the Salafiyyah with the 19th century Indian movement and focused more on its link with al-Afghani and 'Abduh. Then, he associated Salafiyyah with a relatively transnational Islamic modernism in the 19th century, whose proponents were committed to reform in Islam and Muslim societies (Lauziere, 2010).

However, Massignon's claim of Salafism is problematic as it raised questions with respect to conceptual and historical foundations of Salafism he based on. It is not clear how he came to this claim though it is known that he studied Islam in Baghdad and made contacts with some reform-oriented Muslim scholars like Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi. Due to this, it can be said that Massignon misinterpreted the term Salafiyyah and inadequately made Salafism and Islamic modernism of al-Afghani and 'Abduh synonymous (Lauziere, 2010).

Nevertheless, as Lauziere (2010:381) shows, some leading scholars welcomed Massignon's definition of Salafism and even took its validity for granted despite its factual limitations. The famous The New World of Islam, published in 1921, repeated this misinterpretation when made reference to Salafiyyah. In 1922, the leading journal The Moslem World published by Hartford Seminary did the same when it translated an article of Massignon from the Revue du monde musulman. This is further misinterpreted by Henri Laoust, a scholar who spread Massignon's ideas in French, when in his seminal article in 1932 defined Salafism based on Massignon's conception. Even influential scholar Sir Hamilton Gibb took Massignon's claim of Salafism for granted in his famous Modern Trends in Islam. Hence, it is through this intellectual transmission that the term Salafism with the sense of Islamic modernist movement was created within Western scholarly literature on Islam.

The Evolution of Salafism

If there is no connection with al-Afghani and 'Abduh's Islamic modernism of the late 19th century, who first used the Salafi label as understood today? And how was it defined? As Lauziere (2010) argues, to remedy this puzzle requires considering the origin and development of the term Salafism from the perspective of conceptual history.

According to Lauziere (2010, the growing popularity of Salafi epithets as well as overlap between Salafism and Islamic modernism can be attributed to a key role played by the Salafiyah Bookstore (al-Maktabat al-Salafiyyah). It was established in 1909 in Cairo by Muhib al-Din al-Khatib (1886-1969), a Syrian activist, well-known figure in the Egyptian publishing business, and pupil of "Salafis-cum-modernists" 'ulama`, Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi (d. 1914) and Tahir al-Jazairi (d. 1920). Al-Khatib's involvement in cultural and political affairs opened the opportunity to establish the bookstore aimed at spreading his interests in Islamic scholarship and reformist ideas under the label Salafiyyah (Salafism). The name Salafiyyah for the bookstore was inspired by al-Khatib's mentor, Tahir al-Jazairi, who had inclinations to the madhhab al-salaf (school of the forefathers) with respect to Islamic theology.

But, it seemed that al-Khatib misinterpreted the term Salafiyyah or understood it in a broader sense than al-Jazairi meant (Lauziere, 2010). This is reflected in the way he and his partner, Abdul Fattah Qatlan (d. 1931), operated the Salafiyyah Bookstore, particularly in terms of the type of literature they published. Being motivated by desires to encourage educated Arab readers to rediscover the glory of their religious, social and cultural heritage for the advancement of their society, al-Khatib and Qatlan were not confined themselves in printing and selling books on the Salafi theology. Rather, they published works on progressive nature of Islam's golden age as well as a wide range of issues not connected to religious reform. They used the Salafi epithets to refer virtually to any Islamic intellectual heritage in medieval period, not in a narrow sense of a particular school of theology. In addition to treatises on religion, the Salafiyyah Bookstore published works on Arabic literature, Arabic grammar, and work of medieval Muslim philosophers such al-Farabi (d.950) and Ibn Sina (d.1037). In short, the literature that the Salafiyyah Bookstore published and sold in the 1910s was in accordance with the spirit and concerns of Islamic modernism (Lauziere, 2010:378).

The selection and publication of this type of literature suggest that al-Khatib and Qatlan attempted to revive the works of the great Muslim scholars and underline the Muslims's contribution to modernity in the West of modern age. Under the label Salafism, they sought to emphasize the compatibility between revelation and modernity as shown by the works of great and pious forefathers (Salaf) in the past by which Muslims in the modern age should model for the revival and advancement of the Islamic world. In turn, all this resulted in turning Salafiyyah into a common and popular term among producers and consumers of Arabic literature in the Middle East and other Muslim regions (Lauziere, 2010:382). More importantly, an impression built up that the Salafiyyah Bookstore intertwined the term Salafism with Islamic modernism projected to the revival of Arabs and Muslims in the modern period. The label Salafism it used was then considered as to represent the success and greatness of the Islamic past. The bookstore expanded the scope of the term Salafism beyond its initial theological meanings and gradually created the association between Salafism and the project of Islamic modernism (Lauziere, 2010:377).

