Why I Am a Salafi

The Salafi are a revivalist Sunni Muslim movement misunderstood by most Americans, and even many Muslims. The New York Times' first reference to Salafis as a distinct group appears in 1979 after a band of armed men seized control of the Great Mosque in Mecca. After 1979, there is not another mention of Salafis in the Times until 2000, in an article on links between Yemeni radicals and Osama Bin Laden. In 2013, an article appeared in USA Today labeling Salafis as Sunni Islam's "most radical sect" and declaring them "the most anti-Western" of any Islamist group. Today, Salafism is widely implicated in the rise of ISIS.