Extremist ideologies and groups in Islam and Terrorism

[Badlun]

Lets have an intellectual and scholarly discussion on Wahabis, Salafis, Ahle hadith , Panjpeeris , Deobandis and other religious extremsits, fundamentalists, literalists, puritans, obscurantists, fanatics and bigots and their ideologies and their connection with Alqaeda, Taliban and Terrorism.

I will introduce first few of them and then the valuable members of this site may please contribute further introducing these extremist ideologies and giving further details based on your experiences and knowledge. If some one belongs to these groups may refute and may give his or her opinion too.

[Badlun]

Wahabis advocate a return to the practices of the first three generations of Islamic history.Ibn Abdul Wahhab was influenced by the writings of Ibn Taymiyya.The terms "Wahhabi", "Salafi" and the Ahle Hadith are often used interchangeably, but Wahhabi has also been called "a particular orientation within Salafism",an orientation some consider ultra-conservative. Although Wahhabis are said to mostly follow the Hanbali school of fiqh (or Madh'hab), they do not adhere strictly to any school.Many Wahhabis consider themselves to be 'non-imitators' or 'not attached to tradition' (ghayr muqallidun), and therefore answerable to no school of law at all, observing instead what they would call the practice of early Islam. Here they resemble Salafis or Ahle Hadith.

What connection, if any, there is between Wahhabism and Jihadi Salafis is disputed. Among others, Daniel Pipes claims there is "a direct line between the Wahhabis and Osama bin Laden". Althu stress of the Wahabism is more on beliefs and religious practices, its reformism, which followed a return to Salaf and Wahhabi control of the two holy cities of Mecca and Medina, which gave Wahhabis great influence on Muslim culture and thinking, indirectly influence Taliban and Al qaeda.
Parts of the post are taken from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wahhabi

[Badlun]

Panjperis is the misnomer for Ishat Tawheed wa Sunna, an extremist group emerged in Panjpir village of Swabi. Maulana Tayyeb is a well known figure of this group while Maulana Waliullah from Buner is currently a famous name specially his name came to the surface in the recent negotiations beween Govenment and Taliban in Buner. Another well known ex Panjpeeri personality is Maulana Abdulsalam Rustami from Rustam Mardan who has now joined Ahle Hadith/salafi group and according to latest information was running a Salafi Madrassa in Peshawar.

Panjperis are the extremist form of Deobandis in Pashtun areas specially in Swabi, Mardan and Swat. They are Hanafi Salafis i.e. in Fiqa they are Hanafis but in beliefs they are Salafis upto much extent. They are strongly against the Barelvi sect and are the main cause of the eradication of Brelivi thought and spiritualism from Pashtun areas. They are good orators and often participate in religious apolegetics or polemics. They are against sufism and shrines. They are puritans in their beliefs and harsh in implementing their ideology.They are only found among Pashtuns and their counterparts in Panjabis etc can be Salafis or Ahle hadith.

Many Taliban are inspired from their views and this inspiration is one of the cause of the violence and harshness found in Taliban.

Other friends may add more information about this extremsit group please.

[Badlun]

Salafis

Salafis consider the pious ancestors (Salaf) of the patristic period of early Islam as exemplary models. The principal tenet of Salafism is that Islam was perfect and complete during the days of Muhammad and his companions, but that undesirable innovations have been added over the later centuries due to materialist and cultural influences.

The term Salafism is often used interchangeably with "Wahhabism"
modern-day Salafis do regard Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab as great Islamic scholar, a fact that is confirmed by their close adherence to his doctrinal teachings. Althu some salafi say that they are not wahabis. Typically, adherents of Salafi movements describe themselves as "Muwahidoon," "Ahle Hadith," or "Ahl at-Tawheed.

In modern times Salafism surfaced in the second half of the nineteenth century as a reaction to the spread of European ideas," and "sought to expose the roots of modernity within Muslim civilization."