The later development of the Salafiyyah Bookstore, however, determined the association of Islamic modernism and Salafism and brought about decisive changes in the nature and development of Salafism after the establishment of the Saudi Kingdom in the early 1920s. The bookstore experienced a shift with respect to choices of works for publication. This began with the change in the choice of works for publication. In the early 1920s, al-Khatib and Qatlan began to print works that appeared contradictive to the progressive and rationalist ideas of the Islamic reform movement though they kept promoting Islamic modernism. For example, the Salafiyyah Bookstore published works of those who strongly opposed the secular and controversial works of 'Ali 'Abd al-Raziq and Taha Husayn. It also published anti-rationalist treatises by Hanbali and his school followers ordered by Saudis. This shift in the choice of publications was more clearly discernable in the establishment of the Saudi branch of the Salafiyyah Bookstore in Mecca in the late 1920 initiated by Qatlan in partnership with a Hijazi Muhammad Salih Nasif (d.1971). In 1928, to suit the local needs, this Saudi branch began to publish works on Ahmad ibn Hanbal and his supporters as well pro-Wahhabi books such a theological treatise by Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292-1350), which was printed with the request and fund from Ibn Sa'ud (d. 1932), the first monarch of Saudi Arabia (Lauziere, 2010:383).

This shift within the Salafiyya Bookstore's choice of publications, according to Lauziere (2010), should be seen in the context of political change in the Muslim world in the mid 1920s. The fall of the Ottoman Empire and the abolition of Islamic caliphate in the early 1920s brought about political and cultural turbulence within the Muslim world. At the same time, however, the rise of the Saudi Kingdom in Hejaz offered Muslim ummah (global Muslim community) a great hope of social and political renaissance in the Muslim world. Therefore, many Muslims intellectuals and religious scholars, including Rasyid Ridha, supported the young Saudi state and turned toward religious conservatism, particularly Wahhabism, [4] founded by Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792), and endorsed as an official school of Islam and promoted by the state. Al-Khatib showed the same response to these circumstances. He opted to support the young Saudi state and showed respect to the Wahhabism and its proponents. These religio-political stances influenced the activities of his Salafiyyah Bookstore. This was reflected in the change of choices of editing and publishing when it began to publish the Wahhabi treatises and pro-Saudi works.

Although Lauziere missed to capture the complexity of social and political transformation in the Muslim world in the first quarter of twentieth century, his argument was sufficient to overcome to the puzzle of Salafism by making sense of the evolution of Salafism. By publishing pro-Wahhabi works to cater the religious and political needs of the Saudi elite and proponents of Wahhabism, the Salafiyyah Bookstore brought its commercial label Salafism closer to Wahhabism. Though the Cairo Salafiyyah Bookstore still published modernist themes, the popularization and commodification of the Salafi epithets by the Saudi branch of the Salafiyyah Bookstore had brought the Wahhabi religious orientation to the fore. The unfounded intellectual association between Salafism (Salafiyyah) and al-Afghani and 'Abduh's Islamic reform as well as the absence of the monopoly over Salafism as a marketing brand that al-Khatib and Qatlan might have opened opportunity to the proponents of the Wahhabi-oriented purist movement kept using Salafiyyah as the label of their publications ignoring any modernist agenda as initiated by the original Salafi Bookstore in Cairo (Lauziere, 2010). It can be added that given that they shared the strong reference to the pious forefather (al-salaf al-shalih) with respect to theological issues with the Salafiyyah Bookstore, at least in its early years of operation, the proponents of Wahhabism had no difficulties in taking the advantage of using Salafism as their label of spreading the purist ideas of Ibn al-Wahhab.

Through these religious-political processes, consequently, the Salafi epithets experienced re-definition and counter-definitions. More importantly, this gradually created the impression that the term Salafism and Wahhabism of Saudi Arabia were synonymous. The opening of the Saudi-connected Salafiyyah bookstores outside Saudi Arabia, such as in Syria and Pakistan, enforced this impression (Lauziere, 2010). Undoubtedly, this evolution of Salafism explains the state of the contemporary development of the Salafi movement with Saudi Arabia as its major supporter. Due to the fact that it is a contemporary phenomenon that assigns the epistemological value to traditions, Adis Duderija (2007:2011) labels the proponents of this contemporary Salafism as "Neo-Traditional Salafis".

