The Premodern Origins of Jihadi-Salafism

What is Jihadi-Salafism and how does it relate to classical Islam? Scholars of Terrorism Studies argue that ’Jihadism’ and Salafism are derivatives of Wahhābism and lie on the ideological margins of the Islamic tradition. This book challenges this narrative, demonstrating that concepts associated with the terms - including ’divine sovereignty’, ’jihad’ and ’the caliphate’ - are utilised by Salafi Ulama in connection with the following disparate classical Islamic traditions: Shāfiʿite legal theory during the Mongol invasions; Ottoman and Indian anti-colonial Ḥanafite thought; Mālikite and Shāfiʿite ’political jurisprudence’; and the literalism of the Yemeni luminary Muḥammad al-Shawkānī (d. 1834).

This is the first book to disaggregate linear histories of Jihadi-Salafism by shifting the focus from Wahhābism to Sunnism, including Māturīdite and Ashʿarite doctrinal schools and the ’four schools’ of law. Based on archival research and interviews, it examines the thought of diverse Ulama, ranging from ʿAbdullah ʿAzzām to Abū Muḥammad al-Maqdisī. It highlights their profound commitment to the classical Islamic sciences, as well as their distinct interpretations of historical crises that befell the premodern Umma, ultimately articulating a vision for its future.