Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A school of Sunni Islam that condemns theological innovation and advocates strict adherence to shari'a and to the social structures existing in the earliest days of Islam.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Salafi.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Transliteration of Arabic سلفي, meaning "predecessor" or "ancestor."

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Examples

  • He said it does not proselytize Wahhabism, which he refers to as Salafism, a term for the broader pan-Islamist movement.

    Saudi form of Islam wars with moderates 2003

  • Using the word Salafism, the religious variant of Islam espoused by al Qaeda, may have the unfortunate effect of demonizing those Salafists who aren't violent.

    Homeland Security Newspeak 2008

  • Haykel has specialized in Salafism, doing extensive field research in Yemen, and he disputed Phares’s interpretation that mainstream Salafism was violent.

    Prophetic Justice 2006

  • Haykel has specialized in Salafism, doing extensive field research in Yemen, and he disputed Phares’s interpretation that mainstream Salafism was violent.

    Prophetic Justice 2006

  • Jihadi Salafism is black and white — and so is everything that Zarqawi’s ever done.

    The Short, Violent Life of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi 2006

  • Jihadi Salafism is black and white — and so is everything that Zarqawi’s ever done.

    The Short, Violent Life of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi 2006

  • Egyptian Christians, known as Copts, have come under increasing pressure, and even violent attacks, as followers of an ultraconservative strain of Islam known as Salafism have emerged in recent months as a major influence in the country's new political dynamics.

    High Stakes for Arab Spring in Syria, Egypt Bill Spindle 2012

  • "What happened in Tunisia is a sign that parties with an Islamic background or ideology will have great success in the Egyptian elections," said Mohammed Said, a spokesman for the al Nour Party, which embraces an Islamist political perspective in line with the fundamentalist religious identity known as Salafism.

    Secular Egyptians Fret at Poll Results Matt Bradley 2011

  • Sometimes known as Salafism, it preaches a borderless caliphate anchored in the moral absolutes of the Prophet Muhammad's initial successors.

    E Pluribis Islam? 2009

  • Al Qaeda's ideology is based on Wahhabism (also known as Salafism), named after Muhammad ibn al Wahhab (1703-1792).

    Iran vs. Saudi Arabia 2007

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