International Journal on Criminology Volume 4, Number 2, Winter 2016 | Page 27

International Journal on Criminology - Winter 2016, Volume 4, Number 2
Know What You Are Fighting: Armed Salafism
Criminology’s Contribution to Understanding
Salafist Fundamentalism
Farid Bencheikh A
Salafism: 1 Indoctrinate and Radicalize the Masses
Social deprivation alone does not cause deviance. Composed of diverse endogenous
and exogenous factors, the criminogenic mass 2 requires a condensing element to
trigger passage to action. This element, the philosopher’s stone of any alchemy
of engaging in a criminal act, comes from preachers, who prepare magic formulas to
anesthetize the masses.
Condensing element: preachers developing formulas aimed at anesthetizing
the masses. These discourses of indoctrination adopt a vocabulary borrowed from
theology or poetry; their (sometimes invented) style is always hypnotic. In some ways
forged for the occasion, even the term salafia became a quasi-reference for terrorist
leaders. Already weak crowds are fascinated by the appeal of a new collective identity,
legitimization, and a banner to follow. The candidate for indoctrination then declares
himself or herself “Salafist” to avoid any drift in identity.
In the Arabic language, the literal meaning of the word “salaf” is ancestor, with
no specific connotation. This term preexists Islam, and the Muslim tradition did not
add any additional attributes until the arrival of the movement known as “permissive,” 3
which allows each person to go outside the tradition and the teachings of the four
Sunni schools of law recognized as the sole references (Madhhab: Hanafi, Maliki,
Shafi’i, Hanbali). These orthodox schools form a sort of Islamic Vatican invested
with the power to interpret the authorized domains; they prohibit the vulgarization of
A
Université Paris-II Panthéon-Assas
1
Salafism: ancestor, plus the suffix “-ism.” A Muslim tradition advocating that one follows the companions
of the Prophet, those who lived alongside him or who succeeded him, to preserve the purest
traditions. However, the interpretation of this concept by terrorists is limited to its most war-like
aspects and was falsified to justify the privatization of Islam and usurp the power to declare criminal
fatwa.
2
Mass is used here in its scientific meaning of cluster or aggregate, not crowd.
3
“Permissive,” not in the common meaning of lenient but as permission given to the faithful to escape
the supposed constraints of the four Sunni schools of law.
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