| "Classical Salafiyya" and Salafism |
The term "Salafism" is currently used, particularly in the media, in such an inflationary and unreflective way that its significance is difficult to determine and that it causes more confusion than clarification.
- The Egyptian scholar Muhammad Abduh (1804-1905), an important spokesperson for Salafiyya; Source: wikipedia
The Salafiyya movement is therefore frequently labeled incorrectly as an Islamic reform movement that emerged at the end of the 19th century within the context of European expansion and the debate about the frailty of Muslims in the Near and Middle East. In contrast to the secularly-oriented Muslims that called for a modernization of the Islamic states and societies using the Western model, the Salafis, the followers of Salafiyya, strive for a peaceful reformation of Islam in the form of a reestablishment of the morality and religiousness found at the time of the pious ancestors (salaf salih) in order to both curb European influence and the gradual secularization of society.
In order to get a better idea of this conceptually, one could refer to this as more of a "classical Salafiyya".
"Salafism", on the other hand, which is currently given a lot of attention in the media, refers to a new phenomenon. In this regard, the two French political scientists, Olivier Roy and Gilles Kepel, argue within the debate over a possible downfall of Islam that "Islam" and "Salafism" (which they also refer to as "neo-fundamentalism") are to be differentiated between. While up until now, Islamists were only successful in achieving political power and the formation of an Islamic state in the case of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1979), the followers of Salafism aim at the restructuring of Islamic society per the example of the early Islamic municipalities in Mecca and Medina under the prophet Muhammad. In doing so, this change must not necessarily occur through a political rise to power, but rather primarily through individuals who make changes to the other areas of life and whose behavior conforms with the Sharia, which the Salafists for the most part see as being in imitation of the practice of the "Pious Ancestors".
Salafists and Islamists have drawn closer to each other in recent times, however. The Taliban movement, which ruled Afghanistan politically between 1996 and 2001, gave rise to the strength within the Salafistic movement, which is thoroughly due to a change of state structure. The main protagonists of al-Qaida are prominent examples of this.