In its later development, in the 1960s Wahhabi-inspired Salafism encountered with religious-political ideas brought by the Islamic activists who fled from their ruling governments' repression and persecution found Saudi Arabia safe haven. This has to do with the Saudi Arabia's policy under King Faisal (d. 1975) to support Islamic solidarity in its attempts to oppose Egypt's pan-Arabism promoted by President Jamal Abdel Nasser (d. 1970), which was regarded as a threat to the existence of the kingdom (Lacroix, 2010).

Among these refugees were the members of al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun (the Muslim Brotherhood), a religious-political movement that first emerged in Egypt in 1928 and then spread to the Muslim world. The political aspects of the ideology of al-Ikhwan al Muslimun encountered with the puritanical ideas of Wahhabism (Wahhabiyyah) brought about an intellectual hybrid identified as al-Sahwa al-Islamiyya (the Islamic Awakening). This designates the birth of a politicised form of Salafism or "politico Salafism" as Quintan Wiktorowicz (2006) calls. Yet, other groups that consist of independent religious scholars also found refuge in Saudi Arabia. These groups, to some extent with support of senior Saudi religious scholars such Abd al-'Aziz ibn Baz, were involved shaping another hybrid of Wahhabism, which was more concerned theological reforms within Islam. This in turn gave birth to so-called "apolitical Salafism" (Wiktorowicz 2006), which constitutes the dominant current of contemporary Salafi movement. All this gave birth to the contemporary Salafism, which can be defined as "the intellectual hybrid that sprouted from Wahhabi substrate in Saudi Arabia in the 1960s and thereafter" (Lacroix, 2009:62).

Though the Wahhabis in the early 20th century had referred to themselves as Salafis (Fadl 2003b, Note 98), the term Salafism was not associated with Wahhabism until the 1970s. Through social and political processes, the proponents of Wahhabism co-opted the language and symbolism of Salafism so that in 1970s Wahhabism and Salafism became practically indistinguishable (Fadl 2003b:57).

Salafism and Wahhabism

The cooptation or takeover of the Salafi epithets by the Saudi-backed Wahhabi proponents has made some scholars conceive Salafism as identical to Wahhabism in its contemporary development. Noorhaidi Hasan (2007; 2009), for example, conceptualizes Salafism "as a form of reconstituted Wahhabism". This is supported by the fact that the proliferation of Wahhabism in the world has been fully backed by the Saudi government using the banner of da'wa Salaf (the proliferation of Salafism). The use of Salafism is not only because the Wahhabis turn to the Salaf as a perfect model, but also it is politically convenient as the term Wahhabism has pejorative connotation among Muslims (Hasan, 2007; Fadl, 2003; Duderija, 2007). Modern Salafism had momentum to spread when Wahhabism as a salafi strand was endowed with financial resources and aligned with Saudi Arabia's policy of seeking local and regional legitimacy as well its hegemonic interests to go beyond its small and local original base in the desert of Hejaz (Hashem, 2006).

In addition, Hasan states, the conception that contemporary Salafism is a reconstituted Wahhabism can be found in the fact that the proponents of this movement are determined to spread the thoughts of pre-20th century main Wahhabi references, namely Ahmad ibn Taymiyya, Muhammad ibn al-Qayyim al-Jauziyya, and Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab, as well as contemporary Wahhabi authorities such as the grant Mufti of 'Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz and Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani (Hasan, 2007:85). Similarly, Duderija (2007) argues that contemporary Salafism shares the same methodology with Wahhabism that spreads to the Muslim world under the banner of Salafi epithets.

According to Abou EL Fadl (2003), the encounter of Wahhabi ideas and the belief in the supremacy of the Salaf as a perfect model has brought about the birth of what he calls "Salafabism". It is a "supremacist puritanical orientation" that made by the Saudi religious authorities hand in hand with political authorities "as a primary mode of responding to the challenge of modernity". In response to the challenge of modernity, Salafabism escapes "to the secure haven of the text, but it has treated rational moral insight as fundamentally corrupting of the purity of the Islamic message". Instead of dealing with the challenge of modernity in proper ways, El Fadl asserts, Salafabism has in fact "has ended up undermining the integrity and viability of the Islamic texts and, in the process, it has arrested and stunned the development of Islamic normative ethical thinking" (Fadl, 2003:43).

The Common Doctrines and Methods of Salafism

Unlike the majority of contemporary Islamic movements, Salafism is not organized within a particular Muslim organization as it does not operate under the leadership of a particular figure in a highly structured organization. The supporters of Salafism are not united by an organizational structure or directed by a particular leader or ideologue. Rather, they are united and consolidated by the shared Salafi ideology or manhaj al-salaf.

