Editing Sunni Islam (section)

== Contemporary Ashʿarī – Salafī relations ==
[[File:Ahmed_el-Tayeb_1.jpg|thumb|[[Ahmed el-Tayeb]], Great-Imam of Azhar, was one of the most important participants of the Sunni-conference in Grozny, distanced himself from the declaration]]
Since the second half of the 20th century, there have been fierce clashes within the Sunni camps between ''[[Ash'ari|Ashʿarites]]'' on the one hand and ''[[Salafi movement|Salafiyya]]'' on the other, who exclude each other from Sunnism. In [[Indonesia]], the Ashʿarite scholar Sirajuddin Abbas (d. 1980) wrote several books in the 1960s in which he explicitly excluded the ''Ahl as-salaf'' from Sunnism. Among other things, he argued that there was no Salafi madhhab in the first 300 years of Islam. From this he deduced that those who called other Muslims to obey the Salafi ''madhhab'', were promoting a ''madhhab'' which did not even exist.<ref>Dhuhri: "The Text of Conservatism". 2016, p. 46f.</ref> In his view, only the Ashʿarites were real Sunnis. Abbas' books served as the theological basis for anti-Salafist campaigns in [[Aceh]] in 2014.<ref>Dhuhri: "The Text of Conservatism". 2016, p. 49.</ref> During these campaigns, various Salafist schools in Aceh were closed by the provincial government.<ref>Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict: [http://file.understandingconflict.org/file/2016/10/IPAC_Report_32.pdf "The Anti-Salafi Campaign in Aceh"]. ''IPAC-Report No. 32'' 6. Oktober 2016.</ref>

The [[Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta]] in [[Saudi Arabia]] issued a fatwa in 1996 stating that Salafis are Sunnis.<ref>Aḥmad ibn ʿAbd ar-Razzāq ad-Darwīš: ''Fatāwā al-Laǧna ad-dāʾima li-l-buḥūṯ al-ʿilmīya wal-iftāʾ''. Dār al-ʿĀṣima, Riad, 1996. Bd. II, S. 165f. [https://archive.org/stream/fldbeefldbee/fldbee02#page/n164/mode/2up digitalized]</ref> Like many Ashʿarites, the Salafis believe their teachings are the only true form of Sunnism, and hence reject the Asharites and [[Maturidi]]tes as part of Sunnism.<ref>Namira Nahouza: ''Wahhabism and the Rise of the New Salafis. Theology, Power and Sunni Islam''. Tauris, London, 2018. p. 144–147.</ref> An example is the Saudi scholar [[Muhammad ibn al-Uthaymeen|Muhammad Ibn al-ʿUthaimīn]], who in his 2001 published commentary on ''Aqīda Wāsiṭīya'' by [[Ibn Taymiyyah|Ibn Taimiyya]] expressed the opinion that Ash'arites and Māturīdites would not count among the Sunnis, because their doctrine of attributes would be in contrast to the doctrine of Muhammad and his companions. For this reason, the view that three groups belong to Sunnism should also be rejected. Sunnis are only those who are ''salaf'' in terms of belief.<ref>Muḥammad Ibn ʿUṯaimīn: ''Šarḥ al-Wāsiṭīya li-Ibn Taimīya''. Dār Ibn al-Ǧauzī, ad-Dammām, 2001. p. 53f. [https://archive.org/stream/waq51901/01_51901#page/n52/mode/2up Digitalized]</ref>

The accusation by some [[Wahhabism|Wahhabis]] that the Ashʿarites were not Sunnis was subject of a [[fatwa]] by the "Egyptian Fatwa Office" in July 2013. In its fatwa, the office rejected this accusation, affirming that the Ashʿarites still represented the "multitude of [[Ulama|scholars]]" (''jumhūr al-ʿulamāʾ''), and stressed out that they were the ones who in the past rejected the arguments of the [[Mulhid|atheists]] (''šubuhāt al-malāḥida''). Anyone who declares them to be unbelieving or who doubts their orthodoxy should fear for their religion.<ref>[https://www.dar-alifta.org/ar/ViewFatwa.aspx?ID=12581 ''Ramy al-Ašāʿira bi-l-ḫurūǧ ʿan ahl as-sunna wa-l-ǧamāʿa''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417060447/https://www.dar-alifta.org/ar/ViewFatwa.aspx?ID=12581 |date=17 April 2021 }} Fatwa Nr. 2370 des ägyptischen Fatwa-Amtes vom 24. Juli 2013.</ref> On the same day, the fatwa office made clear in a fatwa that, according to their understanding, the ''Ahl as-Sunna wa-l-jama'' only refer to those Muslims who are Ashʿarites or Maturidites.<ref name="Daralifta2366"/>

