Abstract (eng)
Accusing someone of unbelief, a practice known in Arabic as takfīr, is not only extremely widespread in political Salafism, but it is also the starting point for hostility towards the rulers and very often for one's own claim to power. However, adherents of the ideology disagree on whether only the ruling elite should be declared non-Muslim, or also parts of society, or perhaps even everyone outside of one's own group. This thesis examines different approaches to the application of takfīr in political Salafism an compares them to the views of the salafī jihādī theorist Abū Muḥammad al-Maqdisī (born 1959). The Palestinian-Jordanian ideologist combines the politicized religious understanding of the Muslim Brotherhood member Sayyid Quṭb with radical literalist concepts of Wahhabism. As early as the late 1980s, he accuses the government of Saudi Arabia of apostasy from Islam. In 1998, however, he wrote a detailed treatise warning against exaggeration in takfīr. The analysis of the document illustrates the difficulty of reconciling political salafī doctrine with a more moderate understanding of takfīr that does at least spare the general Muslim community. Al-Maqdisī recognizes and covers the various dangers of rampant takfīr, but his statements remain too theoretical, too general and too focused on attacking the enemies of political Salafism. His thinking and actions place him ideologically at the centre of the various jihadist groups and he used to exert significant influence on many of them, but is gradually losing relevance.