AboutDrs. Kersten Expertise Islamic History Islamic Philosophy Contemporary Islamic Thought Jihad Doctrine Islam in Southeast Asia Sufism Mysticism Political Islam Islam in the Netherlands Progressive Muslims Moderate Muslims Contemporary Muslim Thinkers Islamic Studies Islamicists or Islamologists
Experience Tertiary educator and academic researcher. Contributing Author to a textbook on world religions (Linda Chisholm (ed.) VISIONS OF SERVICE. New York: IPS-L Press, 2004).
Degrees in Arabic and Islamic Studies, as well as Southeast Asian Studies; Sworn translator of Arabic.
More than fifteen years experience as an expatriate studying, working and teaching in four countries on three different continents.
Academic and journalistic writings have appeared in learned journals, current affairs periodicals, and the news media in the USA, Europe, Australia, and Asia.
Question please tell me about the salafi movement it is really dividing the ummah
Answer The Salafiyya movement is actually a rather diverse phenomenon, and indeed because of the different interpretations it has received, it has led to divisions within the Umma.
The first clear articulation of the Salafiyya movement can be traced back to the 19th century, although its roots go further back in time to figures like Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (18th century); Ibn Taymiyya (14th century), ending according to some with Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 850AD).
Thinkers like Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad Abduh were the first to write extensively about the possibility to return to the Salaf for inspiration. But it should be noted their approach was rather open-minded; they also were willing to include advances made by non-Islamic cultures to reinvigorate Muslim culture.
It is with representatives of successive generations like Rashid Ridda (d. 1935), Maulana Mawdudi (d. 1979) and Sayyid Qutb (d. 1960) that a more militant -- less tolerant -- strand of Salafiyya thought developed. The potential divisiveness of Salafiyya doctrine can probably be traced back to the radical approach, not infrequently leading to violence, chosen by the later Muslim ideologists. However, in all fairness, we should not forget that these figures where often up against very repressive political regimes, which in turn caused people like Qutb and Mawdudi to harden their stance.
It is this can of antagonism that has alienated many more moderate Muslims from the Salafiyya.
