A Quietist Jihadi

A Quietist Jihadi
Author: Joas Wagemakers
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2012-06-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1139510894

Since 9/11, the Jordanian Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi (b. West Bank, 1959) has emerged as one of the most important radical Muslim thinkers alive today. While al-Maqdisi may not be a household name in the West, his influence amongst like-minded Muslims stretches across the world from Jordan - where he lives today - to Southeast Asia. His writings and teachings on Salafi Islam have inspired terrorists from Europe to the Middle East, including Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi, the former leader of al-Qa'ida in Iraq, and Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden's successor as the head of al-Qa'ida Central. This groundbreaking book, which is the first comprehensive assessment of al-Maqdisi, his life, ideology, and influence, is based on his extensive writings and those of other jihadis, as well as on interviews that the author conducted with (former) jihadis, including al-Maqdisi himself. It is a serious and intense work of scholarship that uses this considerable archive to explain and interpret al-Maqdisi's particular brand of Salafism. More broadly, the book offers an alternative, insider perspective on the rise of radical Islam, with a particular focus on Salafi opposition movements in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Salafism in Jordan

Salafism in Jordan
Author: Joas Wagemakers
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2016-09-15
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1316776816

Since the events of 9/11, Salafism in the Middle East has often been perceived as fixed, rigid and even violent, but this assumption overlooks the quietist ideology that characterises many Salafi movements. Through an exploration of Salafism in Jordan, Joas Wagemakers presents the diversity among quietist Salafis on a range of ideological and political issues, particularly their relationship with the state. He expounds a detailed analysis of Salafism as a whole, whilst also showing how and why quietist Salafism in Jordan - through ideological tendencies, foreign developments, internal conflicts, regime involvement, theological challenges and regional turmoil - transformed from an independent movement into a politically domesticated one. Essential for graduate students and academic researchers interested in Middle Eastern politics and Salafism, this major contribution to the study of Salafism debunks stereotypes and offers insight into the development of a trend that still remains a mystery to many.

Salafi-jihadism

Salafi-jihadism
Author: Shiraz Maher
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2016
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0190651121

Concise introduction to salafi-jihadism from its origins in the Hindu Kush to insurgencies in the 1990s and beyond

Salafism in Lebanon

Salafism in Lebanon
Author: Robert Rabil
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2014-10-24
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1626161186

Salafism, comprised of fundamentalist Islamic movements whose adherents consider themselves the only “saved” sect of Islam, has been little studied, remains shrouded in misconceptions, and has provoked new interest as Salafists have recently staked a claim to power in some Arab states while spearheading battles against “infidel” Arab regimes during recent rebellions in the Arab world. Robert G. Rabil examines the emergence and development of Salafism into a prominent religious movement in Lebanon, including the ideological and sociopolitical foundation that led to the three different schools of Salafism in Lebanon: quietist Salafists, Haraki (active) Salafists; and Salafi Jihadists. Emphasizing their manhaj (methodology) toward politics, the author surveys Salafists’ ideological transformation from opponents to supporters of political engagement. Their antagonism to Hezbollah, which they denounce as the party of Satan, has risen exponentially following the party’s seizure of Beirut in 2008 and support of the tyrannical Syrian regime. Salafism in Lebanon also demonstrates how activists and jihadi Salafists, in response to the political weakness of Sunni leadership, have threatened regional and international security by endorsing violence and jihad. Drawing on field research trips, personal interviews, and Arabic primary sources, the book explores the relationship between the ideologies of the various schools of Salafism and their praxis in relation to Lebanese politics. The book should interest students and scholars of Islamic movements, international affairs, politics and religion, and radical groups and terrorism.

