Salafism and Wahhabism: what they mean and how they differ

The short answer. Salafism is a puritan movement inside Sunni Islam that tells Muslims to copy the first three generations of the faith and to strip out later additions. Wahhabism is the older Arabian version of the same revival and the dominant religious tradition in Saudi Arabia, though many of its followers reject the label.³ The political scientist Quintan Wiktorowicz divides Salafis into purists, politicos and jihadis; only the jihadis use violence, and they built al-Qaeda and Islamic State.¹

Key facts #

• The standard map of Salafism comes from the political scientist Quintan Wiktorowicz (2006), who split it into three strands: "purists" who preach and avoid politics, "politicos" who enter politics, and "jihadis" who use violence. All three share one creed and differ over what to do about it.¹²
• Wahhabism was founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792). In 1744 he reached al-Dir'iyyah, where the emir Muhammad ibn Saud backed him, and the movement and the Saudi dynasty rose together. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was created in 1932.³
• Germany's domestic intelligence service estimated about 11,000 people in Salafist movements in 2024 (10,500 in 2023), out of 28,280 Islamists in all, of whom it put 9,540 as violence-oriented (approx.).⁴
• The same service says that in Germany and other European states jihadism and Salafism have "largely decoupled": a young person no longer has to join a Salafist scene to become a jihadist.⁴
• Some US intelligence officials estimated that Saudi support for Islamic institutions abroad reached about $90 billion by the early 2000s. No audited total exists, so treat this as an estimate (approx.).⁵
• Fifteen of the 19 hijackers on 11 September 2001 were Saudi, yet the 9/11 Commission "found no evidence that the Saudi government as an institution or senior Saudi officials individually funded" al-Qaeda.⁶⁷
• The analyst Cole Bunzel (2016) called Wahhabism "the most prominent feature of the Islamic State's ideology", while Islamic State treats the Saudi royal family as traitors to that creed.⁸
• Human Rights Watch found in February 2021 that Saudi Arabia had "taken important steps to purge its school religion textbooks of hateful and intolerant language", though some Shia and Sufi practices were still labelled polytheism.¹⁰

What does Salafism mean? #

Salafism is named after the salaf, the "pious forebears": the Prophet's companions and the next two generations. Britannica translates salafis as "followers of the pious forebears".³ They say Islam was corrupted by later additions and that Muslims should go back to the Quran and the Prophet's Sunnah (his recorded example), taking his companions as the model.⁴ They condemn visiting tombs and venerating saints as shirk, the sin of associating partners with Allah, and they reject later doctrines as bid'ah, "innovation".³

That makes Salafism a creed about worship and belief, not a political party. Some Salafis turn it into a political programme, and that is where it meets Islamism, the aim of making Islamic law the law of the state; the Islamism guide explains that aim. Germany's domestic intelligence service goes further: it says Salafists reject the free democratic order and see themselves as the only "true" Muslims. That is the agency's own assessment (translated from the German).⁴

What does Wahhabism mean? #

Wahhabism is the movement founded by the theologian Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-1792) in Najd, central Arabia. He taught strict monotheism (tawhid), condemned tomb visits and saint worship as polytheism and demanded a return to the Quran and Sunnah. Local Hanbali officials rejected his ideas and expelled him, first from Huraymila and then from Uyaynah. In 1744 he reached al-Dir'iyyah, where Muhammad ibn Saud encouraged him.³

By the end of the 18th century the movement had taken all of Najd, attacked the Shia holy city of Karbala and occupied Mecca and Medina. The Ottomans ended that first state in 1818. The modern kingdom followed in 1932 and, Britannica says, secured Wahhabi religious and political dominance on the Arabian Peninsula.³

Followers rarely use the word. Britannica says "Wahhabi" is used mainly by outsiders; adherents prefer muwahhidun, "unitarians", or simply Salafis. Today it is prevalent in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.³

Salafism vs Wahhabism: what is the difference? #

Wahhabism is a particular historical movement tied to the Saudi state. Salafism is the wider label. In Cole Bunzel's phrase, Wahhabism is "a variant of Salafism", and the two overlap heavily.⁸ Britannica adds that "Salafi" is also used by followers of other Islamic reform movements, so not every Salafi is a Wahhabi.³

The differences that matter for security are about politics and loyalty to rulers, which is where the three strands below come in.

