A study of the presence of colonial powers in the Islamic countries, particularly during the past two centuries, would quite acknowledge that the colonial powers have always capitalized on the grounds and capacities inside the Muslim world in order to weaken Islam and neutralize its potential capabilities. Their focus has been on creating disintegration and intellectual division among religious schools of thought and movements within the world of Islam through recruiting opportunistic agents, people with weak faith, or those who deviated from the right path.

Promoting extremist and violent ideas has been one of the ploys of the arrogant powers for spoiling the opportunities, engaging the world of Islam in domestic wars, and wasting their potentials in the contemporary world. Unfortunately, today, we witness the polities of the enemies of Islam come to fruition since they have created extremist and violent groups such as al-Qaedah and Daesh, whose damages will harm the world of Islam and the Muslims for decades.

The West, particularly the United States, after warnings given by theoreticians such as Francis Fukuyama and Samuel Huntington and the politicians who had the experience of the fall of Marxism and the Cold War, defined Islam and Islamic Fundamentalism as their main rival in the post-Communism, post-Cold War era.

They were well aware of the grounds for Islamic awakening and revival of the latent power of Islam and hence spared all their efforts to contain this dormant capacity in the world of Islam. As defined by the West, Islamic Fundamentalism in Sunnism and Shi’ism, according to the orientalists, was defined as the “other” confronting the West. They argued, if this other is not dealt with, it will be the focal point of future wars for the protection of the interests of the West. The hypothesis of the present paper is that the West, particularly the United States, tried to repel what is considered as the threat of the Islamic movements by helping the formation of al-Qaedah ad Daesh and other extremist Islamic movements in the Muslim world with the aim of changing the direction of Islamic movements from struggling against the West and Zionism to domestic wars within the world of Islam. In addition, spreading and boosting the intellectual divergence within the Islamic world by fanning the flames of interreligious conflicts, the West has deviated from the Islamic revivalist movement from seeking their goals and ideals.

The Origins of Extremist Ideology in the Islamic World

A review of the history of radical movements and movements in the Muslim world may be traced back to the period of formation of the Kharijites and the caliphate of Imam Ali (AS) during the early years of Islam and then afterwards various groups and movements that may be featured as extremist and radical that emerged within the Shi’ah and Sunni communities in different eras.

In the fourth century during the Seljuk period, the extremist movement leading by Hasan Sabah, the founder of the Shi’ah Ismaili state in Iran, is an example of a radical movement. Also, one can mention other examples within the Sunni and Shi’ah communities in different periods but the purpose of this article is not to address them. However, the most recent trend in the world that is identified as being radical is the Salafist movement, which today is considered as a malignant tumour that seeks to tarnish the image of Islam by portraying a negative and violent image of this religion.

According to historical studies, the Salafist movement in contemporary times was pioneered by Ahmad Abd al-Halim ibn Taymiyyah Harani, known as ibn Taymiyyah (d.728). with issuing fatwas and writing books refuting the ideologies of the Ash’arites, Mu’tazilites, Shafi’is, Hanafis, Malikis, Sufis, and insulting the Sufi leaders such as ibn Arabi, Ghazali, Ghashiri, ibn Arif and the Sunni community of the time, ibn Taymiyyah caused this period to experience riots and sectarian violence. In addition, he expressed his hatred and animosity towards Shi’ahs by authorizing the killing of the Shi’ahs of Kisrawan district in Lebanon, engaging in a campaign against them, writing the book “Minhaj as-Sunnah an-Nabawiyyah (The way of the Prophet’s Sunnah)” and disgracing their doctrines.

ibn Taymiyyah adopted a very strict and inhumane view regarding non-Muslims and people of the Book and believed that they should live in the worst conditions. For this reason, the first opposition to his ideas emerged among the Sunni scholars. The scholars of various Sunni denominations began to inform the Islamic community of his deviant teachings and object ibn Taymiyyah’s opinions through issuing fatwas, writing books and explaining his views and fatwas. In his view, rational reasons are not reliable comparing to textual proofs. With that said ibn Taymiyyah rejects the use of intellect and practically calls for believing in fanaticism and intolerance and sets out various red lines for reasoning.