Rethinking Salafism

Rethinking Salafism
Author: Raihan Ismail
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2021-10-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0190948973

Salafism has received scrutiny as the one of the main ideological sources for extremist violence perpetrated by jihadi groups. There is a significant corpus of literature discussing transnational jihadi networks, especially after the 9/11 attacks in the United States. These discussions include the radicalization of Salafi thought by jihadi theoreticians and 'ulama. However, Salafism is not monolithic. It contains numerous streams, and an examination of these streams is crucial to understanding its influence on Muslim societies. Besides Salafi jihadisthose who sanction violencethere are two other broad trends in Salafism: quietist and activist. Quietist Salafis endorse an apolitical tradition and find political activism in any form unacceptable. Activist Salafis advocate peaceful political change. Each stream is led by 'ulama, seen as the preservers of Salafi traditions. The quietist and activist 'ulama are active participants in their communities. Studies of such clerics have tended to be country-specific, focusing on the influence and nature of Salafism and its dynamics in those countries. In Rethinking Salafism Raihan Ismail assesses the origins, interactions, and dynamics of the transnational networks of Salafi 'ulama in the region comprising Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Kuwait, showing how quietist and activist 'ulama work across borders to preserve and promote what they see as "authentic" Salafism while taking domestic circumstances of the 'ulama into consideration. The book offers a reassessment of the quietist/activist dichotomy, arguing that this dichotomy does not apply to such aspects of Salafi thought as attitudes towards the Shi'a and social matters in Muslim societies.

Salafism in Nigeria

Salafism in Nigeria
Author: Alexander Thurston
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2016-09-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107157439

Examines how Salafism, a globally influential Muslim movement, is reshaping religious authority in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.

Salafi Social and Political Movements

Salafi Social and Political Movements
Author: Masooda Bano
Publisher: Edinburgh Studies of the Globa
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2023-05-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781474479134

This book introduces the history of the rise and spread of Salafism during the 20th century as a global Islamic reform movement. It also explains Salafi tools of methodological reasoning: traditionally used to justify highly conservative positions, they now appear equally effective in defending more liberal life choices. The collection will help readers to appreciate the diversity of Salafi movements, as well as the significance of the ongoing socio-economic and political changes within Saudi Arabia and the wider Muslim world that are enabling shifts from this conservative Islamic scholarly tradition.

A Quietist Jihadi

A Quietist Jihadi
Author: Joas Wagemakers
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2012-06-11
Genre: History
ISBN: 110702207X

A groundbreaking assessment of the life and ideology of Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, one of the most influential radical Muslim thinkers alive today.

The Making of Salafism

The Making of Salafism
Author: Henri Lauzière
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2015-11-17
Genre: History
ISBN: 0231540175

Some Islamic scholars hold that Salafism is an innovative and rationalist effort at Islamic reform that emerged in the late nineteenth century but gradually disappeared in the mid twentieth. Others argue Salafism is an anti-innovative and antirationalist movement of Islamic purism that dates back to the medieval period yet persists today. Though they contradict each other, both narratives are considered authoritative, making it hard for outsiders to grasp the history of the ideology and its core beliefs. Introducing a third, empirically based genealogy, The Making of Salafism understands the concept as a recent phenomenon projected back onto the past, and it sees its purist evolution as a direct result of decolonization. Henri Lauzière builds his history on the transnational networks of Taqi al-Din al-Hilali (1894–1987), a Moroccan Salafi who, with his associates, participated in the development of Salafism as both a term and a movement. Traveling from Rabat to Mecca, from Calcutta to Berlin, al-Hilali interacted with high-profile Salafi scholars and activists who eventually abandoned Islamic modernism in favor of a more purist approach to Islam. Today, Salafis tend to claim a monopoly on religious truth and freely confront other Muslims on theological and legal issues. Lauzière's pathbreaking history recognizes the social forces behind this purist turn, uncovering the popular origins of what has become a global phenomenon.

The Future of ISIS

The Future of ISIS
Author: Feisal al-Istrabadi
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2018-06-26
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0815732171

Looking to the future in confronting the Islamic State The Islamic State (best known in the West as ISIS or ISIL) has been active for less than a decade, but it has already been the subject of numerous histories and academic studies—all focus primarily on the past. The Future of ISIS is the first major study to look ahead: what are the prospects for the Islamic State in the near term, and what can the global community, including the United States, do to counter it? Edited by two distinguished scholars at Indiana University, the book examines how ISIS will affect not only the Middle East but the global order. Specific chapters deal with such questions as whether and how ISIS benefitted from intelligence failures, and what can be done to correct any such failures; how to confront the alarmingly broad appeal of Islamic State ideology; the role of local and regional actors in confronting ISIS; and determining U.S. interests in preventing ISIS from gaining influence and controlling territory. Given the urgency of the topic, The Future of ISIS is of interest to policymakers, analysts, and students of international affairs and public policy.