As a contemporary revivalist movement, Salafism based its ideology on realities of the Muslim world in the modern era. The Salafi ideology, then, should be placed in the context of the Salafi proponents' responses to socio-religious problems facing the contemporary Muslim ummah. Diagnosing these problems, the Salafis found that Muslims had not understood and implemented the true Islam, deviating from the path of original teachings of the Qur'an and the Prophet Sunnah as seen in their practice of associating the one God with others (shirk) and veneration of the saints and their tombs. In their view, Muslims had lost the true knowledge of Islam and so that they were considered to have been guilty of ignoring and polluting the pure Islam.

In this diagnostic frame, the Salafis discovered that the socio-religious problems experienced by the Muslim world resulted from a range of factors, which could be classified into internal factors and external ones. The internal factors had to do with what they believed as un-Islamic ways of life long adopted by the Muslim ummah. These include the acute problem of reprehensible religious innovation (bid'ah), blind imitation of the long established schools of thought (taqlid), and the involvement of human desire and intellect in understanding and practicing religious texts. In addition, the Salafis believe that the external factors had contributed to the Muslims' socio-religious problems. These include the influence of the modern Western civilization and its byproducts such as rationalism, secularism, feminism, and democracy.

In response, the Salafis called for return to the authentic Islam as the only solution to the problems of contemporary Muslims. In this prognostic frame, they believed that solving these problems necessarily requires the project of re-Islamizing Muslims, bringing back Muslims to the real Islam as understood by the Prophet and the early generations of Muslims (the Salaf).

Purification and Education (Tashfiyyah wal-tarbiyyah)

To achieve this, the Salafis developed a plan of actions that involves two strategies: tashfiyyah and tarbiyyah (Noorhaidi, 2005). First, tashfiyyah is purification of Islam and Muslims from any foreign elements, either ideas or practices, which have polluted the purity of Islam and the Muslims' behavior. In doing so, the Salafis reject religious innovations (bid'ah), human intellect, and foreign ideas, and, at the same time, call for a direct consultation, with a literalist interpretation, to the Quran and the Sunnah and strict application of their written teachings in the present time. This strategy necessarily requires the Salafis to ignore the intellectual heritage of Islamic schools of thought (madhhab; plural: madhahib), at least the schools of those whom they believe have deviated from the method of rightly guided ancestors (manhaj al-salaf al-shalih). In the view of the Salafis, it is only through tashfiyyah that the authentic and original Islam is revealed to the Muslims in the modern period.

The call for return to religious texts as an answer to problems facing the Muslims is in fact not unique to Salafism. This solution was also shared by other Islamic revivalist movements including the Islamic modernism of al-Afghani and 'Abduh. All these movements turn to religious texts for finding answers to the problems facing the Muslim world. But, what substantially distinguishes the Salafi solution from the others lies in its strategies of coming back to the religious texts. In their attempt to find answers to the realities of modernity facing the Muslim world, the Salafis employ literalist approach to the scripture in that they do not rethink the texts by putting them in the context where realities might shape the process of text formation. In other words, the proponents of Salafism tend to be scripturalist-cum-literalists in their attempt to find answers to realities of modernity from religious texts.

Second, the next step to re-Islamize the Muslim societies is tarbiyyah, educating Muslims the true teachings of Islam based on the method of the righteous ancestors (al-salaf al-shalih). For the Salafis, the salaf is as a perfect model for understanding and practicing Islam in modern period based on their understanding of a hadith which reported that Prophet Muhammad said that the best Muslim generations were a generation of his time (shahabah [his Companions]), then a generation after them (tabi'in [followers of his Companions), and then a generation after (atba'u al-tabi'in[followers of the followers]). [5] The centrality of the salaf concept is obvious within the Salafi ideology so that one's commitment to the authentic Islam is determined by to what degree he or she follows and deviates from the Salaf method.

The Importance of Da'wah

To fulfil this divine task of educating Muslims the pure Islam, the Salafis are committed to do da'wah, a call or invitation to Islam according to the Salafi methods. In general, the Salafi da'wah involves activities aimed at propagating the Salafi ideas among Muslims. These include dawrah, an intensive training programme on a particular topic with a Salafi religious teacher or scholar; halaqah, a religious gathering where a small group of attendants sit in circle and learn religious texts; and mass religious gathering, which is sometimes open to public other than the Salafis to attract new followers. The Salafi da'wah is also manifested in the establishment of the Salafi publishing houses by which the Salafis publish books and journals for wider audiences. To support their da'wah, the Salafis also establish foundations and religious learning centres, which generally receive financial support from the Middle Eastern donors. In addition to traditional media of propagation, the Salafis employ as media of their da'wah the modern information and communication technologies such as radio and the internet, whose use by the Salafis is the subject of this study.

