The Hashemite Kingdom Jordan The Deposit Number at The National Library (2014/5/2464) 251.541 Mohammad Abu Rumman I Am A Salafi A Study of The Actual And Imagined Identities of Salafis / by Mohammad Abu Rumman Amman:Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, 2014 Deposit No.:2014/5/2464 Descriptors://Islamic Groups//Islamic Movement Published in 2014 by Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Jordan & Iraq FES Jordan & Iraq P.O. Box 941876 Amman 11194 Jordan Email: [email protected] Website: www.fes-jordan.org Not for sale © FES Jordan & Iraq All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted, reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means without prior written permission from the publishers. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are solely those of the original author. They do not necessarily represent those of the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung or the editor. Translation: Dr. Hassan Barari Editing: Amy Henderson Cover: YADONIA Group Printing: Economic Printing Press ISBN: 978-9957-484-41-5 2nd Edition 2017 2 I AM A SALAFI A Study of the Actual and Imagined Identities of Salafis by Mohammad Abu Rumman 3 4 Dedication To my parents Hoping that this modest endeavor will be a reward for your efforts and dedication 5 Table of Contents DEDICATION ........................................................................................................ 5 FOREWORD .......................................................................................................... 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................. 11 AUTHOR’S NOTE ............................................................................................... 12 INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION ............................................ 26 INTRODUCTION: WHO ARE THE SALAFIS? ............................................. 34 1. AHL AL-HADITH: THE SAVED SECT .................................................................. 42 2. THE CONFUSED SALAFI: THE “POLYTHEISM OF GRAVES” AND “POLYTHEISM OF PALACES” ............................................................................................................. 49 3. THE SALAFI STATE ........................................................................................... 57 4. STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE ................................................................................. 59 CHAPTER ONE: HOW I BECAME A SALAFI .............................................. 62 1. THE TAFILA NEIGHBORHOOD SALAFIS: COMMITMENT TO THE METHODOLOGY OF THE SHEIKHS .................................................................................................... 66 2. MU’ADH AL-’AWAISHEH: THE NEW ACADEMIC GENERATION .......................... 70 3. NEW YOUTH MODELS: ALLEGIANT, CONFUSED, AND DEVIOUS ........................ 73 4. THE DOMINANT MODEL: THE LOYAL SALAFI ................................................... 76 5. OMAR AL-BTOUSH: TURNING AGAINST TRADITIONAL SALAFI IDEOLOGY ......... 78 CHAPTER TWO: PATHS TO AND FROM JIHADI SALAFISM ................ 89 1. MUNIF SAMARA: THE GRADUAL PATH TOWARD JIHADI SALAFISM .................. 94 2. NA’IM AL-TILAWI: A FAILED MARRIAGE WITH JIHADI SALAFISM ..................... 99 3. MU’AYAD AL-TIRAWI: SAFE EXIT FROM JIHADI CIRCLES ............................... 104 CHAPTER THREE: THE QUEST FOR A SALAFI “THIRD WAY” ......... 114 1. ZAYED HAMMAD: FROM ACTIVISM TO CHARITY ............................................ 117 2. OSAMA SHEHADAH: THE SOLID SALAFI .......................................................... 127 3. HISHAM AL-ZU’BI: BETWEEN HARAKI AND JIHADI ......................................... 132 4. AHMED ABU RUMMAN: NAVIGATING THROUGH CONFUSION IN THE SALAFI LANDSCAPE ........................................................................................................ 137 CHAPTER FOUR: LEAVING SALAFISM .................................................... 142 1. HASSAN ABU HANIEH: FROM SALAFISM TO DEMOCRATIC LEFTIST ISLAM ..... 143 2. NART KHAIR: FROM SALAFISM TO SECULARISM ............................................. 151 6 CONCLUSION: QUESTIONS OF IDENTITY, CRISIS AND TRANSFORMATION ....................................................................................... 161 1. ONE UNIFIED IDENTITY OR MULTIPLE IDENTITIES? ........................................ 162 2. SALAFIS IN CRISIS OR A CRISIS OF SALAFI IDENTITY? ..................................... 168 3. BETWEEN THE PAST, THE PRESENT, AND THE FUTURE .................................... 174 4. FINAL REMARKS ............................................................................................. 