II. WHAT IS SALAFISM?
The term salafi is confusing in
is used in two ways. The Ministry of Religion, in
categorising Muslim educational institutions, uses it
to mean schools where only religious subjects are
taught. It does not mean that those schools have a
particularly puritanical bent or in any way follow
salafi teachings. Indeed, most are likely affiliated with
the moderate, Java-based organisation, Nahdlatul
Ulama.3
The term is used increasingly, however -- and
throughout this report -- to describe an international
movement that seeks to return to what is seen by its
adherents as the purest form of Islam, that practiced by
the Prophet Mohammed and the two generations that
followed him.4 They cite hadith or traditions of the
Prophet in support of the view that the further away
from the time of the Prophet, the more impure Islam
became: "the best of you are those with me, and the
group that comes after, and the group that comes after
them";5 and "there is not a year or a day when the one
that follows is not worse than the one before it".6
In practical terms, this means rejection of unwarranted
innovations (bid'ah) of doctrine and practice that
Muslims brought to the religion in later years. At one
level this involves rejection of any of the four schools
of law on which mainstream Islamic orthodoxy relies
in favour of a direct and literal interpretation of the
3 ICG
impression that some 7,000 of the schools registered with the
Ministry of Religion were salafi in the doctrinal sense; in fact,
they are salafi in the sense of having no secular curriculum.
4 Indonesian salafi scholars note that each generation is
calculated to have lasted 100 years, so the salafi period
covers the first three centuries after Mohammed's hijra or
flight to
the head of an orphan and said, "May you live as long as 100
years", and indeed the child lived to be 100.
5 Hadith Riwayat Bukhary No. 2652, Hadith Riwayat Muslim
No. 2533 from Sahabat Ibnu Mas'ud in Yazid Abdul Qadir
Jawwas, Prinsip-prinsip Aqidah Ahlussunnah wal Jamaah,
Pustaka at Taqwa, 2000, p.2. The religious teachers most
respected by present-day salafis are the Prophet himself, his
companions (including the first four caliphs (Abu Bakar,
Umar ibn Khatab, Usman ibn Afan, and Ali ibn Abi Thalib)
and their followers, including the founders of the major law
schools (Syafi'i, Hambali, Malik, and Hanafi) and the hadith
compiler, Buchori.
6 Aboebakar Acheh, Salaf al-Salih Muhyi Atharis/Salafi,
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Quran and hadith. While the terms salifism and
Wahabism are sometimes used interchangeably, many
salafis see themselves as having taken purification of
the faith one step further. The Wahabis look to the
Hambali school of law for guidance, the most
conservative of the orthodox schools, and in the
views of some, rely too heavily on "weak" hadith, or
traditions attributed to but not proven to have
originated with the Prophet.
At another level, adherence to salafism means a rigid
code in terms of dress and personal appearance, with
men required to grow beards and head-to-toe coverage
for women in the presence of anyone outside their
immediate family. At still another, it means rejection
of some inventions and developments that strict
Quranic interpretation seems to ban, such as
photography, most forms of music, conventional
banking, and elections. Certain phenomena, like
television, radio, and the Internet, are considered
acceptable by some salafi scholars if they are used to
propagate salafi teachings.
As noted, most salafis shun any hint of formal
organisation, because devotion to an organisation and
its cause can detract from one's devotion to Islam. A
highly pejorative epithet often thrown by salafis at
fellow Muslims is hizbiyah, party-like, as in political
party. The word is used in particular to describe
followers of the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan ul-
Muslimin) in
only do members of the Brotherhood focus too much
on organisation, but in the interests of achieving their
political goals, they also embrace members who are
not strict salafis, thus tacitly accepting forbidden
practices. The term ikhwani (brotherhood-like) is thus
equally pejorative, and in
salafis to stigmatise members of the Prosperous
Justice Party (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera, PKS), many
of whose leaders were indeed inspired by the Egyptian
organisation.
Such a stance obviously militates against any effort
to bring salafi groups under a single umbrella. In
salafi network was the Forum Komunikasi
Ahlussunnah Wal Jamaah, a network of some 80
schools brought together by salafi leader Ja'far Umar
Thalib. It was under the Forum's aegis that the militia
Laskar Jihad was established in 2000 to defend
Muslims in the communal conflict in the Moluccas.7
7 For background on Laskar Jihad, see ICG Asia Report N°31,
Almost from the outset, however, the Forum was
riven by rivalries and even at its height was more a
coalition of like-minded but fully autonomous units
than a formal association.