As a strategy for re-Islamizing Muslims, the Salafi da'wah is focused on spreading the Salafi common creed, which known as 'aqidat al-salaf (the Salafi creed). This creed addresses basic doctrines and fundamental beliefs shared by the Salafis. It also provides guiding principles and precepts for regulating code of conduct and constructing religious rulings of contemporary issues. The Salafi creed is formulated in the following doctrines.

The Centrality of Tawhid

The doctrine of tawhid (the oneness of God) lies at the very core of the Salafi ideology (Noorhaidi, 2005; Wiktorowicz, 2006; Iqbal, 2010). This is a fundamental belief which Muslims are required to accept in order to be true Muslims. According to the Salafis, the Islamic concept of tawhid consists of three components. First, tawhid al-uluhiyyah (the oneness of lordship); it is a belief that Allah is the only creator of all things and He is the one who has sovereignty over universe. In Islam, this fundamental belief is reflected in the shahadah (testimony of faith), which says "Ashhadu alla ilaha illallah wa ashahadu anna muhammad rasulullah", meaning "I testify that there is no God except Allah and Muhammad is His messenger".

Second, tawhid al-'ubudiyyah (the oneness of worship); It is a belief that Allah alone has the right to be worshipped. This involves a total submission to Allah in all aspects of human life. For the Salafis, to be a true servant of Allah, a Muslim must single Him out in all acts of worship and serve Him with complete loyalty.

Third, tawhid al-asma` wa al-shifat (the oneness of divine names and attributes); this is a belief that God has particular characteristics and powers, which are unique and not shared with humans and His other creations. In the views of the Salafis, a true Muslim must accept that Allah has unique names and attributes as mentioned in the Qur'an and the authentic Sunnah in their literal meanings without turning to the human logic to interpret them as metaphors or likening them to the attributes of His creations.

The doctrine of tawhid doctrine occupies a fundamental position within the Salafi ideology. It is not only as a fundamental belief, the tawhid is also the ultimate objective which individual Muslims and societies are obliged to realize in evey aspects of their lives. Failure to strictly adhere to this doctrine necessitates a Muslim to fall into shirk, associating creations with the one God, and bid'ah (forbidden religious innovations), both of which are considered great sins that pollute the purity of tawhid.

However, the doctrine of tawhidi is not unique to the Salafi movement. In fact, other Islamic movements, such as Wahhabism, Ihkwan al-Muslimin and Jamaat-i-Islam, even mainstream Muslims share the tawhid as their fundamental belief. Yet, the Salafis differ from these movements and mainstream Muslims in that they use a literal approach the religious texts in their interpretation and formulation of the tawhid. It is at this point reject the concept of tawhid hakimiyyah (the oneness of sovereignty), which was formulated by Abul A'la al-Maududi (1903-1979) and Sayyid Quthb (1906-1966), the ideologues of Jamaati Islami and Ikhwan al-Muslimin respectively, as the fourth component of the tawhid. As will be explained in later, the Salafi rejection of tawhid al-hakimiyyah was not only based on its lack of literal basis in the Quran and the Sunnah, but also was incited by their conviction that the concept has political implications that can damage the purity of the tawhid and result in political revolts against the rulers.

The Salafis have made every effort to protect tawhid and what they believe the original teachings of Islam from any foreign elements that contaminate their purity and originality. In doing so, they develop doctrines aimed at purifying and protecting Islam and Muslims from un-Islamic elements, thoughts and practices. This is reflected in the following subsequent concepts they formulated for this purpose.

The Sunnah

Like mainstream Muslim groups, the Salafis believe in the centrality of the Sunnah second after the Qur'an. Drawing on classical ulum al-hadith (science of the hadith), the Salafis define the sunnah as the Prophet Muhammad's statements (qawl), actions (fi'l) and tacit approval (taqrir), which have been collected in the authentic hadith collections. As 'Abd Allah ibn Baz asserts, the Sunnah is "whatever is authentically narrated from Allah's messenger" (Cited in Duderija, 2011:58).

Yet, the Sunnah acquires a very special position within the Salafi ideology. The proponents of Salafism believe that the historical legacy of the Prophet Muhammad and righty guided early Muslim generations (al-salaf al-shalih) in terms of their ways of understanding and implementing the Quran is normative, static and universalistic in nature (Duderija, 2011). It is imperatives, for the Salafis, to accept a hadith (a report of the Prophet's sayings and doings) considered sound and valid (shahih), even a single hadith, if it is reported by one of the Prophet's companions whose credibility believed unquestionable. Hence, the idea of criticizing the credibility of these "righteous forefathers" and critical or contextual analysis of the content of their reports is anathema to the Salafi concept of Sunnah.

