Abstract
In this studyl I analyze the Salafi-Jihadi hermeneutical methodologies and epistemological paradigms. The relation between the crisis of Qur’anic epistemological and hermeneutical methodologies and radical Salafi-Jihadi theology is a vital issue to explore because the main method of justifying the Salafi-Jihadi’s violent theology and discriminatory practices consists of exclusively invoking the textual knowledge, namely the Qur’an, and the collections of the prophet’s traditions/hadith. My novel research question is not content-related (what exactly do Salafi-Jihadi scholars say that the Qur’an says), but methodological: how do they extract the Qur’anic meanings, what methods do they apply when they read the Qur’an, and what is their impact on the socio-cultural relevance of the Qur’anic content? In my paper I explain how the Salafi-Jihadi exegetical and jurisprudential authoritarianism, violent discourses and practices are conditioned by an eclectic epistemological framework that combines a modern theology, tributary to the globalization context, with premodern interpretative strategies, and eccentric textualist hermeneutics. I also emphasize the paradoxical combination of an arrogant textual intentionalism with an excessively submissive ethical voluntarism that defines the Salafi-Jihadi theology, legitimizing the exclusion of any mystical, ethico-moral and intellectual dimensions of Islam. The article will end with an uncomfortable analysis, but essential for an in-depth research of hermeneutical Salafi-Jihadi mechanisms and their role in the legitimation of violence: the participation of mainstream Sunnism to a “Salafi worldview”.
Presenters
Alina AlakMSCA Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Vienna, Austria
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
2023 Special Focus—Religion in the Public Sphere: From the Ancient Years to the Post-Modern Era
KEYWORDS
Islam, Salafi-Jihadi ideology, Qur'anic Hermeneutics, Qur'an, Religious Extremism