The prominent Sunni scholar, Taqi al-Din Ali ibn Abd al-Khafi Sabaki Ash’ari Shafi’i (d. 756), in the introduction of the book al-Durrah al-Mudhiyyah fi al-Radd ala’ ibn Taymiyyah, while sharply criticizing the ideas of ibn Taymiyyah, states that the misinterpretations and misconceptions presented by him concerning the principles of belief especially those concerning the attributes of God are contradicting the Muslim ideology. He argues that ibn Taymiyyah under the pretext of following the Quran and the Sunnah and inviting to find and accept the truth has been deviated from the right path and instead of following the traditions, has turned to follow heresies. Moreover, Ash’aris and Shafi’is consider ibn Taymiyyah’s perceptions of the principles of belief as blasphemous readings and that his mistakes and innovations in secondary principles are more and worse than his incorrect ideas regarding the principles of belief. Moreover, Shafi’i believes that the views of ibn Taymiyyah are not presented by or included in any Islamic denomination or school of thought and he has no place in the Islamic ummah.

After ibn Taymiyyah, the most important figure within the Salafi movement is ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah (1292–1350 CE). Shams al-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr ibn Ayyub al-Zur’i l-Dimashqi al-Hanbali commonly known as ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah is the foremost disciple and student of ibn Taymiyyah. ibn Qayyim was regarded as the person who may succeed his master since he used to blindly imitate ibn Taymiyyah’s misconceptions and incorrect ideas both during his lifetime and after his death. ibn Hajar al-Haytami states that: “one should avoid the views and teachings presented in ibn Taymiyyah’s books and his disciple ibn Qayyim and others who follow their egos; God has made them astray, set a seal upon their hearts and put a veil over their vision.” Then he calls them an atheist who has been committed heresy and abandoned religion.

The third most influential person in promoting the Salafist thoughts of the 12th century was Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab Najdi (1703-1792), who, by redefining the claim for a return to true Islam, brought again the idea of ​​following the al-Salaf al-Salih (the righteous predecessors) to ideological and theological discussions. While referring to “Islam started as something strange, and will revert to being something strange,” he believed that the true Islam is not known and discovered by people; Hence, Abd al-Wahhab objected to what he considered as heresy and against monotheism calling upon Muslims to follow the pure form of religion and the Salaf al-Salih of whom Ahmad ibn Hanbal was regarded an obvious exemplification.

It seems that in the contemporary era, the Salafist movements are more inspired by the thoughts of this personality, a person who has been the source of great tribulations for the Islamic world since he signed a pact with Saudis and contributed to the formation of the royal Saudi kingdom. The crimes of this organized movement in the Hejaz region, and then the attacks on the shrines of Shi’ah Imams and killing of Shi’ahs are the results of this diversion through its earliest years.

According to the Salafists, Islamic beliefs should be expressed in the same way as in the era of the companions of Prophet and the Tabi’un (Followers); that is, Islamic beliefs must be learned from the Quran and Sunnah and scholars should not purpose reasons and proofs other than what the Quran presents. In Salafi’s thought, rational and logical methods have no place, and only the texts of the Quran, hadiths, and proofs that are deduced from the Quranic verses are valid and reliable.

Genealogy of Contemporary Salafism

Nowadays, there are three distinguished different Salafi groups and movements. Based on the history of the early intellectual leaders of the Salafi movement we see a type of traditional courtier Salafi movement that formally is governing Saudi Arabia and, in partnership with the Saudi government, has various religious and cultural responsibilities in addition to running the universities, charitable organizations, and the council of great scholars in this country.

Through controlling the important publishing houses, web sites, and using other methods they promote Wahhabi’s thoughts and ideologies. The most famous scholars affiliated with this intellectual trend are Abd al-Aziz ibn Abdullah ibn Baz, ‘Abd al-’Aziz ibn ‘Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Latif Al ash-Shaykh, Muhammad al-Shaqra, Abdullah al-Ghaffari, Faysal Nour, Nasir al-Ghaffari etc.

The second movement can be called Moderate or missionary Wahhabism which seeks to promote the Wahhabi ideology.

But, given the familiarity with Islamic civilization, the humanities and new sciences, they are trying to spread Wahhabism through modern and rational grounds. Moreover, they intend to establish a kind of reconciliation between the Wahhabi thought and new manifestations of the West. The most prominent figures of such trend are Salman ibn Fahd ibn Abdullah al-Awda, Sa’ad al-Ghamdi, Naser al-Umar, Asghar Ali al-Salafi, Saud al-Funaysan and Safar al-Hawali. These figures are more likely to adopt the policy of dialogue rather than openly disrespecting thoughts and beliefs presented by other Islamic denominations.

The third Salafi movement that is the focus of this article is on Takfiri terrorism and Wahhabism which is resorting to violent acts based on traditional teachings and presenting a special perception of Salafism believing that jihad against corrupt governments is necessary. This movement, which is called Neo-Salafism, advocates the concept of armed struggle as the only way for fighting. Seen under this light, neo-Salafism is confronting three groups: the infidels (disbelievers, Christians, Jews, and especially the United States), the polytheists (Shi’ahs) and the hypocrites (Sunnis who reject Salafism).