The Danger of bid'ah

The Salafis' concept of the Sunnah is immediately followed by their perception of bid'ah . According to Salafis, whatever is not written, prescribed or has no precedent found in legitimate religious texts is considered a forbidden heretical innovation. Hence, they conceive bid'ah as antonym to Sunnah. They base this conception on a hadith which reported that the Prophet Muhammad warned Muslims of the newly invented matters because they are bid'ah and every bid'ah is misguidance, and every misguidance leads to the Hell. So, with respect to methodology, the Salafis regard Muslims who do not follow the path of Ahl al-Hadith as guilty of bid'ah. Due to this conviction, the Salafis accuse Muslim groups such as Sufis, Syi'ah (Shiites), Ahl al-Kalam, and law and theological schools of thought of being the religiously prohibited innovators. Ibn Amir al-Ruhaylee, a Salafi professor at Islamic University of Madinah and lecturer at the Prophet's Grand Mosque in Madinah believes that Muslims who do not follow the path of the ulama of Ahl al-Sunnah belong to the people of bid'ah (ahl al-bid'ah) as they have violated the true path of Sunnah (Duderija, 2011:60).

Actually, the idea of bid'ah is not unique to Salafism. It has been the subject of discussion as well as the source of division among Muslim scholars from different schools of thoughts (madhhab). But, contrary to the Salafi conception, these scholars have more nuanced definition of bid'ah. As Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani states:

The root meaning of innovation [bid'ah] is what is produced without precedent. It is applied in the law in opposition to the Sunna and is therefore blameworthy. Strictly speaking, if it is part of what is classified as commendable by the law then it is a good innovation (hasanah), while if it is part of what is classified as blameworthy by the law then it is blameworthy (mustaqbaha), otherwise it falls in the category of what is permitted indifferently (mubah). It can be divided into the known five categories (cited in Duderija 2011:60).

Al-Wala` wal Bara`

Another main Salafi doctrine is al-wala` wal-bara` (alliance and disassociation).The proponents of Salafism believe that a Muslim is obliged to build alliance, support and love for Islam and fellow Muslims (al-wala) as an expression and manifestation of his or her commitment to Islam. At the same time, a Muslim must denounce and disassociate him or herself from disbelievers and those regarded as the enemies of Islam and Muslims (al-bara`).

The concept of al-wala wal bara constitutes a boundary setting aimed at creating a clear-cut distinction between Muslims and non-Muslims or enemies of Muslims with respect to every aspect of their lives. By disassociating themselves from non-believers and keeping strict alliance with fellow Muslims, the Salafis attempt to protect Islam and Muslims from un-Islamic elements that are potential to contaminate their purity. Furthermore, the Salafis reduce al-wala` wal-bara` to the alliances among the Salafi proponents and Salafi disassociation from those regarded as non-Salafis or not real Salafis (Iqbal, 2010).

In practice, the doctrine of al-wala` wal-bara` is manifested in the Salafis' choice to live in a tight-knit community, where they are secluded from other members of society. Through this seclusion, the Salafis believe they are protecting themselves from un-Islamic behaviours and thoughts and strengthening their communal cohesion. Yet, their relatively closed system of community differs from the one practiced by Islamic political movements such as Ikhwan al-Muslimin and Hizb al-Tahrir. On one hand, the Salafis' secluded community is built as an attempt to protect the purity Islam and themselves from un-Islamic elements and reprehensible innovations that wildly spread outside their community. In the latter system, on the other hand, the committed proponents and followers are required to live in a highly-structured cells built as a basis community for the Islamic state they aspire for (Noorhaidi, 2005 in Iqbal, 2010).

Apoliticism

To protect the purity of Islam, the Salafis refrain from any political tendency and activities. For them, educating Muslims the true Islamic teachings through da'wah is privileged over political activities including those aimed at establishing an Islamic state. This apoliticism is seen in the Salafis' rejection of what they call hizbiyyah (partisanship), which they believe promoted by Islamic movements such as al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun and Hizb al-Tahrir. In the Salafi understanding, hizbiyyah leads Muslims to prioritize politics and political interests over the call for the pure Islam and the obligation of purification of Islam and Muslims from illegitimate religious innovations. Instead of calling for the true Islam, political agenda as pursued by the above-mentioned movements also have call Muslims for fanaticism to their political groups and leaders. By doing this, the Salafis emphasize that they are the only Islamic group that is truly committed to the main mission of Islam as practiced by the Prophet and the salaf (Noorhaidi, 2005 in Iqbal 2008).

