Salafism and Libya’s State Collapse

Libya’s post-2011 fragmentation, factionalism, and violent civil have profoundly transformed its Salafi landscape. In contrast to other states where a coherent central government plays a role in co-opting and managing Salafism, Libya’s Salafis have become highly localized, increasingly assertive in politics, and influential in the cultural and social sphere. While much outside commentary has focused on Salafi-jihadism, the most powerful trend in Libya today is a self-described, “quietist” trend that follows the Saudi-based scholar Rabi bin Hadi al-Madkhali. Overlapping with class, ethnic, and tribal boundaries, these so-called Madkhalis are aligning themselves with Libya’s warring factions and are engaged in a contest with other Islamist currents for public space and institutions. Though Madkhalis are unlikely to emerge as a coordinated national power, they will continue as a force in local politics and society.

Managing Salafism in Tunisia

This chapter charts the complex relationship between the changing nature of state power and management of religious activism in Tunisia. In particular, it provides insight into a unique situation in the Arab world where, for the first time, jihadist ideologies and democratic experience intermingled, arousing greater passions, hopes, and fears. For a brief moment, Tunisia became the theater to test the political and ideational impact of democratization on antisystemic groups with jihadist ideological visions. The chapter examines the novelty of this case and provides insights on the factors that affected and mediated jihadist interactions with both the Islamist Ennahda-led government and other groups with opposing moral and ideological stances. Such an analysis of intrajihadi dynamics, jihadi-regime dynamics, and intergroup dynamics with other social and political actors helps elucidate the choice of strategies that jihadists adopted and how those choices were deeply affected by their own internal contradictions and ambiguities.

Ambiguities of Salafism in Mauritania

Modern Salafism in Mauritania surged in the late 1970s and 1980s amid an influx of Gulf funding and religious activity, combined with a wave of urbanization. Its growth has always been tempered and affected by the country’s unique religious landscape, to include strong institutions of religious learning, Sufi orders, and more recently, competing political Islamists. As a result, Salafism has inhabited a contested and ambiguous position in Mauritanian society, with prominent Salafi figures having to modulate some of Salafism’s more sectarian tenets. Salafism has also been shaped by the country’s racial and tribal divides and, especially, its wave of military-led repression, which has given certain currents of Salafism a strong basis for critique of the political order. Violent jihadism in the form of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) attacks has been the most severe form of this critique, and the regime’s response has been a mix of ideological rehabilitation and judicial repression.

The Fragmentation of Salafism in Algeria

This chapter explores the ebbs and flows of Salafi ideology and activity in Algeria and explains how such evolutionary process has been largely dependent on shifting opportunity structures and Salafis’ own interactions with the governing authorities. From the tortuous road to jihadi Salafism in the 1990s to the entrenchment of quietist Salafism in the new millennium, the chapter expounds a detailed analysis of the complex and thorny relationship between and among the different Salafi factions and how, during critical junctures, they have positioned themselves vis-à-vis each other and vis-à-vis the Algerian regime. The chapter also examines the many forces that contributed to the forceful re-emergence of Salafi ideology and activism as the locus of societal contention and controversy in the wake of the Arab uprisings.

The Paradoxical Mutations of Salafism in Morocco

This chapter takes Morocco as a case study to investigate the bifurcating paths that the most dominant strands of Salafism have taken in the kingdom. Special attention is paid to how the Arab uprisings of 2011 expedited the mutations, paradoxes, and adaptations of quietist Salafism. On the one hand, Morocco’s “Arab” Spring nudged Salafis toward political engagement as a means to protect their interests. On the other hand, the subsequent derailment of the Arab uprisings exposed major fault lines within the Salafi community. The chapter illustrates this great rift by tracing the course taken by two of the most prominent figures of this current and the critical stages that have influenced their ideological postures, relations with the ruling regime, and adaptability to local and regional changes.

Defining Salafism

Salafism is a diverse and dynamic current within Islam that promotes itself as the purest, most authentic form of Islam, marked by an emulation of the prophet Muhammad’s contemporary companions, their followers, and the next two generations. Despite its pretentions to literalism and universalism, Salafism as a lived reality often incorporates local social contexts and customs. Scholars of Salafism have roughly divided the movement into quietists, who eschew politics in favor of scholarship and proselytization;, politicos, who engage in politics through various mediums; and violent jihadists. Yet as this volume shows, these divisions are increasingly blurred and do not account for Salafism’s increasing dynamism on matters of creed and practice. The growth of Salafism is due to a multitude of socioeconomic and political factors, to include a strong moral critique of the existing order and a certitude of virtue that is comforting in times of upheaval.

Conclusion

Since the 2011 Arab uprisings, Salafism has adapted to new shifts in Maghrebi state-society relations and the marginalization of key population segments and regions. In tandem, changing fortunes of other streams of Islamism and Islamic practice have provided Salafism new opportunities for growth and politicization. The imperative socioeconomic relevance has meant that Salafis in all the Maghreb cases have deployed and reinterpreted traditional Salafi precepts in unique and surprising ways. The result has been a blurring of the lines between quietism and politicos—and sometimes the lines between Salafis and non-Salafist groups like the Brotherhood. Ultimately, Salafism in the Maghreb must be seen as a portal onto the frustrations of an increasingly young population who are drawn to the movement as a moral critique against entrenched orders that have either failed them or no longer address their needs.

Introduction

The countries of the Maghreb—Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya—have witnessed a broad spectrum of transformations and challenges since the Arab uprisings of 2011. Among these has been a dramatic shift in state-society relations; economic challenges; fragmentation, mobilization, and contestation from varying population segments; and an opening of social and political space to Islamists. While much scholarly attention has been focused on Islamists linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and to jihadists like al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, the broader movement of the literalist and austere variant of Islam known as Salafism remains understudied. This volume aims to correct this gap by situating Salafism, in all of its expressions, within the national contexts of the Maghreb.