Shaykh Abd al-Rahman – who inspired ibn Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri- is authored a 2,000-page book on “jihad”; he believes that the traditions attributed to the Prophet (s) regarding the “Minor Jihad and Greater Jihad” are not authentic and have been fabricated by enemies. From the point of view of “neo-socialism,” the only way of exercising jihad is to use weapons and force non-Muslims to accept “a Salafi reading of Islam” and any interpretation other than this is originated from fearing of colonial powers.

This movement can be categorized into jihadist and Takfiri streams. Although, the basic beliefs of Wahhabism are accepted by the first group, since this group is inspired by jihadist movements that are affiliated with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, such beliefs would become intertwined with other idealistic views of other Salafis such as Sayyid Qutb.

This movement makes the struggle against Jews and Crusaders a priority. The al-Qaedah organization is a clear example of this type of Salafism that in an attempt to fight against the atheist Soviets chose Afghanistan to engage in jihad. The second category is the Takfiri movement which through adopting a special approach would categorize the enemy as close and far. The Shi’ahs are considered as the close enemy who should be confronted first. Daesh is a typical example of this trend that has spread its incorrect and misleading ideology throughout Iraq by occupying some parts of the country.

What is important in this regard is the role that the powers ​​outside of the Islamic world have played in establishing or utilizing these thoughts in order to secure their own interests.

If the narratives of people such as Mr. Hempher as a British spy in Islamic lands would be true then one can acknowledge the role of the United Kingdom in establishing Wahhabism in the Sunni school of thought and Baha’ism in the Shi’ah school of thought in order to sow the seeds of division and disagreement. Even if one is suspicious of such narratives, still we cannot doubt the application of such misleading and radical teachings and potentials by the anti-Islamic powers.

The author believes the opponents of Islam have tried to conduct studies and make plans for diverting the Islamic movements in order to undermine Islam and transcendental Islamic thoughts.

If today we witness phenomena such as al-Qaedah and Daesh, we need to analyze it in two ways; on the one hand, the role of the United States and other beneficiaries who in creating these groups whom would receive financial and organizational support from those countries in an attempt to give them power. On the other hand, through identifying and developing the critical capacities of different thoughts among Muslim thinkers, the powers try to lead such ideologies toward serving their interests. As it will be mentioned, this is the case with al-Qaedah and Daesh.

It should be noted that Salafism covers a broad range of spectrum the most radical of which are al-Qaedah and Daesh and their counterparts like Boko Haram. However, there are moderate movements that albeit following the ideology of Salafism but have never used inhuman and illegal methods to accomplish their goals; rather they continue to struggle as a political-social movement seeking to revive the missed and ignored glory of Muslims and true Islam as well as awakening the Islamic ummah to the ignorance and superstitions and liberating the Muslims from the domination of colonial powers and the west. The best example of this movement is the Muslim Brotherhood founded by Hasan al-Banna. He believes that this movement is: a Salafi call, a Sunni path, a Sufi truth, a political organization, a sports group, a scientific and cultural tie, an economic corporation, and a social ideology.

Since the beginning, this movement, with the slogan of Salafism, has sought to revive Islam and the emancipation of the Islamic ummah from decadence. The Muslim Brotherhood has had ups and downs in different periods in terms of levels of activity and has faced radical, moderate, and conservative divisions from within. On some occasions, the radical movement of this movement has used revolutionary methods to combat existing regimes.

Figures like Sayyid Qutb are examples of revolutionary Muslim Brotherhood leaders who are ideologically different from the Wahhabis. As a prominent member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sayyid Qutb and his revolutionary views created divergence within this movement. In addition, Sayyid Qutb’s views and various interpretations of his ideas have caused the development of new factions and fundamentalist movements in the contemporary era among Sunni people.

Gradually, young members of the Muslim Brotherhood distanced themselves from the prominent leaders, and based on various interpretations of the teachings of Sayyid Qutb, they created other streams that in fact were fundamentalist and militant Salafist groups among Sunni in the late 1960s.

During the Egyptian Revolution in 2011, various groups of the Islamic Brotherhood movement gained power and hence Muhammad Morsi became the president of the country on June 17, 2012 election. However, a year after his inauguration, a new wave of popular protests against the revolutionary government has emerged in a way that eventually on July 3, 2013, the Morsi government was collapsed due to the coup d’état led by Adli Mansour and this has caused the movement to miss such historic opportunity.

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