Furthermore, the Salafis' apoliticism is expressed in their refusal to acknowledge the so-called tawhid al-hakimiyyah (the oneness of sovereignty) as the fourth element of the doctrine of tawhid. It is a doctrine, which was formulated by ideologues of Islam politics such as Abul 'Ala al-Mawdudi of Jamaat Islami and Sayyid Qutb of Ikhwan al-Muslimin, that governance and sovereignty only belong to the one Allah as the only creator, sustainer and ruler of the universe (Noorhaidi, 2005 in Iqbal, 2008). This doctrine has implications that since Allah is the only one who has authority to regulate the universe and human, those Muslims and Muslims rulers who do not implement the laws of God are considered in opposition against His authority and sovereignty and can be declared as unbelievers (takfir) (Iqbal, 2008).

The Salafi rejection of the tawhid al-hakimiyyah is not only based on their account that it has no written precedence in the Quran and the Sunnah so that it is a forbidden innovation, but also on their argument that political activities can cause chaos, conflicts and fragmentations within the Muslim world. More importantly, they assert that the doctrine of tawhid al-hakimiyyah can incite a revolutionary spirit that encourages Muslims to rebel against their ruler. Any attempt to seize power form the ruling governments, for the Salafis, will end up only in bloodshed and socio-political disorder as seen in the case of the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat in the early 1980s by a jihadi group and the FIS (Islamic Salvation Front) victory in Algeria in the early 1990s (Noorhaidi,2005 in Iqbal, 2008).

The Salafis perceive that instead of bringing Muslims closer to the authentic Islam as practiced by the righteous Salaf, the engagement in political activities has caused them get closer to un-Islamic elements by adopting Western political systems of democracy, elections and political party as vehicle to seize power and establish an Islamic state. Therefore, the Salafis believe that the political-oriented Islamic movements actually politicise Islam for their personal or group's interests. They are also not enthusiastic with the idea of the establishment of Islamic state or caliphate advocated by these movements. An Islamic state, in their view, is not ultimate goal of Islam; rather, it is a promise and reward which Allah will give to Muslims who protect the purity of Islam and implement the original teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah (Noorhaidi, 2005 in Iqbal, 2008).

The Quran and Sunnah are Self-Explanatory

Salafism is a text-based religious movement as it finds confident security in religious texts. Methodologically, the proponents of Salafism project their religious and non-religious issues including their social-political frustrations and insecurities into religious texts (Qur'an and the Sunnah).

In their attempt to protect the purity of the original sources of Islam, the Salafis reject the application of human intellect and logic to the uncovering of the meanings of the Quran and the Sunnah. In the Salafi views, human intellect or 'rationalism' is considered as the most dangerous challenge to the purity of Islam. The human intellect, for the Salafis, is problematic when used to reveal the meanings of the religious texts. In one hand, it is a limited human capability so that it lacks power to uncover the meanings of the unlimited God's words. On the other hand, God's original texts, the Quran and the hadith, are self-explanatory; they are revealed through clear Arabic to mankind so that the vast majority of the religious rulings can be easily derived. As a result, there is no need to involve the human intellect and logic in the process of understanding the religious texts.

From the perspective of this Salafi hermeneutics, if a Muslim or a Muslim scholar has necessary knowledge and training in Islamic science, he or she will have ability to understand the meanings of the Quran and Sunnah without reasoning and turning to his or her own intellect for assistance. The scholars, then, virtually have limited role; they are "reduced to the archaeology of divine texts: their function is simply to unearth the truth that lies somewhere in the Qur'an and Sunna" (Wiktorowicz, 2006:210).

As a result, there is no what so-called interpretation because there is only single meaning and truth as revealed by the Qur'an, the Prophet Muhammad and the Salaf. The issue of interpretive differences are anathema to the Salafi method of religious text interpretation. At this point, for the Salafis, applying human intellect means opening the way to human desire to distort the meanings and purity of the Quran and the Sunnah. The intellectual approaches to the interpretation of these Islamic sources will lead to human desire, which in turn will hinder the revelation of religious truth to human (Wiktorowicz, 2006).

Instead of respecting the integrity of holy religious text, in fact, Salafism abuses the religious texts as a particular group of readers exploit the religious texts in line with reactionary power dynamics in society (Fadl, 2003). The Salafi method of interpretation is despotic and authoritarian in nature. According to this approach, reality is polarized into two paths: the path of God on one hand, and the path of Satan on the other hand. Humans are either in the path of God or the path of Satan. Those who follow the path of God are the rightly guided and those who deny it are the misguided.

