“The Salafist Front”… A mix of Qutb’s ideas and Banna’s ideology

In Sep. 30, 2005, Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 12 abusive caricatures of Prophet Muhammad. The drawings were republished later by other western newspapers, such as the Norwegian newspaper Magazinet and the German daily Die Welt.

The abusive drawings stirred wide protests in many countries; a campaign to boycott all Danish products was initiated by the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt at the time.

The brotherhood also called for demonstrations that publicly intended to defend the prophet, while the hidden goals were to test how the public would respond to the Muslim Brotherhood’s demonstrations, and how would security authorities deal with them.

Many Salafist preachers, including Osama al-Qusi, a Salafist scholar who has gained a level of notoriety since the revolution, on the other hand, had a different opinion regarding the demonstrations and boycott calls that were led by the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Salafi preachers deemed the demonstrations and boycott calls as haram (forbidden), citing proofs of a Salafi nature, which the Muslim Brotherhood were unable to debate. Therefore, the brotherhood turned to a group of young Qubtism preachers from Mansoura and some Delta governorates to respond to the prohibition of their calls against Denmark.

Salafism is an ultra-conservative branch within Sunni Islam; it advocated a return to the traditions of the Salaf, who are the first three generations of scholars after the Prophet Muhammad.

Among the Qubtism preachers, who follows the Islamist ideology developed by Sayyid Qutb, the figurehead of the Muslim Brotherhood, were Khaled Saied, Ashraf Abdel-Monem, Hisham Kamal, and Ahmed Mawlana.

These young preachers succeeded in their campaign and managed to introduce a Salafi opinion in the Egyptian community, an opinion that opposed the prohibition of boycotting and protesting.

After the Revolution of Jan. 25, 2011, the Qubtism preachers broke away from the Salafist Call and launched the Salafist Front.

On its official website, the Salafist Front identified itself in its first statement as a movement, or an advocacy group that holds a number of Salafist blocs, from different governorates, and a number of independent figures of the same orientation.

Despite the aforementioned identification, the dominant side of the Salafist Front was the Qubtism Salafism that was influenced by Sheikh Abdel Maguid al-Shazly, founder of the Ahl us-Sunnah wa'l-Jama'ah group, and also one of the most prominent theorists specializing in the ideology of Sayyid Qutb, and his brother Muhammad Qutb, associating it with the Political Salafism, which resulted the Qutbism ideology.

The Salafist Front embraces the words of Sayyid Qutb and the Qutbism ideology; for the Salafist Front, the ruler is a Taghut, a tyrannical power, and any non-Islamic regime is a tyranny.

The front’s operation is based on the honorable history of the revolutionary Salafist movement against tyranny, which enriches its involvement into politics, showing similarities with the Muslim Brotherhood, unlike the Salafists who prohibit protests and the formation of political parties. However, some Salafist movements that prohibited partisan life before Jan. 25, 2011, justified it after and formed Al-Nour Party and Al-Fadhila Party, which was founded by Mahmoud Fathy.

The Salafist Front did not just support political parties, but also supported and led protests; in its induction statement, the front said that ways for the achievement of its goals include protests; peaceful sit-ins; supporting Islamic parties; maybe allying with non-Muslim parties; organizing seminars and conferences that may host figures of various movements; and supporting NGOs, academic communities, human rights and labor union organizations.

The formation of the Salafist Front included a number of committees, including the religious committee, headed by Ashraf Abdel-Monem and the political bureau, headed by Ahmed Mawlana, while Khaled Saied was appointed a spokesperson for the front. It became active in universities and mosques, especially in Dakahlia and the surrounding governorates.

Recruitment of children:

The Salafist Front had social and preaching activities, with the aim to spread inside mosques and educate younger generations on the Salafist ideologies of the front, to prepare and recruit them since an early age.

The front staged a number of activities and demonstrations, including the Abbasiyya sit-in, in front of the Egyptian Ministry of Defense and Ain Shams University, in cooperation with the Hazemon movement, to demand the Security Council of the Armed Forces to hand over power to a civilian president; security forces were able to break the sit-in on May 2, 2012.

The Salafist Front refused to support Salafi Islamist politician Hazem Salah Abu Ismail in the presidential election and announced voting for Islamist politician and former member of the Muslim Brotherhood Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh in the first round, and in the second round, the front announced voting for Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi.

The front also participated in a large demonstration in the Tahrir Square on July 29, 2012, popularly known as “Kandahar Friday” for only including Islamist movements; a second one in Nov. 10, 2012; and Rabaa and Nahda sit-ins on June 28, 2013, which were dispersed on Aug. 14, 2013.

The Salafist Front also joined the National Alliance for Supporting Legitimacy, founded by the Muslim Brotherhood in July 27, 2013 with the aim to return the ousted brotherhood president Morsi. It called for the Muslim Youth Uprising, which was set to take place in Egypt on Nov. 28, 2014, but were never materialized, as it failed to mobilize masses on the streets.

Security forces arrested many leaders of the Salafist Front under charges of incitement of violence and demonstration, while Khaled Saied, spokesman of the front, fled the country and settled for a while in Turkey, then moved to Syria, then Libya.

Leaders of the front were arrested under charges of case no. 682/2014, known as the “Salafist Front” case. Salafist Front leaders behind bars published what is considered consistent with the front’s ideology, such as Ashraf Abdel-Monem’s book “Hot Dialogues behind Cold Bars”, which refuted the thoughts of Daesh members inside prisons.

In April 6, 2016, the Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered the release of Ahmed Mawlana, member of the political bureau of the Salafist Front, Majid Ahmed and Mohamed Abdelrahman for the Salafist Front case. And in Nov. 20, 2016, the Cairo Criminal Court ordered the release of 13 Salafist Front members with precautionary measures on charges of leading and founding an illegal group that intended to overthrow the regime and disrupt the constitution.