179 REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 181 7 Foreword Anja Wehler-Schoeck, Resident Director, FES Jordan & Iraq While Salafism is by no means a novelty, Salafi movements have witnessed a strong surge over the past decades. Traditionally averse to involvement in political affairs, since the so-called Arab Spring, several Salafi movements have developed political agendas and have become active in the political arena. Salafism has been receiving increased media attention with Salafi Jihadi groups recruiting from around the globe and fighting in Syria. Oftentimes, little attention is being paid to the fact that Salafi movements are neither static nor homogenous. Jihadi factions, for instance, are not representative of the whole movement, whose different components have undergone considerable transformation in recent years. Few studies so far have analyzed the social and economic background, from which the members of Salafi groups have come, or the motives behind their involvement. This book hence presents a pioneering study of Salafism. The author Dr. Mohammad Abu Rumman resorts to a narrative- based approach, building his analysis on numerous interviews with Salafis in Jordan to understand their motivation, their social, economic and cultural context as well as their values, convictions and aspirations. Instead of studying the movement from the outside, Abu Rumman offers first-hand accounts of its members and presents his conclusions based on these personal encounters. The author selected the majority of his interviewees from those committed to Salafism who are not in leadership positions but who constitute the base of the movement. Consequently, the book represents an important contribution to understanding the complexities of Salafism and its different trends. To shed light on the various streams and trends and to promote an educated discourse on Islamist movements, the Amman office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) has created a line of work dedicated to Political Islam. With the aim of providing information, which both satisfies academic standards while at the same time being accessible and understandable to a non-expert readership, we launched a publication series on Political Islam in 2007. Since then, FES Amman has published eight widely received books in this series. Furthermore, FES Amman regularly 8 brings together experts from throughout the region to discuss the developments, which the Arab world is currently witnessing with regard to Islamist parties and movements. The German Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) is active in promoting democracy and social justice worldwide. With more than 90 offices around the globe, FES organizes activities on a broad spectrum of topics, ranging from the promotion of trade unions and labor rights, to capacity development for civil society, to the furthering of human rights and many other issues. The team of FES Amman wishes to express their heartfelt gratitude to the author of this book, Dr. Mohammad Abu Rumman, whose expertise and continuous work on Political Islam present an invaluable contribution to the discussion of this important topic. We thank you, our readers, for your interest in the events and publications of FES Amman and hope that our book “Ana Salafi” will prove an insightful resource to you. 9 10 Acknowledgements The completion and publication of this study would not have been possible were it not for a number of people and institutions. First and foremost, I thank the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) in Amman and its active Resident Director Anja Wehler-Schoeck, who has unwaveringly supported me while writing this study and others. I also would like to extend my gratitude to the entire FES staff, particularly Mays Nawayseh, Esraa Abdullah, Alia Khammash, and Batool Zaidan. The credit for providing me with both a comfortable environment and moral and logistical support goes to the Center for Strategic Studies (CSS) at the University of Jordan. I am especially thankful to its director and my friend, Dr. Musa Shtewei. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the staff of the CSS, and Mohammed Salameh and Ahmed Sa’d Eddin and Rania Mish’al, in particular. As always, I deeply appreciate my dear friend and colleague in this discipline, Hassan Abu Hanieh. He followed the writing of this book step by step, offered ideas, and read the manuscript from beginning to end as it evolved. A price cannot be put on the time and effort he spent offering his advice and thoughts. I greatly benefited from his feedback, which helped to devrelop the methodological vision of this study. Additionally, I would like to thank my friend Dr. Hassan Barari for reading and translating the manuscript, and offering valuable observations and questions. I also thank my Salafi friends who facilitated my study by introducing me to their Salafi circles. In particular, I thank