Faux Salafis

Disturbing, and often painful scenes have been undertaken by followers of the Salafi al-Noor party in the wake of the Egyptian revolution, and specifically those who were in favor of the Salafi presidential candidate Hazem Abu Ismail. These scenes are very confusing, as the followers of the Salafi ideology and trend essentially do not believe in the idea of politics and partisanship, and have traditionally kept away from it all completely. Within Salafi ideology there is also the principle of complete obedience to the ruler, and compliance with all orders, decisions and instructions. The Salafi movement, often said to be against the idea of a civil state, has embarked - via its excluded presidential candidate Hazem Abu Ismail and his supporters – upon a project of exploiting Salafism as a pure religious symbol, and employing it politically (the precedent for this was of course established by the formation of the Salafi al-Noor party). Following the official legal challenge by the Department of Electoral Affairs in Egypt and the retraction of his right to stand as a candidate, after it came to light that his deceased mother held US citizenship - a very clear violation of the terms of nomination, Abu Ismail protested and vowed to respond and reveal the truth. His supporters came out in their thousands objecting to a decision that was clear and supported by documents that Abu Ismail could not prove to the contrary. His supporters vowed “a revolution until death” and “a great jihad until victory”, and entered into bloody and violent confrontations with the state, injuring dozens and damaging many facilities. The Salafis did all this without providing any real evidence that the mother of Hazem Abu Ismail did not have US citizenship. All of these demonstrations, objections, escalations and threats are shocking for all those who know that true Salafi discourse is far from that, despite the Salafi al-Noor party and Hazem Abu Ismail’s supporters adopting a Salafi “appearance” in terms of their beards and the clothing they wear, the preamble they use in their conversations and the slogans they raise in their interviews and meetings, and the fact that they cite well known historical and contemporary personalities affiliated to the Salafi trend, and adopt well known historical positions towards major social issues. It seems what happened in Egypt reveals that there are different kinds of Salafism, a non-politicized current and a politicized one, the latter of which there is now a strong direction towards. Playing on emotions the name of religion for political purposes is not new in the Arab world, in fact it is a global phenomenon witnessed in both industrialised and emerging societies. It is a rapidly spreading, highly effective and influential tactic that can serve as a shortcut to power for those who apply it. There is no doubt that for a lot of people, slogans such as “Islam is the solution” now give connotations of a political group, not a religious group, and hence the confidence in such groups has been shaken within society, with opinions divided over what they say and their actions. There is now an important “opportunity” for those groups who want to invest in the large thirst for change within Egyptian society, and this can be achieved by continuing with religious discourse. However, such groups must provide a different picture and engage in their discourse and apparent ideology on a practical level, rather than adhering to religion figuratively. Only then will people believe that such groups are free from the characteristics that may generate uncertainty and false assumptions, or frighten the people and alienate them. Many belonging to the traditional Salafi school consider what is happening now in the political arena – in their name – to be mere whims and frivolities, and that the damage done is greater than the benefit. As for the cracks that have begun to show in the already weak political discourse of the Salafi group in Egypt, these are due to some “strange” stances that the media and the street have picked up on, and transformed into objects of ridicule and humour. This makes the Salafi political mission difficult in the presence of strong competition from others, despite the Salafis’ strong political representation in parliament, which has surprised many. It remains an exciting scene to follow…how will the Salafi movement in Egypt overcome the political failure that it has suffered? Today it is gambling on the strength of support for the influential Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh to win the Egyptian presidency, after it lost its direct candidate. This is an issue that will rearrange the Salafi group in Egypt dramatically.