Islamic revival in the context of "Salafism"

Jihadism is a neologism for modern, armed militant Islamic movements that seek to establish states based on Islamic principles. In a narrower sense, it refers to the belief that armed confrontation is an efficient and theologically legitimate method of socio-political change towards an Islamic system of governance. The term "jihadism" has been applied to various Islamic extremist or Islamist individuals and organizations with militant ideologies based on the classical Islamic notion of lesser jihad.

Jihadism has its roots in the late 19th- and early 20th-century ideological developments of Islamic revivalism, which further developed into Qutbism and Salafi jihadism related ideologies during the 20th and 21st centuries. Jihadist ideologues envision jihad as a "revolutionary struggle" against the international order to unite the Muslim world under Islamic law.

The Salafi movement or Salafism (Arabic: السلفية, romanized: as-Salafiyya) is a fundamentalist revival movement within Sunni Islam, originating in the late 19th century and influential in the Islamic world to this day. The name "Salafiyyah" is a self-designation, claiming a return to the traditions of the predecessors (salaf), the first three generations of Muslims (the Islamic prophet Muhammad and the Sahabah [his companions], then the Tabi'in, and the third generation, the Tabi' al-Tabi'in), who are believed to exemplify the pure form of Islam. In practice, Salafis claim that they rely on the Qur'an, the Sunnah and the Ijma (consensus) of the salaf, giving these writings precedence over what they claim as "later religious interpretations". The Salafi movement aimed to achieve a renewal of Muslim life, and had a major influence on many Muslim thinkers and movements across the Islamic world.

Salafi Muslims oppose bid'ah (religious innovation) and support the implementation of sharia (Islamic law). In its approach to politics, the Salafi movement is sometimes divided by Western academics and journalists into three categories: the largest group being the purists (or quietists), who avoid politics; the second largest group being the activists (or Islamists), who maintain regular involvement in politics; and the third group being the jihadists, who form a minority and advocate armed struggle to restore early Islamic practice. In legal matters, Salafis advocate ijtihad (independent reasoning) and oppose taqlid (blind faith) to the four schools (madhahib) of Islamic jurisprudence.

The Deobandi movement or Deobandism is a revivalist movement within Sunni Islam that adheres to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence. It was formed in the late 19th century around the Darul Uloom Madrassa in Deoband, India, from which the name derives, by Muhammad Qasim Nanautavi, Rashid Ahmad Gangohi, Ashraf Ali Thanwi and Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri after the Indian Rebellion of 1857–58. They opposed the influence of non-Muslim cultures on the Muslims living in South Asia. The movement pioneered education in religious sciences through the Dars-i-Nizami associated with the Lucknow-based ulama of Firangi Mahal with the goal of preserving traditional Islamic teachings from the influx of modernist and secular ideas during British colonial rule. The Deobandi movement's Indian clerical wing, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, was founded in 1919 and played a major role in the Indian independence movement through its participation in the pan-Islamist Khilafat movement and propagation of the doctrine of composite nationalism.

In terms of jurisprudence, the Deobandis uphold the doctrine of taqlid (conformity to a school of thought) and adhere to the Hanafi school. Founders of the Deobandi school Nanautavi and Gangohi drew inspiration from the religious and political doctrines of the South Asian Islamic scholar, Salafi-oriented Sufi and theologian Ismail Dehlawi (26 April 1779 – 6 May 1831). In its early years, Deobandi scholars engaged in theological debates with Christian and Hindu scholars; with the objective of defending Islamic faith, and to form a popular struggle to overthrow British colonialism. Deobandi theologians of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, in particular, discussed multiculturalism and opposition to the partition of India, with a strategic vision to safeguard the religious freedom of Muslims in India.

Wahhabism is a Salafi revivalist movement within Sunni Islam named after the 18th-century Hanbali scholar Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. It was initially established in the central Arabian region of Najd and later spread to other parts of the Arabian Peninsula, and was the official policy of Saudi Arabia until 2022. Despite being founded on the principles of Sunni Islam, the Hanbalite scholars Ibn Taimiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim in particular, Wahhabism may also refer to doctrinal differences distinct from other forms of Sunni Islam. Non-Wahhabi Sunnis also have compared Wahhabism to the belief of the Kharijites and loyalist monarchism despite the two belief systems being contradictory to each other.

The Wahhabi movement staunchly denounced rituals related to the veneration of Muslim saints and pilgrimages to their tombs and shrines, which were widespread amongst the people of Najd. Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab and his followers were highly inspired by the Hanbali scholar Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328 CE/AH 661–728) who advocated a return to the purity of the first three generations (salaf) to rid Muslims of bid'a (innovation) and regarded his works as core scholarly references in theology. While being influenced by Hanbali school, the movement repudiated taqlid to legal authorities, including oft-cited scholars such as Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim (d. 1350 CE/AH 751).

