Can Mainstream Sunni Islam Counter the Islamic State? a Critique of Adis Duderija's "The Salafi Worldview and the Hermeneutical Limits of Mainstream Sunni Critique of Salafi-Jihadism"

• Published in: Studies in conflict and terrorism Vol. 45; no. 3; pp. 202 - 210
• Main Author: Gabon, Alain
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington Routledge 04-03-2022; Taylor & Francis LLC
• Subjects: Exegesis & hermeneutics; Ideology; Islam; Religious aspects; Sunni Muslims; Sunnites; Terrorist organizations; Worldview; UNITED STATES
• ISSN: 1057-610X; 1521-0731
• DOI: 10.1080/1057610X.2019.1657296

In his November 2018 article, "The 'Salafi' worldview and the hermeneutical limits of mainstream Sunni critique of 'Salafi-Jihadism'" in 'Studies in Conflict and Terrorism', Adis Duderija argues that "mainstream Sunnism" shares "the Salafi worldview" as well as certain "epistemological, hermeneutical, interpretational and methodological mechanisms" and "modes of reasoning" in common with the ideology of the "Islamic State" (IS) as presented in the group's magazine 'Dabiq'. (I will refer to this argument as Thesis 1.) For the author, the consequence of those theological "affinities" and similarities between mainstream traditionalist Sunnism and the IS religious ideologies is that the former is incapable of invalidating, countering, rebutting the latter (of rendering the beliefs and violent and harmful practices of 'Salafi-jihadist' groups like the IS "hermeneutically unreasonable") on matters such as enslavement of female captives, apostasy, or terrorist violence, because both religious cultures (mainstream Sunnism and IS ideology) share too much in common. Mainstream Sunnism is thus too "limited" and unfit for effectively opposing the Islamic State on theological grounds (Thesis 2). Duderija concludes by offering a "solution" to the problem allegedly identified: namely, that if they want to render terrorist groups like IS "hermeneutically unreasonable" and discredit those extremist religious ideologies and violent practices, mainstream Sunni should "adopt alternative interpretational approaches [to Islam]" and switch-convert, so to speak-to "progressive-reformist" Islam (PI), the brand personally favored and advocated by the author himself.