Monotheism of the Divine Names and Attributes as a Defining Criterion of Salafism

Abstract

This study examines how Saudi Salafism, as a modern ideological construct, hasgradually linked the theological teachings about the monotheism of the Divine namesand attributes (tawḥīd al-asmāʾ wa-l-ṣifāt) of the Ḥanbalī scholar Ibn Taymiyya (1263-1328) with the teachings of his later Ḥanbalī fellow Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb(1703/04-1792). Within this process, the topic has been turned from a peripheral oneinto a crucial criterion of defining "Salafī-ness" as such. In this sense, to be a Salafīmeans to be a follower of the Divine names and attributes in the Ḥanbalī interpretationof Ibn Taymiyya as opposed to the mainstream Ashʿarī (and Māturīdī) theology. Thiscriterion, as the authors argue, has been instrumentalized as a tool of claiming one'slegitimacy and superiority.