The three kinds of Salafi: quietist, political and jihadist #

Wiktorowicz's 2006 article "Anatomy of the Salafi Movement" is still the standard reference.¹ A later summary by the researcher Sadek Hamid describes the three strands like this: the purists stay loyal to the creed and the Saudi state and put peaceful preaching first; the politicos hold the same creed but argue that reform must take account of political reality; the jihadis are impatient with the status quo and want direct action, using violence to force change.²

These are labels for analysis, not membership cards. Wiktorowicz's own point is that the strands split over how to read the situation in the Muslim world, not over doctrine.² They also fight each other and the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1990s Britain, strict Salafis smeared rivals as "Hizbiyyah" (influenced by movements like the Muslim Brotherhood) or "Qutbiyyah" (followers of Sayyid Qutb, covered in the guide to the ideologues).²

What is Salafi jihadism? #

Salafi jihadism combines the Salafi creed with the belief that armed struggle against rulers and unbelievers is a duty now. One of its best-known ideologues is Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, the former mentor of the al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, described as "the key contemporary ideologue in the jihadi intellectual universe". Yet he wrote to his former pupil to criticise indiscriminate attacks on civilians and Shia in Iraq as contrary to Islamic law, so the movement is not united even on violence.¹³ Joas Wagemakers's book A Quietist Jihadi (2012) is the main study of him.¹⁴ The groups themselves are covered in the al-Qaeda guide and the Islamic State guide.

Bunzel argues that over two decades the movement, "which encompasses both al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, has become more Wahhabi in orientation".⁸ That does not mean Saudi Arabia backs it. Islamic State has attacked Saudi soil and portrays the royal family as having sold out the creed.⁸ The German BfV's 2024 report calls Islamic State by far the greatest Islamist terrorist threat in and for Germany (translated from the German).⁴ For the idea of jihad itself, see the guide to what jihad means.

Do quietist Salafis lead to terrorism? #

The evidence points both ways.

The case for a "conveyor belt": Salafists claim to be the only "true" Muslims, and the German service accepts that "in theory" Salafism is the ideological basis of jihadism.⁴

The case against: the purist authorities resisted any challenge to rulers,² and the German service now says the link has weakened. Its 2024 report says jihadism and Salafism have "largely decoupled". Young would-be jihadis, it says, are drawn to the practice of violence and skip the theology, so radicalisation happens "predominantly" on their own initiative online. It adds that well-known Salafist preachers, naming Pierre Vogel and "Abul Baraa", have repeatedly spoken out against Islamic State (translated from the German).⁴ The radicalisation guide looks at that online route.

The fair reading: Salafism is not a synonym for terrorism, and most Salafis never touch violence, but the "in theory" link is why the argument continues.

Saudi Arabia and the export of Wahhabism #

From the 1960s Riyadh used oil money to build mosques, fund preachers and print religious books abroad. The Washington Institute's Sarah Feuer (2019) traces the main vehicle, the Muslim World League, to a meeting of 22 scholars in Mecca in May 1962 called by then Crown Prince Faisal. In 2019 it had branches in about 120 countries.⁵ The 9/11 Commission found that the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs "uses zakat and government funds to spread Wahhabi beliefs throughout the world".⁷

Three things are documented.

• Money. Estimates run from about $90 billion by the early 2000s (US intelligence officials) to at least £67 billion over three decades (a 2015 British government estimate, as quoted in a 2017 paper). None is audited.⁵
• Textbooks. Human Rights Watch found in 2017 that Saudi textbooks called Jews and Christians "unbelievers" and branded Shia and Sufi practices as polytheism.⁹ By 2021 it reported that the Education Ministry had eliminated hateful references to Christians, Jews and LGBT people, though the books still "label some practices and traditions associated with Shia and Sufi Islam as evidence of polytheism".¹⁰
• Brussels. A Belgian parliamentary inquiry into the 22 March 2016 bombings concluded that the Great Mosque of Brussels "propagate[s] Salafi Wahhabism", whose ideas are sometimes at odds with the European Convention on Human Rights. It also found no sermons there that directly called for violence, and it recommended ending the mosque's 1969 Saudi concession and its foreign control. Ministers announced in January 2018 that the concession would be cancelled.¹¹

Money does not equal command. Feuer found that the League's control over what its beneficiaries did was limited, and the Brussels textbooks came from the Saudi ministry, not the League.⁵ The Belgian inquiry found no sermon at the mosque that called for violence, so the documented problem is a climate, not a proven pipeline.

