Another individual who also worked tirelessly to translate material directly from the Salafi scholars in the battle against the Qutubists was Shaykh Dr Abu ʿIyād Amjad Rafiq.[1] At the time, Abu ʿIyād was the head of the University of Essex ISoc whilst studying for his BSc and PhD in biochemistry and medicinal biochemistry which he obtained between 1990-1997. However, it was Shaykh Abu ʿIyād’s zeal for the Religion combined with his prowess in both the Arabic language and his ability to harness digital spaces in the emerging internet revolution which became a major contributing factor towards both Salafism’s early success in the UK, and as a global English-language Islamic revivalist group to date.[2] As most first-generation Salafis like myself who encountered the Salafi Da‘wah during its fledgling years are able to testify, there is no doubt that Shaykh Abu ʿIyād’s efforts gave strength to Salafism; not only by way of his own translations and knowledge-based articles, but also because he was in an ideal position to assist students returning from religious institutions, such as IUM or Shaykh Muqbil’s camp in Yemen, to disseminate their knowledge via the various online portals that he had already set up.
Hence, what began life as campus activity with Abu ʿIyād’s creation of a University of Essex ISoc website—the contents of which he took with himself when he left Essex in 1997, would serve to broaden the scope of Salafism’s reach way beyond just upwardly mobile university-educated, British-born Muslims, to include both Muslims and non-Muslims in communities all over Britain (and worldwide). In years to come, the oeuvre of both translators [Shaykh Abu Talhah Dawūd Burbank and Shaykh Dr Abu ʿIyād Amjad Rafiq] reached such levels that Salafis worldwide would hold in high esteem their daʿwah efforts in the West, hailing them to be from the best of the people to stand strong whilst tasked with spreading the Sunnah, seeking to rectify the English-speaking Ummah, and return it back to its original state of affairs.[3]
[1] Abdul-Wāhid 2013a: 2.
[2] Shaykh Dr Abu Iyād Amjad Rafiq’s contribution to the success of Salafi Publications as a global revivalist group will be discussed in future articles, (Allah willing).
[3] Abdul-Wāhid 2014.
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