21/03/18 - Spring 2018 semester
Session 3: Socio-anthropological approach to Salafism religious doctrine and (anti) social practices Course taken in UNIL
- Professor: Salima Amari
Bases and Forms of Salafism
(contemporary forms of Salafist expression)- Quietist (literalist) Salafism Political (reformist) Salafism (activists) Jihadist Salafism
Quietist (literalist) Salafism
- Quietist Salafism is considered the majority tendency of of Salafism in the West.- Aim: to "purify" modern Islam of innovations (bid'ah) based on the "original" precepts of (original) authentic Islam.
- Literalist Salafism advocates the immersion of the believer in the universe of religious texts.
- This Salafism "largely identifies itself with Saudi Wahhabism, even if there are currents within it that are strongly opposed to the Saud" (Rougier, 2008).
In its most rigorous forms, literal Salafism (Rougier):
- Refuses the use of TV or the practice of identity photography. - Refuses the fact the a doctor can perform a medical act alone with his Muslim woman patient.
In Western societies, a quietist salvationist protecting his faith becomes "a work of every moment" (food, clothing, social attitudes).
The refusal of the Salafist (Quietist) of any political participation:
For Mr. Ali Adraoui (2013), the appearance of Quietist Salafism in France during the 1990s is manily explained by "a crisis of militancy in all contemporary societies".
Quietist Salafists refuse all political participation because:
- it risks diverting them "from the right path".
- it can be a source of anarchy and especially a source of fitna (division of Muslims - and that would disrupt the Ummah of Muslims
The political regimes of some Muslim countries (Maghreb, Jordan, Yemen...) allow (encourage ?) these salvations because:
- their Islam is not accompanied by "political demands of opposition".
- they can be an alternative to the jihadist Salafism that threatens these countries.
Because they reject all forms of political participation, the representatives of Salafism Quietist eliminate (excrete) the Islamist organization of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is accused of preferring the search for positions of power to the defense of the divine corpus (Rougier, 2008).
Emergence of Quietist Salafism in the West:
- The establishement of Quietist Salafism in Europe and North America: mainly through the proselyting (advocating) the work of former students of Saudi Islamic universities (Du Golf aux banlieues francaises, M. Adraoui, 2013).
- Students who have benefited from scholarship and total care especially at the Islamic University of Medina (back in Europe, the student becomes an imam, an employee of the Saudi state and propagates Saudi Salfist thought.
- In France, the Salafist discourse has spread thanks - in particular - to some former Salafist jihadists (former members of the Algerian GIA (group islamique armé) who generally became Salafist Quietists after their time in prison.
Typology of the Quietist Salafists (according to Mr. Ali Adraoui (2013)):
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The Salafis "reoriented upwards" (post-tablighis):
These Salafists hold a religious "scientific" capital, contrary to the tablighis, who advocated Islamization "from below" in the popular districts. -
The emancipated neo-traditionalist Salafis:
Believers from immigrant families, who blame their families for being far from an "authentic" Islam. However, in their cases, there is no family or neighborhood breakdown. -
Post-Christian Salafis:
The converts of Christianity - Post-militant Salafis:
They are often from Muslim countries and often older. They were in conflict with the powers before they repented.
Typology of the Quietist Salafists (according to Mr. S. Amghar (2011)):
- Exclusivists:
- the priority is the purification of beliefs based on the knowledge of Saudi theologians.
- Western norms and values are considered irreconcilable with their vision of Islam.
-they ask Muslims to leave Europe and America to settle in Islamic lands (hijra) - Muslims must live on Muslim lands - Ultra orthodox and literalist reading of Islam.
- Agree to maintain relations with other Islamists (Tabligh, Muslim Brothers)
- They are not in a process of total rupture with the West (construction of mosques/ok).
- They are not necessarily for the hijra as a religious principle. - They consider themselves more open than Exclusivists.
Political (reformist) Salafism
- Influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood, reformist (political).- Salafism emerged in Saudi Arabia in the late 1980s (the Sahwa-Islamic revival movement).
- This current favors a political reading of the world in the name of defense of the Ummah (the community of Muslim believers), the great Saudi sheikhs of the Sahwa have fiercly criticized American policy in the Middle East and the complicity of Muslim leaders with the West (Rougier, 2008).
