The Religious Bases of Takfiri Terrorism

Terrorism is undoubtedly one of the main issues of international security, severely jeopardized people’s lives as well as the relations between nations. In the modern era, the Islamic world is faced with the growth of terrorist movements, originating from Wahhabi teachings and Salafism, which result in carnage. ‘Kafer’ (infidel) is a frequent key word in Takfiri terrorism. Terrorists accuse their adversaries of ‘Kofr’ (being infidel) and then kill them. So this type of terrorism is called Takfiri Terrorism. Takfiri thought, relying on its non-Islamic bases, challenges Islamic theological teachings. This movement changes the main religious teachings in Islam. It believes they are permitted do acts of violence against Muslims’ blood, property, and family, and consider Muslims worse than infidels. In fact, their religious and theological standpoint characterizes Takfiri groups. In order to find the difference between Takfiri and other Muslim groups, it is necessary to distinguish their religious and theological beliefs. Although religious misgivings in Takfiri thoughts are stated in the framework of jurisprudential statements, they are based on religious assumptions rooted in religious and theological discussions. This paper states that theological and religious bases play a pivotal role in the formation of Takfiri terrorism. This has been focused on in the paper so that it would be used in counter terrorism planning. This research, regarding its methodology, is descriptive-analytical. The data are collected by library, documents, and historical research. Since the main subject of the paper is to identify Takfiri terrorist thoughts, it uses a theoretical method to analyze the data.