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Concept
Salafi jihadism
Summary
Salafi jihadism, also known as Revolutionary Salafism or jihadist-Salafism, is a religious-political Sunni Islamist ideology, seeking to establish a global caliphate, characterized by the advocacy of "physical" (military) jihadist attacks on non-Muslim and (takfired) Muslim targets, and the Salafist interpretation of sacred Islamic texts "in their most literal, traditional sense", to bring about the return to (what adherents believe to be) "true Islam".
The original use of the term "jihadist Salafists" (also "Salafi-jihadi" or "Salafist jihadis") came from French political scientist Gilles Kepel to refer to international volunteers of the jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan who had come from around the world to fight for Islam against Marxist forces in Afghanistan and had lost the American-Saudi funding and interest after the Soviet forces had withdrawn, but wanted to continue waging jihad elsewhere. Their original jihad was against an aggressive anti-religious power (Soviet Union and its Marxist allies), attempting to take over a Muslim region (Afghanistan) - and had been enthusiastically supported by large numbers of Muslims including governments. However, isolated from their national and social class origins and seeking to "rationalize" their "existence and behavior", some Arab Afghan volunteers expanded the targets of their jihad to include the United States (whom they "perceived as the greatest enemy of the faith", despite having supported and armed the Afghan Mujahideen), and various governments of Muslim-majority countries - whom they perceived as apostates from Islam.
Jihadist and Salafist elements of "hybrid" ideology developed by international volunteers ("Arab-Afghan" Mujahideen) had not been joined previously because mainstream Salafis, (dubbed by some Western commentators as "good Salafis"), had mostly adhered to political quietism - eschewing political activities and partisan allegiances, viewing them as potentially divisive for the broader Muslim community and as a distraction from the studying and practicing of Islam.
Official source
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