The rivalry between ''Ashʿarīyya'' and ''Salafiyya'' became visible again at the two Sunni conferences in 2016, which were directed against the terror of the IS organization. The [[2016 international conference on Sunni Islam in Grozny|first conference]] with the title "Who are the Ahl al-Sunna wa al-jama?" took place in the Chechen capital [[Grozny]] in August 2016 under the patronage of [[Ramzan Kadyrov]]. Numerous religious figures from [[Egypt]], [[India]], [[Syria]], [[Yemen]] and the [[Russian Federation]] took part, including [[Ahmed el-Tayeb]], the [[Grand Imam of al-Azhar|Grand Imam]] of the Azhar, and [[Sheikh Aboobacker Ahmed]], the [[Grand Mufti of India]]. According to its organizers, the conference should "mark a blessed turning point in efforts to correct the serious and dangerous distortion of religion by those extremists trying to usurp the venerable name of ''Ahl al-Sunna wa-al-Jama'a'', him to coin exclusively on itself and to exclude its true representatives from it."<ref name="Grozny"/> In the final declaration the Salafis and [[Islamism|Islamist]] groups like [[Muslim Brotherhood]], [[Hizb ut-Tahrir]], etc. and the ''[[Takfiri]]'' organisations like [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant|ISIL]] were excluded from Sunni Islam.<ref name="islam.in.ua">{{cite web|title=The Conference of Ulama in Grozny: the Reaction of the Islamic World|url=https://islam.in.ua/en/islamic-studies/conference-ulama-grozny-reaction-islamic-world|publisher=islam.in.ua}}</ref> In response to this, various prominent ''Salafiyya'' figures held a counter-conference in [[Kuwait]] in November 2016 under the title "The Correct Meaning of Sunnism" (''al-Mafhūm aṣ-ṣaḥīḥ li-ahl as-sunna wa-l-jama''), in which they also distanced themselves from extremist groups, but at the same time insisted that ''Salafiyya'' was not only part of Sunnism, but represented Sunnism itself. The conference was chaired by Ahmad ibn Murabit, Grand Mufti of [[Mauritania]].<ref>[https://arabic.cnn.com/middleeast/2016/11/13/kuwait-conference-sunni-islam Muʾtamar bi-l-Kuwait raddan ʿalā Ġurūznī as-salaf hum as-sunna... wa-lā li-ṯ-ṯaurāt] Arabic CNN 13. November 2016.</ref><ref>ʿAbdallāh Maṣmūdī: [http://howiyapress.com/%D8%AA%D9%88%D8%B5%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D9%85%D8%A4%D8%AA%D9%85%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%81%D9%87%D9%88%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D8%AD%D9%8A%D8%AD-%D8%A3%D9%87%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B3%D9%86%D8%A9/ Tauṣīyāt Muʾtamar ''al-Mafhūm aṣ-ṣaḥīḥ li-ahl as-sunna wa-l-ǧamāʿa wa-aṯaru-hū fī l-wiqāya min al-ġulūw wa-t-taṭarruf'']. Howiyapress.com 13. November 2016.</ref> A few days later, [[Grand Imam of al-Azhar|Grand Imam of Al-Azhar]] [[Ahmed el-Tayeb]] publicly distanced himself from the final declaration of the Grozny conference, reiterating that he had not participated in it and stressed that he naturally viewed the Salafists as Sunnis.<ref>[https://arabic.cnn.com/middleeast/2016/11/19/azhar-grozny-conference-islam Aḥmad aṭ-Ṭaiyib: al-Azhar barīʾ min muʾtamar aš-Šīšān.. wa-s-Salafīyūn min ahl as-sunna wa-l-ǧamāʿa] Arabic CNN 19. November 2016.</ref>