Starting in the mid-1970s and 1980s, the international propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism within Sunni Islam and throughout the Muslim world, favored by the conservative oil-exporting Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf monarchies, achieved a "preeminent position of strength in the global expression of Islam." The Saudi interpretation of Islam not only includes Salafism and Wahhabism but also Islamist and revivalist interpretations of Islam, and a "hybrid" of the two interpretations (until the 1990s).

The impetus for the international propagation of Salafism and Wahhabism was, according to political scientist Alex Alexiev, "the largest worldwide propaganda campaign ever mounted", David A. Kaplan described it as "dwarfing the Soviets' propaganda efforts at the height of the Cold War" funded by petroleum exports. Others such as Peter Mandaville, former advisor in the Secretary of State's Office of Religion & Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, have cautioned against such hyperbolic assertions, pointing out the unreliability of inconsistent data estimates based on "non-specific hearsay".

Niamey (French pronunciation: [njamɛ]) is the capital and largest city of Niger. It is in the western part of the country, surrounded by the Tillabéri Region. Niamey lies on the Niger River, primarily situated on the river's left bank (east side). The capital of Niger since the colonial era, Niamey is an ethnically diverse city and the country's main economic centre.

Before the French developed it as a colonial centre, Niamey was the site of villages inhabited by Fula, Zarma, Maouri, and Songhai people. French expeditions first visited the location in the 1890s before Captain Henri Salaman [de] established a military post in 1901. Niamey replaced Zinder as the territorial capital from 1903 to 1911 and again in 1926, after which large-scale development occurred. The first city plan in 1930 relocated neighbourhoods and enacted segregation of European and indigenous neighbourhoods, which remained separate until the 1950s. Niamey held Niger's first municipal elections in 1956, electing Djibo Bakary as the first mayor. In the decade following independence in 1960, urban planning introduced infrastructure such as the Kennedy Bridge, which connected the city to the right bank. In the 1970s and 1980s, Niamey's growth was fuelled by a boom in the national uranium industry and by droughts that brought rural migrants. Protests in Niamey contributed to the democratisation of Niger in the 1990s. This era saw an Islamic revival.

Political Islam is the interpretation of Islam as a source of political identity and action. It advocates the formation of state and society according to (the advocates understanding of) Islamic principles, where Islam serves as a source of political positions and concepts. Political Islam is generally used interchangeably with the term Islamism by authors inside and outside of academia, and thought of as the political element of the Islamic revival that began in the 20th century,rather than just any form of political activity by Muslims. However, there have also been new attempts to distinguish between Islamism as religiously based political movements and political Islam as a national modern understanding of Islam shared by secular and Islamist actors.

Sayyid Muhammad Rashīd Rida Al-Hussaini (Arabic: سيد محمد رشيد رضا الحسيني, romanized: Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā; 1865 – 22 August 1935) was an Islamic scholar, reformer, theologian and revivalist. An early Salafist, Rida called for the revival of hadith studies and, as a theoretician of an Islamic state, condemned the rising currents of secularism and nationalism across the Islamic world following the abolition of the Ottoman sultanate. He championed a global pan-Islamist program aimed at re-establishing a Caliphate to unite diverse peoples under a single global Islamic authority.

As a young hadith student who studied al-Ghazali and Ibn Taymiyya, Rida believed reform was necessary to save the Muslim communities, eliminate Sufist practices he considered heretical, and initiate an Islamic renewal. He left Syria to work with Abduh in Cairo, where he was influenced by Abduh's Islamic Modernist movement and began publishing al-Manar in 1898. Through al-Manar's popularity across the Islamic world, Rida became one of the most influential Sunni jurists of his generation, leading the Arab Salafi movement and championing its cause.

Abdulaziz bin Abdul Rahman Al Saud (Arabic: عبد العزيز بن عبد الرحمن آل سعود; 15 January 1876 – 9 November 1953), known in the Western world as Ibn Saud (Arabic: ابن سعود; Ibn Suʿūd), was a Najdi statesman and tribal leader who became the founder and first king of Saudi Arabia, reigning from 23 September 1932 until his death in 1953. He had ruled parts of the kingdom since 1902, having previously been Emir, Sultan, King of Nejd, and King of Hejaz.

Ibn Saud was the son of Abdul Rahman bin Faisal, Emir of Nejd, and Sara bint Ahmed Al Sudairi. The family were exiled from their residence in the city of Riyadh in 1890. Ibn Saud reconquered Riyadh in 1902, starting three decades of conquests that made him the ruler of nearly all of central and north Arabia. He consolidated his control over Najd in 1921, then conquered the Hejaz in 1925. He extended his dominions into what later became the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. Ibn Saud's victory and his support for Islamic revivalists would greatly bolster pan-Islamism across the Islamic world. Concording with Wahhabi beliefs, he ordered the demolition of several shrines, the Al-Baqi Cemetery and the Jannat al-Mu'alla. As King, he presided over the discovery of petroleum in Saudi Arabia in 1938 and the beginning of large-scale oil production after World War II. He fathered many children, including 45 sons, and all of the subsequent kings of Saudi Arabia as of 2025.