Salafis follows "literal, traditional ... injunctions of the sacred texts" rather than the "somewhat freewheeling interpretation" of the so called earlier "salafi." They look to Ibn Taymiyya, not the 19th century figures of Muhammad Abduh, Jamal al-Din, Rashid Rida

"Wahhabism" - which also pays great respect to Ibn Taymiyya - and "Salafism" are now often used interchangeably or an orientation some consider ultra-conservative

Some define the term Salafi broadly, including the Muslim Brotherhood and the Deobandi.

Salafis reject the process known as "kalaam", the usage of discourse and debate in the development of Islamic theology.

Salafis make religion part of every activity in life.

Salafis reject not only Western ideologies such as Socialism and Capitalism, but also common Western concepts like economics, constitutions, political parties and revolution. Salafis promote Sharia (Islamic law) rather than an Islamic political program or state.

Many Salafis today point instead to Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab as the first figure in the modern era to push for a return to the religious practices of the salaf as-salih or "righteous predecessors". His evangelizing in 18th century Saudi Arabia was a call to return to what he believed were the practices of the early generations of Muslims.

His works (especially Kitab at-Tawhid) are still widely read by Salafis around the world today, and the majority of Salafi scholars still reference his works frequently. After his death, his views flourished under the generous financing of the House of Saud and initiated the current worldwide Salafi movement.

(Parts of this post have taken from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salafi)

[Badlun]

Ahle Hadith is often used interchangeably with the Salafi dawah.Unlike the Ahl-al-rai/ literally "the people of rhetorical theology,/Hanafis the Ahl-e hadith, "the people of prophetic narrations" are not bound by taqlid but consider themselves free to seek guidance in matters of religious faith and practices from the authentic traditions (hadith) which, together with the Quran, are in their view the principal worthy guide for Muslims.

The Ahl-e hadith exert effort to raise traditional principles while restoring the original simplicity and purity to faith and practices.They also make every effort to eradicate customs either to innovation (bid‘a) or non-Islamic systems. Its members reject the strict and blind following of four major Sunni schools of Islamic law. Contemporary exponents of Ahl-e-Hadith in the subcontinent convincingly depict it as a continuous religious puritanical movement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahle_Hadith

[Badlun]

Deobandis follow the fiqh of Abu Hanifa and the Aqidah of Abu Mansur Maturidi.Jihād fī Sabīlil-Lāh: Doing Jihād (Striving for the good, in the name of God) is one of the basic tenet of Deobandis.

I dont consider all deobandis as Extremists. Moderate Deobandis and not very ritualistic extremist Brelvis can be considered as Ideal Muslims. Panjpiris are extremsit deobandis.

In February 2008, an "Anti-terrorism Conference" organized by the seminary Darul Uloom in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh, denounced all forms of terrorism, saying "Islam prohibits killing of innocent people," and "Islam sternly condemns all kinds of oppression, violence and terrorism." The conference also denounced widespread attempts to blame religious Muslims for terrorist incidents and many Muslim clerics declare terrorism as a concept that is antithetical to Islam.

Deobandis believe in Tasawwuf (Sufism), Doing Taqleed (following one Imam)
,Tawassul, which the salafis deem to be shirk (idolatry).

Parts of this post ahve taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deobandi

[Badlun]

After introducing the main extremsit muslim groups of Wahabis, Salafis, Ahle hadith , Panjpiris , Extremist Deobandis now I would like to introduce some other relatively moderate groups like Tableeghis, Shias, Jumat e IslamI/Akhwanul muslimeen for a general discussion and for pondering over how we can save our selves from the menace of Extremsit islam.

Memebrs are requested to add further their knowledge of these groups and to give their worthy comments.

[Dinosaur Khan]

Dear aimal khan what makes you think that barillvis are ideal muslims while deobandis are extremists?
The green-turbuned bareilvis can be peaceful but their pir-parasti, mazar-parasti and concept of hazrat mohamad is deviated somewhat from main islam.

