The Different And Similar Aspects of Traditional Salafism And Neo-Salafism

Introduction In recent years, there are really important conflicts in the Muslim world. There is a heart wrenching human tragedy in Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and other Islamic countries. It can be said that there are a lot of reasons behind this situation. However, the most important reason is the presence of different groups and organizations that aim to gain power and reputation by showing themselves as mujahids (Sofu, 2019). Under the name of Salafism and jihad, they have taken advantage of violence, and organize attacks on other groups. The actions of these groups provide a suitable environment for the enemies of Islam. Islam and Muslims are accused for suicide attacks, decapitations, enslavements and destructions because of jihadi organizations. Another important issue with these Jihadi Neo-Salafist groups is that they ignore all types of jihad and simplify it as armed struggle. The concept of jihad involves different types of making effort for the sake of Allah and Islam. However, Neo-Salafis abuse jihad by simplifying it in order to gain power, and show themselves as true Muslims (Ali, 2015). In order to be able to prevent these organization, it is important to understand the ideology behind them. Neo-Salafism is an extremist version of Traditional Salafism which is accepted as one of the right approaches of Islam. The acts of violence make an impactful contribution in the concept of Islamophobia. Islamophobia spreads rapidly around the world. As a matter of fact, some Western politicians abuse Islamophobia in order gain support. Jihadi Neo-Salafism is the main reason of Islamophobia because of the acts of violence. Modern Salafi scholars make some extremist interpretations to support the acts of Jihadi Neo-Salafist violence (Moghadam, 2019). In this paper, how Traditional Salafism and Neo-Salafism were emerged will be discussed, and how Modern Salafi scholars interpret the Qur’an in a sharp way in order to encourage Muslims to participate in jihad will be analyzed.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Salafism, the Qur'an, exegesis, Neo-Salafism

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