More like simple-minded.
Posted on 10/05/2007 2:24:32 PM PDT by knighthawk
The fundamentalist Islamic movement Salafism is spreading rapidly around the world via Internet. With its simple message, it exerts a strong attraction on identity seeking Muslim youths both in the Islamic world and in the west. An international conference on Salafism took place in the Dutch city of Nijmegen last week.
You see them increasingly on the streets of European cities: women in concealing niqaabs, men with long black beards and half-mast trousers. Salafism, which is based on puritanical Wahhabism from Saudi Arabia, is the sect of Islam that Osama bin Laden and its Dutch-Moroccan affiliates of the Hofstad Group adhere to. However, violent "jihadi" Salafists form only a small minority within a much larger movement which enjoys growing popularity among Islamic youths.
The Salafists manifest themselves in so many parts of the world that some researchers wonder whether it should still be referred to as a single movement. Bernard Haykel of Princeton University certainly thinks so:
"Salafism represents a clear theological vision. Salafists want a return to the lifestyle of the first few generations of Muslims. They believe in a univocal, literal reading of the Koran. It is a very powerful discourse rooted in an old tradition which has proved highly attractive to young Muslims around the world." Norwegian researcher Thomas Hegghammer agrees: "In a time of great changes and a lack of ideological alternatives, the clear and simple message of Salafism has much to offer to identity seeking Muslim youths."
Modern media
Roel Meijer of Radboud University in Nijmegen says Salafism is one of the fastest growing religious movements in the world:
"Salafists communicate mainly through the Internet. In parallel with the rise of that medium the movement has spread rapidly around the world."
Since 9/11 Salafism has been studied assiduously by various secret services. Academic study of the subject, however, has developed rather slowly. Roel Meijer regards this as surprising, particularly since so much material about the movement can be accessed so easily on the Internet. Together with the Leiden Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM), he organised a conference at which the leading international researchers into Salafism could exchange views.
Various researchers emphasize that Salafism is a vital and dynamic religious movement which will probably loom ever-larger in the coming decades. But Salafism also has its weaknesses. Its very insistence on a literal and univocal reading of the religious texts leaves little room for tolerating alternative interpretations.
Takfir Salafists, Bernard Haykel explains, believe in the doctrine of takfir. This doctrine enables them to routinely brand Muslims with other views than Salafism as heretics or unbelievers.
Salafists reject the beliefs of the majority of the Muslim community. They regard Shi'ites as dangerous heretics posing as Muslims and they particularly despise Sufis, the mystics of Islam. They often refer to a tradition according to which the Prophet had said that towards the end of time, there would be 73 groups of Muslims of which only one would be "saved" and enter Paradise.
Divisions
As a result of their doctrinal rigidity, the Salafists are divided among themselves. Their differences of opinion, which resound all over the Internet, focus on the exact interpretation of takfir, who they can and can't work together with, and the legitimacy of violence as a means to achieve their goals.
Even within al-Qaeda some people have their reservations about Salafism. The Norwegian researcher Brynjar Lia relates how, in Afghanistan in the 1990s, al-Qaeda ideologue Abu Mus'ab al-Suri was very upset about the rise of Salafism within the international jihad movement.
As a consequence of their dogmatic rigidity, the Salafists argued with everyone and were unable to cooperate with others. Hardline Salafists, for instance, refused to fight alongside the Taliban because they regarded them as doctrinally unsound. Al-Suri viewed the Salafists as a threat to the unity of the jihad movement, at the very moment that Muslims were besieged by the Americans and the Jews.
If people want on or off this list, please let me know.
Pretty much sums up the history of Islamic fractionalism....
It also suggests the means by which movement-sized groups of these folks can be disrupted.
Baggy-pant yutes right now in your 'hood'.
“Salafists communicate mainly through the Internet.”
Something wrong here.
If they want to live like the first few generations of Muslims they wouldn’t be using the internet.
You beat me to it.
Does not compute. Does not compute.
btt
Mutually exclusive statements. The Koranus explicitly demands slavishly following its every word; and to violently destroy any who believe otherwise.
But Salafism also has its weaknesses. Its very insistence on a literal and univocal reading of the religious texts leaves little room for tolerating alternative interpretations.
And NONE for competing religions, A to Z: i.e. Buddhism, Chrisitanity, Hinduism, Judaism, .... Zoroastrianism
Takfir Salafists, Bernard Haykel explains, believe in the doctrine of takfir. This doctrine enables them to routinely brand Muslims with other views than Salafism as heretics or unbelievers.
Salafists reject the beliefs of the majority of the Muslim community. They regard Shi'ites as dangerous heretics posing as Muslims and they particularly despise Sufis, the mystics of Islam. They often refer to a tradition according to which the Prophet had said that towards the end of time, there would be 73 groups of Muslims of which only one would be "saved" and enter Paradise.
Why is there any surprise, feigned or otherwise, that this appeals to baggy-panted Muslim youth?
Sounds like the Leninists and the Troskysists (and innumerable other commie fringists and assorted wingnuts). Amazing how Satan's minions can't ever agree on anything.
I for one, will be unable to sleep tonight unless we can firmly establish as to whether these folks are Baggy-Panted or Half-Masted.
bttt
Do you want to know WHY they "traditioonally" wear baggy pants?
God's honest truth: Several different Bedouin told my father, when he worked among them, that it was to "catch their savior", because their scriptures/traditions say "he would be born of man"!
No, NOT born of Man; but born of man, a MALE, because a woman is an unclean a vessle so her womb could not hold such a "holy" babe.
Baggy pants, because it would be totally inexcusable to drop the infant; BUT, those same scriptures/traditions say that 'he can come at any moment', so they have to be ready, and those baggy trousers ensure he'll be safely caught!!!
No, I do NOT have any links to this; I only have my late father's word that this is what Beduoin tribesmen told him, when he worked in Saudi & Kuwait some 50 years ago.
More like simple-minded.
Considering the only available orifice through which their savior could be emitted, this seems like a believable tradition for them
They might just win, despite that. They are willing to fight for what they want. We are, for the most part, unwilling to do what's necessary to resist them. And within a generation they might be in control of Europe
My thoughts exactly.
Salafism is popular everywhere, but where it has or has had power. Ask Afghani’s about the Wahhabi’s and Arab Islamic fundamentalists. Ask the Iraqis. Ask Iranians about the Shi’ite version of Salafism. Ask the Lebanese what they think about Nasrallah and the Islamic fundamentalists. Why do they never get their voices heard in the Western Media? Well, that’s easy, they don’t sound the liberal template of anti-Americanism. Anti-communists from the Communist countries never got heard in the Liberal Media.
I was making a funny, but now that you mention that, I had heard of this but thought it was a Sikh belief.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.