[Dinosaur Khan]

Dear aimal khan what makes you think that barillvis are ideal muslims while deobandis are extremists?
The green-turbuned bareilvis can be peaceful but their pir-parasti, mazar-parasti and concept of hazrat mohamad is deviated somewhat from main islam.

[imb706]

Well I have no experience with Islamic fundamentalist (obviously they aren't in California) but from what I know, they're known for their cruelty and abuse.

[شمله ور خراساني]

All of those good monotheist muslims you are trying to defame and lie against are extreme in their love for allah and fierce in their opposition and struggle against disbelievers, invaders, colonialists and their stooges.

The more hatred and propaganda you spread against muslims the deeper in hell fire you will end up for your lying and treatury. And those muslims you try to defame will only gain mercy from allah for the vicious back- biting and hatred they have been victims of.

Ali ibn abu taalib radiallahu anhu have said, if you want to know who among the muslim is on the right path, just see to which direction the arrows of the dsbelievers are aiming.

Today the disbelievers, polytheists, opostates, graveworshippers, capitalists and communists are all united against those muslims in Afghanistan, pakistan, somalia, yemen, palestine and algeria.


The truth is evident. You can't fight the truth with your silly wikipedia descriptions.

[Roshina]

@ Osho: Thanks for the descriptions! I will add on to some of your points later, ka khairee. And I'm glad you discussed the similarities in all the ahl-e-hadith, Salafi, and Wahabi sects/groups of Islam. I consider them all the same, and I, too, use the terms interchangeably. They're all extremist in their way of thinking and their hatred for all those who don't believe like them, including the appreciation for hadiths or the way of life of 7th-century Arabia.

Oh, and, by the way, the Deobandi school recently declared that it does not support nor sponsor ANY terroristic activities, lol :p Shocking much, yeah?!

All of those good monotheist muslims you are trying to defame and lie against are extreme in their love for allah and fierce in their opposition and struggle against disbelievers, invaders, colonialists and their stooges.

We don't have to do ANYTHING to defame them, wrora they do an excellent job defaming their own selves.

And extreme in their love for Allah? And against the disbelievers and so on? I though the Quran was strictly against being "against the disbelievers" unless the disbelievers fight you first? But then again, some of us consider it a "war" if non-Muslims say something bad about Muslims or Islam EVEN though we Muslims are constantly saying bad things about the non-Muslims and their religions :S

The more hatred and propaganda you spread against muslims the deeper in hell fire you will end up for your lying and treatury. And those muslims you try to defame will only gain mercy from allah for the vicious back- biting and hatred they have been victims of.

Or maybe not. I don't see why God is willing to bestow His mercy on people who are always spreading hatred for the "other," the peaceful disbelievers (I understand the bitterness towards all those "disbelievers" who are intolerant and peace-hating, but then so are many Muslims! Who said Muslims are any better in their treatment of non-Muslims, yo?)

Also, this isn't back-biting, bro; it's the truth. If Muslim extremists kill innocent Muslims, themselves, and non-Muslims in a suicide attack, and someone somewhere says, "This is SO wrong! this is SO unfair! This cannot be Islamic!" etc., that's not back-biting; that's giving facts. That's a response to the actions of the "Muslims" you believe are only "extreme in their love for Allah."

You wanna be extreme for your love for Allah? Be good to yourself. Be good to your neighbor. Invite your neighbor, regardless of her/his skin color or religion or race, to dinner or lunch with you. Go to the Senior Center or a nursing home, and read to the elders. Sit with the elders, talk to them (they're ALWAYS willing to talk to people and tell their stories ... they rarely have anyone to listen to them). Buy something for the children in your neighborhood, play with them, read to them, teach them how to read/write. Go to a school in your village, if you're in a third-world country, and volunteer to teach there every now and then; teach the children how to behave, how to respect others irrespective of their religion/etc., teach them how to read and write, teach them how to respect themselves, etc., etc.

And do all of this in the name of God. THIS is a perfect way to be "extreme in your love for Allah," you see.

