Salafism Defies the Secularisation Thesis

The quest for ‘authentic’ knowledge in pursuit of an absolute truth, or Islam in its most ‘pristine’ form sourced from the Qur’an, Sunnah and the sayings of the Salaf was thus a major theme that emerged from my research, and clearly illustrates that the belief and practice of Salafism among respondents was very much an intellectual endeavour strongly grounded in Revealed texts, daleel:

I like reading. Knowledge is power. It increases your faith. It reminds you of why you came to Islam, why you’re worshipping God, because there is proof for what you believe. (Akila)

Although Salafism’s nostalgia for reconstructing a ‘pristine’ past with a “perception of the moral decay of a secularized society” that gives it a distinctly anti-modern flavour, it is actually a prime example of a “present-day movement, at home with technology and well represented on the Internet” (Franks 2001:11, 14). Furthermore, the fact that converting to Salafism is characterised by “a more intellectual process of study” corresponds with Lofland and Skonovd’s (1981) argument that this factor is usually “common” to both the group concerned and the epoch in history within which it has occurred, for example, “nonrational experience” in “mystical modes of conversion” was more common in the 20th century (Roberts and Yamane 2016:138). Viewed from this perspective, it is possible to see how the rigour with which respondents’ sought out Salafism fits neatly with Gellner’s (1992) work, which recognises religious ‘fundamentalism’ as one of three serious ideological options open to individuals in modern society, the other two being permissive relativism and Enlightenment rationalism (liberalism) (Gellner 1992:2). He articulates the “rigourism” that defines religious fundamentalism, a description that resonates strongly with the search for ‘authenticity’ within Salafism:

The underlying idea is that a given faith is to be upheld firmly in its full and literal form, free of compromise, softening, re-interpretation or diminution. It presupposes that the core of religion is doctrine, rather than ritual, and also that this doctrine can be fixed with precision and finality, which further presupposes writing (Gellner 1992:2).

All respondents embarked upon Salafism with this rigour, regardless of their cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds, showing that their conversions were based upon informed choice. This is further proof against the stereotypes of women, who join such religious groups, being “compliant, submissive and oppressed” (Franks 2001:1)—many (although not all) respondents were high achievers. For example, what prompted Inayah to examine her own religion more deeply was learning about “sociology, libertarianism and other anti-religious, atheistic subjects” at college, whereas Amal’s curiosity to learn more about religion was sparked by her study of Greek mythology at school:

I was always interested in religion which was sparked by my reading and learning about Greek mythology and the Gods, which I now know is Shirk (idolatry) … For me religion does not require practice alone, it also needs to be explored and understood.

Consequently, the paths respondents often traversed in trying to reach the truth proved multi-layered and complex in various ways. One respondent explored a multitude of religions, such as Catholicism, Hinduism, after being an atheist for a brief whileand even dabbled in Satanism, before she found the answers she was looking for in Salafism. Conversely, even though a minority of respondents—such as Fatima and Salma—felt that they had ‘stumbled’ into Salafiyyah after experiencing an epiphany that it was the truth, Salma noted that her decision to convert was an informed one:

I came straight in to Salafiyyah, a blessing because now I know there are lots of different sects in Islam. Right from the beginning everything was very straightforward, everything made sense, there were no contradictions … When I was Christian, I had a lot of unanswered questions, as a young child there were a lot of lies and things that didn’t make sense. But with Islam, the second I started to read, everything made perfect sense and fitted right into place.

Moreover, Salafism’s repudiation of any “watering down” of its religious claims helps us understand why Islam as a “pre-industrial faith” has totally defied the secularisation thesis and shows no indication of succumbing to it in future (Gellner 1992: 4,18). Gellner pinpoints the reason for this: Islam does not resort to emulating the West or idealising some sort of “folk virtue or wisdom” as a means towards progress; rather, it always commends “a return to, or a more rigorous observance of High Islam … [which] once dominated and pervaded the whole of society” (Gellner 1992:19). Gellner contends that progress in the form of self-correction within Islam was not sought “outside of [its own] society”, nor from within the “pristine virtue” of its own social depths—instead, it could be found in “its own perfectly genuine and real Higher Culture, which had indeed only been practised by a minority in the past, but which had been recognized (although not implemented) as a valid norm by the rest of society” (Gellner 1992:20).

Although Gellner does not mention Salafism by name, it appears that his description of an Islamic ideology “which has now conquered the Muslim world” through a process of “self-rectification, of purification, [and] of recovery”, and whose appeal is not “to an alien model”, but “to a model which has unquestionable, deep, genuine local roots”, essentially describes the Salafi way (Gellner 1992:20). Thus, by turning to Reformist Islam, a Salafi does not convey “contempt for his own ancestors and tradition”, but “re-affirms what he considers the best elements in the local culture, and which were genuinely present” while striving hard against a “folk culture” that is “blamed for ‘backwardness’, and the humiliation imposed by the West”, and for holding its adherents back (Gellner 1992:20).