Right Word | Ban on PFI: Time to recognise threat posed by ‘Salafism-Jihadism’

The ban on Popular Front of India (PFI) and several of its affiliates imposed by the Government of India is likely to effectively address some symptoms of a malaise. But it might not be the permanent solution as new outfits might come up to replace the PFI. This has happened in the past also as PFI had replaced Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) after the latter was banned. No government can address this issue unless we, as a society, understand and subsequently address the threat posed by the ideology of ‘Salafism-Jihadism’ which is the origin of such organisations.

Salafism and Wahabism

There is often a confusion about Salafism and Wahabism and commentators tend to use these terms interchangeably. Both these movements believed in revival of pure Islam but they weren’t the same till there was a cross between the two in Saudi Arabia in the 1970s.

Wahhabism was founded in the region of Najd (in today’s Saudi Arabia) in the 18th century by Abd-al-Wahaab. Many scholars and experts refer to it as a reformist movement. But Wahhabism isn’t a reform movement. It believes that Islam should return to its golden age-the age of the Prophet and the first four Caliphs. It strongly advocates use of ‘jihad’ in its teachings.

Salafism on other hand, emerged in Egypt and was exported to Saudi Arabia in the 1970s as a large number of radical Egyptians landed there to escape the crackdown on them in Egypt. Saudi Arabia also welcomed them as with the oil boom, its economy skyrocketed and it didn’t have enough educated people to set up and run universities, hospitals, infrastructure projects and the rapidly expanding administrative apparatus.

Trevor Stanley wrote way back in 2005 (Understanding the Origins of Wahhabism and Salafism; Terrorism Monitor Volume: 3 Issue: 14), “Salafism… originated in the mid- to late 19th century, as an intellectual movement at al-Azhar University, led by Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905), Jamal al-Din al-Afghani (1839-1897) and Rashid Rida (1865-1935). The movement was built on a broad foundation. Al-Afghani was a political activist, whereas Abduh, an educator, sought gradual social reform (as a part of da’wa), particularly through education. Debate over the place of these respective methods of political change continues to this day in Salafi groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Stanley underlined the finer nuances that differentiated these two movements: “In terms of their respective formation, Wahhabism and Salafism were quite distinct. Wahhabism was a pared-down Islam that rejected modern influences, while Salafism sought to reconcile Islam with modernism. What they had in common is that both rejected traditional teachings on Islam in favour of direct, ‘fundamentalist’ reinterpretation.”

However, as mentioned above, once the two — Wahabism and Salafism — met in Saudi Arabia, the outcome was a deadly mix of Salafism-Jihadism that was exported to the rest of the world including India.

Salafism-Jihadism

Salafism is a branch of Sunni Islam. Those who follow it believe in emulating “the pious predecessors” (al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ; often equated with the first three generations of Muslims). The use of violence against those who do not follow this principle shaped the ideology of Islamism-Jihadism.

Hasan al Banna and Sayyid Qutb, both played a significant role in establishing this ideology in 20th century. Banna was an Egyptian political and religious leader. He founded the Society of Brothers, commonly known as ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ in the 1920s. This organisation has a global reach now. “The Muslim Brothers formed their society in Egypt in order to reclaim Islam’s political dimension, which had formerly resided in the person of the now-fallen Caliph. Confronted by the Egyptian nationalists of the time who demanded independence, the departure of the British and a democratic Constitution, the Brothers responded with a slogan that is still current in the Islamist movement: “The Koran is Our Constitution… The doctrine was shared by the entire Islamist movement, whatever their other views,” observed Gilles Kepel in Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam (Bloomsbury Academic; 2021, pp25). Banna was assassinated in 1949 but Syyid Qutb, the top theorist of Muslim Brotherhood, carried the movement forward.

Qutb was an Egyptian religious leader. Robert Spencer writes in The History of Jihad; (Bombarider Books; Pp299), “Qutb’s influential book Milestones positioned Islam as the true source of societal and personal order, as opposed to both capitalism and communism… Qutb concluded: ‘It is essential for mankind to have a new leadership!’. The new leadership would come from Islam. To Qutb, what the Muslim Umma needed was a restoration of Islam in its fullness and purity, including all the rules of the Sharia for regulating society… Qutb taught that jihad was necessary in order to establish Sharia.”

Qutb was executed by the Egyptian government led by socialist ruler Gamel Abdel Naseer in 1966. But Muslim Brotherhood continued its journey and so did Salafism.

In a monograph titled, “Salafi-Jihadism: A 1,400-Year-old Idea Rises” (published by School of Advanced Military Studies, United States Army Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in 2016), Major Jacob M Teplesky observed, “Salafi-Jihadist ideology provides just cause and proper authority for waging war against apostate governments and Western targets. If we fail to understand the history and theory underlying Salafi-Jihadist groups’ use of violence to topple regimes and impose sharia, we will not grasp the current operating environment or enemy doctrine.”

He further adds, “The Salafi-Jihadi version of global jihad is linked to the teaching of Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328), who offered a legal and religious justification for overthrowing unjust and non-Muslim rulers. Believing anyone who rejected Islam should be opposed, Taymiyya thus rendered jihad an offensive as well as a defensive action. Taymiyya’s principles of jihad, “particularly the permissibility to overthrow a ruler who is classified as an unbeliever due to a failure to adhere to Islamic law, the absolute division of the world into Dar-al-kufar [land of unbelief> and Dar-al-Islam [land of Islam>, the labelling of anyone not adhering to one’s particular interpretations of Islam as an unbeliever, and the call for the blanket warfare against non-Muslims… became the doctrine of Salafi-Jihadis.”

The Salafism-Jihadism is now the biggest global threat for security as a 2018 study by Centre for Strategic and International studies (‘The Evolution of the Salafi-Jihadist Threat’) pointed out, “There were 67 Salafi-jihadist groups across the globe in 2018, tied with 2016 for the highest level since 1980. This reflected a 180 percent increase in the number of groups from 2001 to 2018.  There were approximately 44 groups other than the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, and their direct affiliates in 2018. This total, which included organizations like Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Taiba, accounted for roughly 67 percent of all groups.”  There are many Salafi-jihadist groups which are active in different parts of the world such as Jama’at Nasr al-Islam, Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa, Taliban and Al-Shabaab.

Salafi-Jihadism in India

In an investigative report (January 2022) by India based think tank Usanas Foundation that exposed the funding of a number of Salafi-Jihadist organisations in India, authors Abhinav Pandya and Akshay Kumar  revealed, “ (a)  major cause of concern is the financial support for Salafi organizations in Kerala. Over the past years, this southern state of India has become the hub of radicalization and recruitment ground for several transnational terrorist groups. Salafi organizations in Kerala have constantly been accused of supporting violent extremism, and several ISIS recruits from the state have been associated and radicalized through them. Banned Kerala-based Islamist terror groups such as the Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and extremist groups like Popular Front of India (PFI) (also banned now) have used hardcore Salafi teachings for radicalizing youth and recruitment. The fact that raises alarms is that these transactions also match the period when radicalisation and extremist trends in Kerala acquired a steeper trajectory.”

The recent raids on PFI across several states, before it was banned, have revealed the pan-India expanse of Salafist-Jihadist ideology. It is time to recognise this grave threat to our society and the nation.

The writer, an author and columnist, has written several books. He tweets @ArunAnandLive. Views expressed are personal

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