Really, there's SO much more you can do to show that your love for Allah is extreme. Why do we have to turn to hating "the disbelievers," apostates, and even some Muslims just to show that we love Allah? :S In fact, WHAT in all of this hatred and intolerance shows that we have ANY care for what God wants? There's absolutely NO Quranic justification for our hatred towards the disbelievers, apostates, etc., and I wish someone would give me some Quranic verses that support their horrible actions against innocent people. Find me some Quranc verses, and make sure they're in context -- historical, social, textual, etc.

The truth is evident. You can't fight the truth with your silly wikipedia descriptions.

Evident to whom? Certainly not to me. And what "is" the truth? What truth are you talking about? There are too many truths, you know

[pir_Rokhan]

Osho

The people who deny logic and are only good in passing verdicts and labelling are not the species who would make use of their grey matter which the forces of evolution have developed after billions of years.

Sangar, though seemed to me reasonable initially when he said that he had reservations on the orthodox madrassa system, is slowly showing his colors along with abu bakr and other Arab infected members.I feel sorry for them as are Pakhtuns, I assume.They will prove to be loyal Pakistanis like the inhabitants of the current Pakistan were deceived with the same so called Islamic ideology [which enjoys the sea shelf of Bay of Bengal] and which was used to exploit the poor and oppressed nations of the then Pakistan.

All these sects are confused and have no standardised definition ,proof or arguments in favour of what they believe in.
While you have mentioned a certain cross section of these confused brainwashed creatures I know a lot more of them who are seemingly much more educated then the ones you mentioned e.g Hizb ur Tahrir or Al Muhajiroon of UK,Tanzeem Islami ,Tanzeem Fikre Waliuallahi etc,Tehrik Islami.,The Ghamidi followers ,Rashad Khalifa 's Quranists,The Pervezis Ahle Quran,Lahori group etc etc.

Trust me, and I have already proved it in one of the threads here, that none of these sects have any credible argument even in the favour of existence of God ,leave alone the rest ,which are corrolloratic notions in nature.

It is therefore my sincere advice that Pakhtuns should focus on science and technolgy and concepts given by science as the basis of truth. When science proves and discovers new things the scholars among all these sects start re interpreting their exegesis and commentaries etc.Ultimately science will compel all of them to have just that concept which science approves of.

Just to know what is the reality of all these intepretations,read two books:

1) Religeous stories and their reality [7 volumes] by Allama Habibur Rahman Kandhalawi

2) Tarikh Filasatul Islam by Moahmmad Lutfi Juma

I have wasted a lot of time on these books and sects and their explanations and their critical evaluation. Trust me at the end I realised that due to the lack of scientific knowledge ,all of them were just beating about the bush.None of them knows basics of modern Physics,Logic,Chemistry,Biology and other sciences.

If you need any referene about any explanation of any intellectual level just let me know I will expose them to you.

[Badlun]

Pir Rokhan
Please introduce in short words these other groups which you mjentiones above. This will help us to know who are they and what they preach. Just a brief introduction for the information and education of the members. I dont want to get involved in those polemics that who is true who false but just we may know who they are so that we may guard ourselves falling in their propaganda of extremism and terrorism.

[Badlun]

Brelivis are a group of Muslims who are inspired from the teachings of Ahmad raza Khan. Another member may introduce them in detail. I dont know much about them. What I know about them is that they are pacifist, peace loving and are never involved in terrorism or other extremist activities. They like mysticism or sufism.

They might have some different beliefs like visiting shrines or considering the Prophet as noor(light). I think they consider the prophet as light metaphorically , may not be literally. I am basically not interested in what they believe but I find them peace loving people.

I also used to hate them as was told to me by my extremist panjperis or salafi teachers but recently I discovered that they are very sweet people in general. May be you find bad guys there too.

I dont propagate any sects views or beliefs here. I dont belong to any sect or any group of Muslims. My main purpose in religion section is to separate religion from other non religious stuff. For this purpose I find these Brelivis people more appropriate who practically dont mix politics with religion. There may be exceptions like Tahirul qadri but even he is not an active politician now.