The True Knowledge ('ilm)

Accordingly, the centrality of religious texts and the anti-intellectual orientation have a great impact on the Salafi epistemology. According to the Salafis, true knowledge ('ilm) is only acquired through understanding of the revealed texts, the Quran and Sunnah. The only legitimate source of knowledge is written texts. Knowledge is what is supported with evidence (dalil) derived from the Quran and Sunnah. Supporting evidence comes from other than religious texts including personal reasoning and speculative ideas such as philosophy and social sciences cannot bring truth and certainty. With this epistemology, the Salafis have restricted the Islamic concept of 'ilm to only whatever is written in the Quran and the hadith collections and, subsequently, have marginalized, if not rejected, any sources come from the process of human intellectual reasoning.

Muhammad ibn Shalih al-Uthaymin, for example, argues that legitimate religious knowledge should be sourced from the Qur'an, the pre-modern sciences of the Quranic interpretation, the authentic hadith, and ijma' (consensus) of the ulama who have remained faithful to the way of pre-modern ahl al-hadith. Even some Salafi authorities such as Nashir al-Din al-Albani restricts the legitimate knowledge to the Quran and hadith and argues for the replacement of reason in the legal process with the hadith. As a consequence, the Salafis reject the legitimacy of the intellectual legacy of schools of thought (madhhab; plural: madhahib) with respect to Islamic jurisprudence and theology. Referring to Ahmad ibn Hanbal, al-Albani argues that the "the opinions of the major madhhab scholars were simply opinions and that the evidence was only found in the narration (athar/hadith)" (Duderija, 2011:56).

Duderija (2011) examines this Salafi methodology of knowledge in detail. First, the Salafi writings are a collection of the Quranic verses and pieces of hadith, which are atomistically and eclectically cited under a particular theme. The writers mostly provide no analysis or account of historical contexts in regard to texts being dealt with. This has resulted in the requirement of no theory or approaches of interpretation, the second nature of the Salafi writings. Third, when they need to support their stance or explain a particular verse or hadith, the Salafi writers only refer to selected works of religious scholars considered as to have remained faithful to the way of the righteous ancestors (al-manhaj al-salaf). These include religious scholars of pre-modern period such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, and Muhammad 'Abd al-Wahhab.

The Appeal and Transnationalization of Salafism

Despite its actual followers cannot be accurately estimated, the Salafi movement is one of the fastest-growing contemporary Islamic movements, spreading virtually to the Muslim and non-Muslim regions. Its contemporary presence can be seen in various parts of the world including the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia, Europe, and the North America. What makes Salafism appealing and transnational? The answers to this question can be found in the characteristics of the Salafi ideology itself and socio-political conditions of contemporary Muslims. The nature of the Salafi reductionist view of Islamic heritage and their simplistic method of interpretation is felt appealing to Muslim masses. As Abou El Fadl argues, Salafism for ordinary Muslims "connotes authenticity and legitimacy [and] as a term, it is exploitable by any movement that wants to claim that it is grounded in Islamic authenticity" (cited in Duderija, 2007). This is echoed by recent studies on the development of Salafism in the Western contexts (e.g. Hamid, 2009; Adraoui, 2009), which I believe can be used to explain the Salafi spread in other countries and region, including Indonesia.

The Attraction of Authentic, Simple and Absolute Islam

The appeal of Salafism to Muslim masses lies in the claim that its teachings and principles are derived from the pure Islam and its call to return to the Quran and Sunnah in accordance with understanding and practice of salaf (Hamid, 2009:389). Salafism is particularly attractive to young Muslims such as those in France as it embodies true Islam and represents the pristine form and undiluted pure Islam (Adraoui, 2009:366,368). For these young Muslims, Salafism is the sole custodian of the true Islam, which promised to recreate the idealised past of Islam in the modern period.

Moreover, the attraction of Salafism for contemporary Muslims lies in its promise of providing religious certainty by relying exclusively on religious texts (Haykel, 2009:36). The simplistic and literalist method of interpretation further makes Salafism appealing to Muslim masses.

Furthermore, the Muslim masses are attracted to the ideal sources of Islam that Salafism refers to. The Salafis virtually rely on religious texts, the Quran and the Sunnah, in building their teachings and arguments, rejecting other sources derived from human intellectual exercises. Salafism is, then, seen as a representation of true Islam or even it itself is Islam because it is based on pure sources of God's revelation. The literalist approach to these texts makes Salafism more appealing to Muslim masses because this represents simplicity, without getting into complicated debates and discussions on religious texts in understanding and practicing Islamic teachings.

The fact that Salafism comes from Saudi Arabia also contributes to the acceptance of Salafism among Muslim masses. The fact that it is the country of the birth of Islam, Saudi Arabia to the Muslim masses represents the source of Islam. Hence, Salafism, which is directly imported from Saudi Ar