WHO ARE CRAZY, VIOLENT JIHADISTS? PART 1

Ok, in spite of what we might infer from the mass media, not all Salafist Muslims are jihadists.  Salafists are Sunni Muslims, one of the main branches of Islam, the other is Shia.   Fanatical jihadists can be either Sunni or Shia.  But the vast majority of Muslims from either branch are not violent Jihadists. 

In Tunisia, radical jihadists overshadowing peaceful Salafism.  

A young Tunisian boy holds a banner as Tunisian Salafist Muslims attend a rally in Kairouan in May 2012.

By Christine Petré

TUNIS, Tunisia – Since the Arab Spring first began, Salafist jihadist-related violence has increased significantly throughout the Middle East. However, Salafist groups are complex in their composition and motivation. Their activities also draw attention to increasingly present viewpoints in post-revolution Tunisian society about how government and religion intersect.

For years, dictators in the Middle East kept a close watch on all radical Islamic groups, but since 2011 revolutions broke out as part of the Arab Spring, groups considered radical by some have been able to operate more freely in places like Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.

In Tunisia, all dissent was repressed under former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Many Islamists were imprisoned, including Salafists. But when the Islamist party Ennahda came to power in October 2011, seven months after Ben Ali was removed from office, the Islamists were released. Today many Salafists conduct their operations freely and without fear of being repressed.

The Salafist movement was created by Sunni Muslims. Salaf, meaning “pious ancestor” in Arabic, provides the root of the word Salafism and refers to the concept of following the customs of righteous Muslims who were present during the first 300 years of Islamic history, which began around 610 A.D.

Salafists use the term “righteousness” to designate spiritual closeness to prophetic sources during the search for a way of life they view as purer and holier than current social norms. Salafists are open about their belief in a literal interpretation of the Qu’ran and Shari’ah law.

They are also easily recognized by the way they dress: for men, pants and shirts are often replaced by a long robe, and instead of shoes, many wear sandals. They usually have long beards in imitation of the Prophet Mohammed. Salafist women dress more conservatively than their non-Salafist counterparts, often wearing coverings like the niqab, a cloth that covers the face and is added to the body-covering abaya.

Tunisia has two main groups of Salafists: Salafist jihadists and the “Salafiyya Ilmiyya,” part of an ideology also referred to as scientific Salafism. What separates these groups from one another is their take on armed resistance and struggle. Scientific Salafism holds the opinion that diplomatic engagement is effective and democracy is an acceptable form of government under Shari’ah law.

Others who follow scientific Salafism focus on preaching the most traditional version of Islam, influenced by dawa – inviting people to follow Islam – and Wahhabism – based on teaching the fundamentals of the Qu’ran and Hadith, the sayings of Mohammed.

Salafism is not widespread in Tunisia today. Approximately 50,000 Tunisians identify themselves as Salafists, according to data compiled in 2013. There are also an estimated 800 Tunisian jihadis fighting in Syria against President Bashir Al-Assad.

Despite their relatively small numbers, Salafists’ influence has rapidly increased over the past few years, as has jihad-induced violence. In June alone six Salafists were sentenced to five years in prison for setting a Sufi shrine on fire in October of last year. Around 20 Salafists were recently sentenced to jail for the September 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Tunisia.

Salafists were also blamed for the 2013 murders of two Tunisian opposition politicians, Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahimi. Others accused the government of using the Salafists as a scapegoat.

One stronghold for Salafism is Bizerte, a coastal city 60 kilometers north of Tunis. The city was also the location where the BBC documentary “The Battle of Bizerte” was shot. The documentary depicts post-revolution tensions between a Salafist group known as Ansar Al-Sharia and local authorities. According to the documentary, Salafists have largely overrun local law enforcement, dominating the judicial process and enforcing restrictions on what they deem to be immoral behavior.

In the documentary, a young unmarried woman is shown in a shop in close proximity to a male shopper, only to be told by a Salafist bystander that the two standing together is “not allowed in our religion,” and that the two cannot be together in what constitutes a private space.

However, Hamza Ben Mehrez, a political science student and Bizerte resident, told The Atlantic Post that Bizerte’s people are non-violent. “Bizerte is a calm place,” he said. “Here live many different people side by side, of different beliefs. You find many different mosques here and all of them do not belong to Salafism. There are also, for example, Sufi mosques here,” he added.

Outside the Spanish-built walls surrounding the Kasbah area in Bizerte, a poster hangs portraying a woman dressed in a niqab. She will end up in paradise, a Tunisian man in the area told The Atlantic Post. But the niqab is not compulsory, he added. “It is a choice for the woman.”

Bejaoui Lotfi, a resident of Bizerte, said he identifies as a Salafist. “All Sunnis who practice Islam are Salafists,” he said. “I am a Salafist because I am religious.” Lotfi said the way media reports on Salafists depicts them in a negative light, equating them with terrorists. “The media, especially the French media, are making the connection between Salafists and terrorists,” he said. “But that is not the reality because it is only a small minority of the Salafists who use violence.”

One of the most well-known self-proclaimed Salafist groups is Ansar Al-Sharia. Founded in 2011, it is a young but rapidly expanding group, known primarily for shunning democratic ideals. Ansar Al-Sharia’s philosophies focus primarily on dawa, which makes it difficult to categorize it as a jihadi group. Still, Abu Iyadh, the group’s founder, has been accused of having ties to al-Qaeda and being involved in the September 2012 attack on the U.S. embassy in Tunis.

Tunisian authorities have been repeatedly accused of not doing enough to control violence involving Salafists in the country. In May, a Salafist conference in Kairouan was banned by the government. The move resulted in heated confrontations between Salafist youth and police in which the latter used tear gas on protesters.

Media coverage of Salafism tends to focus on jihadi Salafism, and often refers to Salafism with phrases that sensationalize the movement, including “Salafist danger” and “Salafist cancer.” It is important to remember, however, that most Salafists reject the use of violence as a means for spreading their beliefs.

Violent Salafists remain a minority in Tunisia, but they still pose a significant threat to those that do not share their philosophy, including ordinary Tunisians and western sympathizers alike. Moreover, jihadi Salafists have shown just how much damage they can cause to the Salafist movement itself, giving non-violent Salafists a negative reputation that threatens the future of the group in Tunisian society.

Christine Petré is The Atlantic Post’s MENA Region Correspondent, based in Tunis, Tunisia. Her Twitter handle is @christinepetre.