Salafis are also characterised by a particular manhaj,
or methodology. This includes an emphasis on
tasfiyah or purifying Islam from forbidden elements
such as innovation (bid'ah); idolatry (syirik);
superstition (khurafat) and other deviations. It also
stresses tarbiyah -- training Muslims to understand
and practice the purest form of Islam.8 Education in
various forms is a critical part of salafi methodology,
starting with kindergartens, where children learn to
memorise verses of the Quran, through pesantrens
(boarding schools) to mahad ali, local Islamic
tertiary institutes; to universities or apprenticeships
to salafi teachers.
Four of the most important destinations for study
abroad by Indonesian salafis are the Islamic University
of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud in
Indonesians study at al-Azhar in
else in the
school.)
The real cachet, however, comes not from attending
formal institutions but through individual study
with salafi mentors in the
through a practice known as mulazamah. The
names of seven or eight salafi scholars in Saudi
any Indonesian who studied with one of them can
bask in reflected glory.9
In addition, salafis frequently organise special religious
training programs (dauroh). In
instructors are sometimes local, sometimes brought
from
8 Syeikh Ali Bin Hasan bin Ali bin Abdul Hamid Al Halaby
Al Atsari, Tashfiyah dan Tarbiyah (Indonesian edition,
Muslim al Atsari, Ahmad Faiz, translators), Solo, April 2002.
9 They include, among others, the late Abdullah bin Baz,
Muhammad Nashiruddin al-Albani, and Muhmammad bin
Shalih al-Utsaimin (Uthaimin), as well as several men who
are still actively teaching: Rabi' bin Hadi al-Mudkhali;
Muhammad bin Hadi; Shalih bin Fauzan al Fauzan; and one
scholar based in
Studying with the same teacher does not guarantee harmony
of views. Two Indonesians, Yazid Jawwas and Umar Sewed,
both studied with Utsaimin but ended up on opposite sides of
a major doctrinal debate within the salafi movement.
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and they can focus on a particular target audience --
students, for example -- or subject, such as the Arabic
language or the role of women in salafi thought.
One time-honoured training method appears to be on
the wane among Indonesian salafis: the halaqah
(religious study circle). This was a means by
which religious teachers could select a handful of
the most promising students from a larger group for
advanced instruction. Among politically active salafis,
including the jihadist groups, this became a
clandestine means of selecting members and
establishing cells. Because salafis believe that
religious outreach should not be conducted in
secret, and because the halaqah is regarded by
some salafi teachers as encouraging exclusivity, it
appears to have been increasingly abandoned in
favour of regularly scheduled religious gatherings
(pengajian) open to whomever wants to come.10
A key doctrinal point separates salafis from salafi
jihadis in
of mainstream salafi thinking that it is not permissible
to revolt against a Muslim government, no matter
how oppressive or unjust.11 The penalty for rebellion
is death.12 This means that most salafis, if forced to
choose between the Saudi government and Osama bin
Laden, would choose the former.13 In
salafis are opposed to Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and the
Darul Islam movement because they actively promote
rebellion against the Indonesian state. This does not
mean that salafis reject the idea of jihad -- quite the
opposite. But they tend to see jihad in defensive
terms, as coming to the aid of Muslims under attack,
rather than as waging war against symbolic targets,
including attacks on innocent civilians. (Many salafis
saw jihad in defense of Muslims in
obligatory.) They see a jihad in which the enemy is
10 ICG interview,
Abdussalam Bin Barjas Abdulkarim, Wajibnya Taat Pada
Pemerintah (
11 Muhammad Umar Sewed, "Kewajiban Taat Kepada
Pemerintah", Asy-Syariah,
http://www.asysyariah.com/syariah.php?menu=detil&id_
online=141.
12 Syeikh Abdussalam Bin Barjas Abdulkarim, op. cit., pp.
82-88.
13 ICG asked one salafi teacher how salafis explained
Muhammed Abdul Wahab's revolt against Arabian rulers in
the late eighteenth century.. He replied that Abdul Wahab
was only a preacher, and it was not he who led the rebellion
but rather ibn Saud, who adopted Abdul Wahab's teachings
and led the revolt that resulted in the creation of the House of
Saud.
attacked first (jihad thalab or jihad hujum) as
permissible only if it is ordered by the ruler of a
Muslim government.
Strict salafis also oppose the idea of democracy on the
grounds that power rests with God, not the people,
and the only acceptable laws are those laid down by
God and the Prophet, not those created by man. While
most salafis reject the concept of elections accordingly,
some argue that if an election is likely to put in power
a government that would harm the interests of the
ummat, it is permissible to vote to prevent that
government from being elected.14 The Forum
Ahlussunnah Wal Jamaah allowed its members to
vote in
Wahdah Islamiyah, a Makassar-based salafi
organisation, has given a green light to members to
participate in the elections in 2004.
14 "Fatwa Syaikh Nashiruddin Al Albani and
Kepada FIS", in Syaikh Abdul Malik Al Jazair, Haramkah
Partai, Pemilu, Parlemen? (
p. 70.
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