- For the Syrian Sheikh Mohammad Sarrour, it was Amir Saoud who made allegiance to the preacher Abd al-Wahhab and not the other way around. So politics must submit to religion.
Samir Amghar (2011) distinguishes 2 types of Political Salafism in the West:
1- Protester Political Salafism:
- opposition to the Arab regimes and Western societies.
- criticism of the Saudi Monarchy
- Reislamisation of countries of origin and creation of an Islamic state.
- Defending Muslims in the West (Swiss example: Nicholas Blancho (Islamic Central Council of Switzerland).
their main objectives are:
- reformation of the Western society resulting in an autonomous legal system.
- asserting rights of Western Muslims.
- Re-islamization of Muslim countries and Islamic state.
2- Managerial Political Salafism:
- ideological proximity to the ideology of Saudi Wahhabi regime.
- The only political Salafist tendency not to criticize the Arab regime (adherence among managers).
- It is embodied mainly by the World Islamic League (established in 1962 through the Saudi regime) (Swiss example: The Islamic Cultural Foundation of Geneva).
Jihadist Salafism
Farhad Khosrokhavar defines radicalization as: a process by which an individual or group adopts a violent form of action, directly linked to an extremist ideology with political, social or religious content that challenges the established social or cultural, political order (2014:8).Jihadist Salafism considers jihad as a religious obligation.
"Any Muslim is allowed to pronounce a compulsory and individual jihad if the leader of a Muslim state fails to fulfill his religious obligations (Rougier, 2008).
2 logics of jihadist Salafism (Amghar):
- Nationalist logic
Those who want to establish the Islamic state in their country of origin ( example: GIA in Algeria).
- International logic
Europeans and North Americans with an Islamized anti-imperialist discourse (notably around the Palestinian and Iraqi question and around discrimination in the West).
Conditions for the birth and dissemination of Jihadism:
The birth conditions of jihadists according to F. Khosrokhavar (2014):1- colonial humiliation
2- failure of Arab nationalisms
3- Iranian Revolution
4- First Afghan War.
The diffusion of the jihadist doctrine is carried out by the top (the great international figures of the jihadist movement) and by "the bottom" (small house intellectuals).
For Olivier Roy (2002), the progression of jihadism was made on the one hand thanks to:
1- the trivialization of Islamist movements
2- the disappearance of the Soviet Army (withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1989)
3- the Gulf War (1990-1991)
And on the other han, thanks to:
4- the globalization of Islam
5- the extension of American power.
Jihadists are based on binarism: Islam / West (to defend the Islamic Ummah, one must lead jihad against enemies.)
Islamist jihadist thinking which considers "jihad as a duty for every Muslim has been disseminated through the Internet (through a number of figures):
- Egyptian Sayyid Qotb (video) and Abd al-Salam Faraj, the "organic intellectuals" of al Qaeda.
- Ousama bin Laden
- Ayman al Zawahiri
- the Palestinian Abdallah Azzam (nicknamed "the jihad imam" or "the jihad godfather")
- Abu Muhammad al Maqdisi
- the Syrian Abu Musab al-Souri
Video watched in class: Extrait "La Confrerie, enquete sur les freres Musulmans", documentaire de Michael Prazan, 2013.
Radicality and Islamization: "the chicken or the egg?"
The 2 researchers, Olivier Roy and Gilles Kepel have 2 opposing visions on the analysis of contemporary Islamist terrorism:
- For Olivier Roy (the Islamization of radicality): "This is not about radicalization of Islam but the Islamization of radicality... religious fact is on the periphery" (Islam is not the core).
- For Gilles Kepel, it is the opposite: To understand Islamist terrorism, we must first start with the religious fact (the core is Islam).
- For Farhad Khosrokhavar: "It is not a deep prior knowledge of Islam that induces religious radicalization but rather a deep inculture that causes an accentuated credibility effect..." (2014, p.90-91).
Video watched in class: Al-Qaida Etat islamique: comprendre la "planete djihad", Le monde.fr 20/11/2014 , par Remy Ourdan, Delphine Papin, Veronique Malecot, Mouna el Mokhtari et Olivier Clairouin.
Video watched in class:Extrait de 'Daesh, naissance d'un etat terroriste" (Arte, 2015).
Video watched in class:Extrait du documentaire "Salafistes" de Francois Margolin et Lamine Ould Salem".