Riyadh has also changed course. In October 2017 Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the kingdom was "returning to what we were before", "a country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions".¹⁵ Feuer found that the League's public message since 2016 puts national identity and obedience to state law ahead of a transnational Muslim identity, though she warns the effect abroad may be limited, and that scepticism about the reform grew from 2018 after crackdowns on grassroots activism and the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.⁵

What cuts the other way #

• Most Salafis are not violent. Germany's roughly 11,000 monitored Salafists are a small fraction of its Muslims, and the agency itself says jihadists increasingly radicalise outside Salafist scenes.⁴
• Muslims reject Islamic State by large margins. Pew's 2015 survey found that in no country surveyed did more than 15% of people view Islamic State favourably.¹⁶
• Muslims are victims too. Islamic State's attacks on Saudi soil targeted Shia civilians, and its Kerman bombing in Iran in January 2024 killed more than 90 people.⁸⁴
• Saudi Arabia is a target as well as a source. Al-Qaeda began a bombing campaign in the kingdom in May 2003 that lasted several years, and Islamic State portrays the royal family as having sold out the creed.⁸
• Wahhabism is one current, not the voice of Islam. Britannica places it chiefly in Saudi Arabia and Qatar.³ Muslims whose practices it condemns as polytheism, such as Sufis and Shia, are among those who do not accept it.¹⁰

Questions people ask #

What is the meaning of Salafism? #

Salafism is a movement within Sunni Islam that says Muslims should follow the Quran and the Sunnah as the Prophet's companions and the next two generations did. The word comes from salaf, "pious forebears". Salafis reject later additions, such as saint veneration. Most reject violence; some enter politics; a small number are jihadists.

What is the meaning of Wahhabism? #

Wahhabism is the strict reform movement founded in 18th-century Arabia by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, who allied in 1744 with Muhammad ibn Saud. It teaches absolute monotheism and condemns tomb visits and saint worship as polytheism. It shaped the Saudi state's religion. Its followers usually reject the label, which outsiders gave them, and call themselves unitarians or Salafis.

What is the difference between Salafism and Wahhabism? #

Wahhabism is a specific movement tied to the Saudi dynasty. Salafism is the wider label for puritan revival movements that claim to follow the earliest Muslims. Wahhabis often call themselves Salafis, but Salafis from Egypt, Britain or elsewhere may not be Wahhabi. Analysts such as Cole Bunzel call Wahhabism a variant of Salafism.

Are all Salafis terrorists? #

No. Most Salafis are not violent. Quintan Wiktorowicz's typology separates quietists, who avoid politics, from political Salafis, who enter it, and from jihadists, who use force. Germany's intelligence service counted about 11,000 Salafists in 2024, and it says jihadists increasingly come from outside Salafist circles, radicalised online.

Who are the quietist Salafis? #

Quietist or "purist" Salafis focus on teaching correct belief and worship and avoid politics. They stay loyal to rulers and reject rebellion. Authorities usually placed in this camp include Nasir al-Din al-Albani and the Saudi scholars Ibn Baz and Ibn al-Uthaymin. Jihadists attack them as collaborators with tyrants.

Did Saudi Arabia export Wahhabism? #

Yes, on a large scale, though no one has audited the cost. From the 1960s Saudi money funded mosques, preachers, books and scholarships abroad through bodies such as the Muslim World League. The kingdom has cut back hateful textbook content since 2016, but reviewers say change abroad is partial, and its own rulers are targets of jihadists.

Related guides #

• Islamist ideologues: al-Banna, Qutb, Maududi and Qaradawi, in their own words.
• Islamic State today: the group that made Salafi jihadism famous.
• Al-Qaeda and its affiliates: bin Laden's network and where it operates now.
• What jihad means: the word, the doctrine and how jihadists use it.
• How Islamist radicalisation works: the route from belief to violence, and the warning signs.
• Islamism explained: what an Islamist is, the ideologues and how free societies respond.

Cite as: The Analyst, "Salafism: meaning, Wahhabism and the jihadist split", Fighting Islamists, updated 13 October 2026. https://fightingislamists.com/salafism-wahhabism.html

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