Photo: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
A new study by PREVEX-researcher Simeon Evstatiev just published by Brill in January 2021.
Read the article HERE
The study regards Salafism as a contested concept that stirs up heated debates in Muslim circles as well as among Western Islamicists and social scientists. The narrative of Salafism in the West has been almost fully dominated by media discourses and policy analysts. This tendency prevails until today and might have even created the misleading impression of an over-studied subject.
Being concerned mainly with the political aspects of modern Islam, the prevailing approaches to Salafism almost entirely miss the intellectual, theological, legal, and cultural aspects of this phenomenon, whence its role into the large of Islamic history. Is Salafism an “essentially contested concept,” and are arguments about its right usage completely irreconcilable?
Addressing this question, among others, the study starts with framing the notion of essentially contested concepts as relevant to major discussions in Islamic studies and the conceptualization of Salafism. It then tackles Salafism as a contested concept through the disagreements on its origin. Finally, the article deals with the definition of Salafism and its branches, proposing some nuances to its understanding as a mode of scriptural engagement encompassing theology, law, and politics in a way distinct from other currents in Islam.
