Posted on 10/25/2006 7:42:25 PM PDT by neverdem
NVM: Modules | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
|
Find this article at:
|
|
|||||||
|
save for later read
Really good article...I wonder if it is truthful.
I am getting paranoid about anything in the media anymore, especially where the Muslims are concerned.
PING
Interesting article. Thanks for posting.
(Why isn't terrorist Nasrallah dead yet?)
The Iranians never really did relinquish this lead, it was just that bin Laden managed a theatrical coup de main that got a lot of people in the madrasas (where the Salafi really do have a tremendous advantage) screaming that the Shi'ites had been passed by in revolutionary passion. It wasn't actually the case. The Shi'ites possess a state behind them and the Salafi, for all the suspicion in the West toward the Saudi government's intentions, do not. The upshot is that the Shi'ites are contemplating the acquisition of nuclear weapons and a proxy army in Hizbollah and the Salafi have found themselves on the outside looking in.
The enemy of our enemy is not our friend. Both of these sides want to kill us and the only real contest is to see who gets the most credit.
Just to lay a little background
Encyclopaedia of the Orient
http://i-cias.com/e.o/salafism.htm
Salafism
Arabic: salafiyya
Also called: Salafiyyah, Salafi Islam
A number of interpretations of Islam within its Sunni branch, which claims that the true Islam rests with the practice of the earliest Muslims, the followers of Muhammad.
As is, Salafism is used in so many different meanings that it has become very confusing. Either the term is employed to identify important characteristics of many conservative Muslim groups which are known by other names, or it is used as names for some distinct orientations.
Among the most commonly accepted ways of using the term, is to designate Wahhabism, although the wahhabis promote another term, Muwahhidun.
Often Salafism is also used as another name of Islamism. The most extremist groups are distinguished by being called Jihadist-Salafis.
When Salafism is used as an actual name, it is of the moderate, modernist reorientation of Islam as defined by the Egyptian Mufti, Muhammad Abduh, early in the 20th century. He used the principle of the pious forefathers, the salafiyya to create his understanding of Islam in a modern world. He asserted that they represented a rational and practical understanding of the society. From this, he claimed that Islam both had the capacity to, and was forced to adjust to modernity. He claimed that ijtihad (legal independent judgement based upon case law or past precedent) still could be performed. Despite being a moderate of his time, his teachings seems to have been taken up by the founders of Islamism, transforming them into a strict and rigid system without will to compromise and the will to resolve the unsolvable by violence.
Attempts to systemize Salafis have resulted in divisions like this:
1. Jihadist or Jihadist-Salafis, would be extremist groups willing to use violence and terror to promote their views.
2. Salafis, would be those who reject violence, but share the same belief in the value of imitating the earliest Muslims.
3. Islamists, which is used in this context to indicate that there are Islamists who cannot be labelled Salafis, simply because they are willing to interpret the principles of Islam. This appears to be a construction, mainly because this understanding of Islamism places it within moderate Islam.
4. Discontented Muslims, would be used to indicate Muslims in favour of change, but wanting to use more than just the basic principles of Islam to bring that through.
With the two first understandings of Salafism, it involves a great degree of imitation of every aspect of the lives of the first Muslims. Being an orientation ascetic in nature, there is a great focus on laws and punishments, with the claim that correct actions of an entire society will lead to rewards in terms of safety, stability, welfare and progress.
Central to understand the confusing variation of using the term is principally linked to the different understandings of how and why the earliest Muslims acted. Judged from Muslim sources they can be interpreted as acting out in perfect guidance with God, or as acting as normal humans resolving normal problems of a society but with firsthand knowledge of the divine truth.
Central for a true Salafi is to value tawhid, identifying God in everything, from ordinary actions to any form of worship. Also to reject what they consider bid'a, inventions to the religion. This has caused tension with the beliefs of Sufis and Shi'is, the veneration of prophets and saints and the celebration of the birthday of Muhammad. Still most Salafis support other forms of bid'a, like the building of minarets on mosques.
For Salafis, growing a long beard and wearing a long robe of the dishdasha style are popular accessories and indicators of belonging.
From time to time, Ill ping on noteworthy articles about politics, foreign and military affairs. FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
Thanks for the link & Salafi post.
Thanks for the ping!
Thanks for giving the article greater context. BTTT!
High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. also
2006israelwar or WOT
..................
Over theyears I've found the Encyclopaedia of the Orient to be a good source of info.
http://i-cias.com/e.o/
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.