The Principles of the Takfiri Fatwas of Salafism: Assessment and Criticism

Relying on their inferential principles, i.e. considering everything quitted by the predecessors heresy and also the immoderate avoidance of the esoteric interpretation of the Quranic verses, Takfiri Salafists have come up with some conclusions which have led them into issuing peculiar tacfiri fatwas. In some of his books, ibn Taymiyyah has remarked that practicing something which was avoided by the predecessors is heresy and violating this principle is a blamable innovation. For instance, with regard to the Sariah rule of celebrating the Prophet’s (p.b.u.h.) birthday, he believes such celebrations were not hold by the predecessors although they could be hold and there was no obstacle to holding them. He adds that if holding such celebrations were a pious act, it would be worthier of the predecessors as they had more affection for the Prophet (p.b.u.h.), were more respectful toward him, and were greedier for good deeds. Ibn Taymiyyah consider scholars of the Islamic sects ignorant and believes that such legal Islamic celebrations as the Prophet’s (p.b.u.h.) birthday are blamable innovations since the predecessors did not approve of them. In modern times, following ibn Taymiyyah, some Wahhabi scholars have declared holding celebrations on the Prophet’s (p.b.u.h.) birthday illegal. They believe that this practice is one of the blamable innovations in Islam, because the Prophet (p.b.u.h.), the orthodox Califs, the Companions and the Successors did not do it. The principles drawn from the Quran and the definitive sunna of Imams disclose the fact that many of the claims of Salafism in this context are not rooted in Islam and, hence, they cannot be accepted.