Further, the roots of Islamic Da’wah activity in Birmingham—a city which arguably stands out as the heart and soul of Salafi Da’wah in Britain and the West, also played a pivotal role as a precursor to the establishment of SalafiPubs. Significantly, the Da’wah efforts of two individuals—Shaykh Abu Hakeem Bilāl Davis and Shaykh Abu Khadeejah ʿAbdul-Wāhid, both of whom were born and raised in Birmingham, facilitated the birth of one of the oldest and largest Salafi communities in Britain. Well-known in Birmingham (and around Britain) by the mid-nineties for their lessons in the clarification and elucidation of the Salafi Methodology and Creed, both Abu Hakeem and Abu Khadeejah would be at the forefront of changing the face of Islamic Daw’ah in the UK in the decade to come. [1] Alongside Shaykh Abu Talhah (may Allah’s mercy be upon him), they would teach regularly at various venues in the city such as the Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith mosques. Abu Hakeem and Abu Khadeejah would visit countless venues across the UK and abroad, and soon acquired a reputation for their precision in clarification of methodology, familiarising the listeners to the names of the Salafi scholars of the Muslim lands, quoting the speech of the Salaf and the later scholars of Sunnah and Hadīth, and for their ‘fearless’ refutation of the deviant ideologies that opposed the Salafi Creed and its principles. The efforts of these three duʿāt combined with others such as Shaykh Dr Abu ʿIyād Amjad Rafiq, brought many hundreds to the Salafi Daʿwah.[2] As Shaykh Abu Khadeejah states in his first-hand personal account of the Salafi Da’wah of 1996:
The great strength of Salafiyyah we witness today was [not] due to the efforts of any single individual. Rather (after Allah’s Bounty and Mercy upon us), it must be said that a body of close friends sharing a united Creed, coupled with a desire to spread the Truth came to together at a unique moment in history—as willed by Allah, and the Da’wah flourished, and all praise is due to Allah.[3]
[1] A detailed discussion of Shaykh Abu Hakeem Bilal Davis’s and Shaykh Abu Khadeejah’s contribution to the success of SalafiPubs to be presented in a forthcoming article entitled: ‘Salafi Publications, a Grassroots Revival’.
[2] There were, of course, other known important translators and contributors of the time in Birmingham and other cities, such as Abu ʿUbaydah ʿAmar Bashir in East London. However, this research is focused on the emergence and rise of SalafiPubs and Birmingham in specific.
[3] Abdul-Wāhid 2013.
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