Salafi jihadism

A militant Sunni Islamist ideology that combines Salafi doctrines with the belief that armed jihad is necessary to establish a society governed by its interpretation of Islamic law.

Salafism: A Sunni reform movement that seeks to model religious belief and practice on the earliest Muslim generations. Salafi jihadism adopts this movement’s scripturalist orientation while giving it a militant political program.
Afghan jihad: The armed struggle against the Soviet invasion and the Afghan communist government from 1979 to 1989. Foreign volunteers and transnational networks formed during this war helped spread militant ideas.
Osama bin Laden: A Saudi militant who co-founded al-Qaeda and led its international campaign against the United States and its allies. He turned a transnational militant network into a prominent advocate of global jihad.
Muslim Brotherhood: A transnational Islamist movement founded in Egypt that pursues social and political change through varied forms of activism. Its organized political participation contrasts with Salafi jihadist rejection of gradualist politics.
September 11 attacks: A series of coordinated al-Qaeda attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001. The attacks triggered a global military and political response to transnational jihadist organizations.
Jihad: An Arabic term for striving in God’s path, encompassing spiritual, social, and, in some interpretations, armed struggle. The ideology elevates armed struggle as a means of political and religious transformation.
Abdullah Azzam: A Palestinian Sunni scholar who advocated mobilizing Muslims to fight in the Afghan war against Soviet forces. His writings and organizing helped establish the transnational volunteer movement later associated with jihadist networks.
Ayman al-Zawahiri: An Egyptian militant leader who headed Egyptian Islamic Jihad and later led al-Qaeda. His writings and leadership connected Egyptian revolutionary jihadism to al-Qaeda’s global strategy.
Hizb ut-Tahrir: A transnational Islamist movement that seeks to restore a caliphate through political organizing rather than armed insurgency. Its declared nonviolent strategy contrasts with Salafi jihadism’s embrace of armed struggle.
War on Terror: The international campaign of military, legal, and security measures launched after the September 11 attacks. It reshaped states’ policies toward armed groups that claimed Salafi-jihadist justifications.

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