1. Home
2. Highlights
3. Muslim Brotherhood, Salafists, and Jihadists: Shared Influences, Divergent Trajectories

In Western media and public discourse, the terms Muslim Brotherhood, Salafists, and Jihadists are often conflated—blurred together in a way that obscures their distinct origins, ideologies, and modes of action. While these movements share certain historical roots, they represent fundamentally different trajectories.

To better understand their emergence, one must look back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when much of the Arab world was under foreign domination and European colonial rule. This era was also marked by the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the last great Muslim polity. The confrontation with Western powers triggered a profound crisis in the Muslim world, leading many to view Islamic societies as having gradually fallen into decline.
In response, several Arab and Muslim movements emerged to counter these threats, notably contributing to the rise of Arab nationalism. At the same time, reform movements began to take shape, based on the belief that a revival could be achieved by emulating the glorious past of early Islam.

In other words, they sought to recreate what they regarded as the “golden age of Islam” in order to inspire a religious renewal. They saw the strict religious observance of the earliest generations as closely tied to their military and political successes, which had enabled the expansion of Islam.

The Rise of Reform Movements

Three distinct phases of religious reform can be distinguished.

The first is embodied by figures such as Muhammad Abduh and Jamal al-Din al-Afghani. Confronted with intellectual and political dominance of the West over the Muslim world, they sought to reconcile the principles of Islam with the modern world. They advocated for a reinterpretation of Islam’s foundational texts, the Qur’an and the Sunna, in accordance with the principles of scientific reasoning and liberal governance, emphasizing the importance of reason in navigating religious uncertainty.

The second phase is marked by the emergence of Wahhabism, attributed the decline of Muslim societies to their failure to apply the sacred texts literally and to the introduction of innovations deemed contrary to the Qur’an and Islamic law. Its founder, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, drew upon the Hanbali school, renowned for its rigorous approach to interpreting Islam, particularly the teachings of Ibn Taymiyya. Abd al-Wahhab promoted an uncompromising monotheism and a literal reading of Islam’s sacred texts, the Qur’an and the Sunna, maintaining that these texts are self-sufficient and allow no room for differing interpretations.

“Because of its doctrinal rigidity, Wahhabism initially had a poor reputation in the Sunni world,” explains Sarah Ben Néfissa, Research Director at the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, University of Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), to This is Beirut.

“This began to change after the First World War, notably through Egypt and especially thanks to Rashid Rida and his newspaper El Manar, which published Wahhabi literature.”

At this stage, the researcher explains, Wahhabism began to be referred to as Salafism to assert its full orthodoxy, that is, its strict adherence to the salafs, the earliest generations of Muslims. With the rise of Saudi Arabia from the 1970s onward, Wahhabism expanded rapidly. One of the kingdom’s main objectives was to counter Arab nationalism, particularly Nasserism.

“Through Islamic finance, support for religious associations, the training of preachers, the construction of mosques, and its satellite channels, this religious diplomacy has ‘Salafized’ the lived experience of Islam in Arab-Muslim societies,” explains Sarah Ben Néfissa. She adds that “the Muslim Brotherhood became aligned with this widespread ‘Salafization’ due to the shared doctrinal foundations of the two movements.”

The Muslim Brotherhood: The Third Phase of Reform

The Muslim Brotherhood thus represents the third phase of Islamic reform. Their goal is to Islamize society from the top down, through institutions and the state, while resisting modernity and Western influence through peaceful means. As a result, they participate in elections and engage in social and political spheres, a path rejected by most Salafists.

Founded in 1928, shortly after the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the Muslim Brotherhood also aspired to the restoration of the caliphate and to pan-Islamic unity, that is, the unification of all Muslims under a single authority. Following the death of Rashid Rida in 1935, the Brotherhood’s founder, Hassan al-Banna, became the editor of the publication Al Manar. Originating from the Salafist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood are sometimes described as “neo-Salafists.”

Over time, the Muslim Brotherhood became a formidable competitor to Wahhabism. While they share foundational ideas, they engage with modernity by participating in political and electoral processes, a path the Wahhabis rejected. Nonetheless, the two movements cooperated extensively for several years, particularly when Saudi Arabia welcomed Muslim Brotherhood members persecuted in Egypt. The Brotherhood then became deeply involved in the kingdom’s education sector, spreading their ideas. 

However, Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait altered this alliance. Opposed to the invasion, Saudi Arabia allowed American troops to be stationed in the country to fight Iraq, a stance that the Muslim Brotherhood found entirely unacceptable. The rupture was confirmed in 2014, when the Saudi kingdom officially designated the Brotherhood as a “terrorist organization.”

From Salafism to Jihadis

Salafism has given rise to several distinct movements, all claiming the legacy of Ibn Taymiyya and Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. 
The first is quietist Salafism, which focuses on the education and moral purification of Muslims through religious teaching while avoiding involvement in civic or political life.

The second branch is political Salafism, exemplified by Egypt’s Al-Nour party. Emerging in the 1960s, it represents a synthesis between the ideology of the Muslim Brotherhood and Wahhabism, seeking to combine religious rigor with political engagement.

The third branch, jihadist Salafism, developed under the influence of Sayyid Qutb, a thinker associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, and Ayman al-Zawahiri. It rose to prominence in the 1980s during the Afghan mujahideen’s struggle against the Soviet Union, marking the first contemporary war waged in the name of jihad and a symbolic victory for the mujahideen, and in a sense, for Islam itself. Unlike the other branches, jihadist Salafism pursues a return to the practices of early Islam through armed struggle and force and aims to establish an Islamic state by force. 

With the emergence of al-Qaeda in the 1990s and Daesh (ISIS) in the 2010s, jihadism took on a global dimension. Inspired by Sayyid Qutb, jihadist groups tend to regard Muslims who do not adhere to their strict rules as apostates, a stance not shared by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Following the Afghan war, a well-trained army of jihadists stood ready, capable of engaging in other conflicts and enjoying a certain prestige within the Muslim world.

“It can be said that Sayyid Qutb’s writings provided a solid doctrinal foundation for such expansion, not only to confront non-Muslim Western countries, but also within so-called Muslim societies themselves,” analyzes Sarah Ben Néfissa, “since, in his view, these societies had fallen back into the era of Jahiliya, that is, the age of ignorance before the advent of Islam.”

“Today, jihadist groups are increasingly independent from their ideological and financial sponsors,” she adds. These groups are generally rivals and often excommunicate one another, drawing a strict line between their members and others, even fellow Muslims. Those who do not share their beliefs are deemed apostates, while non-Muslims are considered infidels.

Thus, while Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood, and jihadists all seek to place religion at the center of society, their approaches diverge sharply. The Muslim Brotherhood and most Salafists pursue peaceful strategies, whereas jihadists rely heavily on violence. Moreover, unlike Salafists and jihadists, the Muslim Brotherhood advocates political participation and seeks to attain power through elections.