Salafi

A Salafi, or Salafist, is a member of Salafism, a conservative methodology (manhaj) of Islam. Salafism is a type of Sunni Islam that believes the Islam should be practiced the same way as the first three generations of Muslims (the Prophet Muhammad, his companions, and their followers), which are called the Salaf.

A Salafi mosque.

The majority of Salafists follow Athari, the traditional theology of Islam.^[1] Theterm "Salafism" is used to refer to also certain teachings of Sunni Islam that are based on conservative ideals.

Salafism is widely believed to have started in the 19th century^[2] by Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905), an Islamic scholar who thought that the values of Islam are incompatible with a modern lifestyle. Another scholar, Ibn Taymiyyah (1263–1328), had said that the teachings of Islam were not compatible with certain modern interpretations like Sufism.

"Salafi Jihadism" is a term that described Salafist Islamic militant groups that began to use armed means during the mid-1990s.^[3][4]

Salafi scholars such as Abd al-Aziz Ibn Baz and Al-Uthaymin, who were alive at the time, said that Salafism has nothing to do with those "Islamic" groups. Most Salafi scholars distanced themselves from those so-called Salafist groups.