Sagi Polka's Shaykh Yūsuf al-Qaraḍāwī: Spiritual Mentor of Wasaṭi Salafism is an extensive analysis of the ideas of one of the most prominent Sunni Muslim scholars today. In the course of over 400 pages, Polka lays out and analyzes the ideas of this leading scholar in order to answer a seemingly simple question: does Qaradawi represent a middle point between Liberalism and Jihadi-Salafism, or is he far closer to the latter group?
Only a scholar who has long studied Qaradawi's intellectual activities could have written this book. Polka cites from works across this scholar's career, draws on varied forms of media, and situates these ideas in the context of debates with Salafi-Jihadi and Liberal challengers. This work has an encyclopedic character to it, with extensive citations from the primary source literature abounding and chapters sometimes stretching nearly 60 pages. Polka does an excellent job, in particular, of bringing out the tight rope that Qaradawi has sought to walk vis-à-vis his rulings on religiously framed violence in Israel/Palestine, Iraq, and the United States. Similarly, his analysis of how Qaradawi's understanding of God's onenness (Tawhid) is similar to and different from his Jihadi-Salafi counterparts is clear and nuanced. I know of no text that deals with Qaradawi's ideas in this depth and, as a resource for understanding this scholar's diverse and sometimes contradictory set of positions, this book constitutes a valuable resource.
This book is framed around the question of how to understand al-Qaradawi and, by extension, the “Centrist” (Wasaṭiyya) school of which he is the premier representative. The author leaves little doubt as to his own position, stating that although “Qaraḍāwī presents Wasaṭiyya as an alternative to radical secularism on the one hand and religious extremism on the other…the wasaṭi ideology is actually an incubator for extremism and violence in the name of Islam…[it] and jihadi Salafism share a single vision and differ mainly on the means that they advocate for realizing this vision” (317–18).
This is an ambitious claim that the author seeks to substantiate over the course of six chapters. The first three chapters lay out the intellectual roots of this trend, Qaradawi's role within it, and his relationship to al-Azhar. By complement, the final three chapters situate this movement among two ideological rivals, Jihadi-Salafism and Islamic Liberalism. By contextualizing the Centrist school historically, Polka shows its ties to Hasan al-Banna's vision, as well as Qaradawi's influence on the “middle generation” of the Muslim Brotherhood, represented by figures such as ʿAbd al-Munʿim Abu-l-Futuh and ʿIsam al-ʿAryan. The author's comparison among different approaches in the second half of the book, in turn, seeks to show that, despite internal conflicts and minor differences, Qaradawi's approach is fundamentally similar to those of his Jihadi-Salafi competitors whether in interpretative method, understanding of God's oneness, approach to Jihad, or aspiration to global Islamic political power. By contrast, it is only in language and strategy that Qaradawi, and by extension Centrism, differs from its Jihadi-Salafism.
In assessing this argument, it is necessary to begin with a foundational question of definitions: what is a Salafi and can we speak of “Wasaṭi Salafism” as the book's title suggests? While Polka cites leading scholars on this question—most notably Henri Lauzière and Bernard Haykel (pp. 9–10)—in the introduction, he does not reconcile these scholars’ definition of Salafism and his own usage. Most notably, Lauzière's groundbreaking study (The Making of Salafism, New York, 2016) offers a conceptual history of this term as relating to a commitment to neo-Hanbali theology on the one hand and the derivation of all law from the Quran and Sunna, on the other. This is also the dominant usage of the term Salafi in the contemporary Middle East and Qaradawi does not fit within it, for reasons both theological and interpretative. Polka's insistence that Qaradawi is a Salafi may stem from a second related claim regarding the roots of Jihadism. Specifically, Polka argues that “the seeds of Jihadi Salafism were sown in Egyptian prisons already by the 1950s. Sayyid Qutb can therefore be considered the father of contemporary jihadi Salafism even if he did not define himself as a Salafī and despite the fact that in his day jihadi Salafism had yet to emerge.” (p. 13). In formulating this argument, the author glosses over why it is problematic to consider Qutb an intellectual father of a movement whose theological premises he did not share. Just as importantly, Polka skips over the fact that in the 1970s and 1980s, the vast majority of Jihadis, whether in Egypt or Afghanistan, did not subscribe to Salafi theology (including ʿAbd Allah ʿAzzam, who is inaccurately identified as a Salafi).
This book also utilizes a flat definition of liberalism in order to depict “Wasaṭi Salafism” as illiberal (and thus similar to Jihadi-Salafism). In Polka's analysis of Qaradawi's influence on the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the author argues that “[t]he new constitution drafted during Mursi's presidency exemplifies the MB's and al-Qaraḍāwī's limited perception of democracy” (p. 167). The author then goes on to detail what he fairly sees as the Brotherhood's majoritarian and even authoritarian policies (pp. 167–71). By contrast, when analyzing the ideas of liberal Islamic thinkers, Polka does not consider tensions between ideals and practices that exist within liberalism, too. Based on Polka's approach, we would have difficulty understanding the call during the spring of 2014 by many on the Egyptian left, including liberals, for a military coup to topple Muhammd Mursi. Is this a sign of these liberals’ “limited view of democracy?” Moreover, if Qaradawi's ideas are, in fact, “an incubator for extremism and violence in the name of Islam,” why hasn't the “middle generation” of the Brotherhood, whom Polka claims are most influenced by his ideas (p. 121), turned to Jihadism?
Finally, this book depicts a debate among three main factions: Islamic Liberals, Jihadi-Salafis, and Centrists. On the periphery of the book are Quietist Salafis (whom Polka terms “Traditionalists”) such as Muhammad Nasir al-Din al-Albani, ʿAbd al-ʿAziz b. Baz, and Muhammad b. Salih al-ʿUthaymin, and state-aligned scholars such as ʿAli Gumʿa and Ahmad al-Tayyib. As a debate among these three approaches, the book succeeds in showing points of agreement and conflict. As a depiction of the religio-political field that defines Egypt or the broader Middle East today, however, it has significant limitations. Most significantly, this focus only partially represents the Muslim Brotherhood by using Qaradawi as a representative of the organization, while significantly overstating the role of Jihadism and Liberalism to the religio-political contestation of the 20th and 21st-century Middle East. By contrast, how might we understand Qaradawi as contesting the claims made by states to Islam in the 20th century Middle East (whether Egyptian or Qatari), as well as the challenge posed by his Quietist Salafi competitors to textual authority, media prominence, and social influence? In this book, these claimants, whose reach vastly exceeds that of either Jihadi Salafis or liberals, are marginal if not absent.
In conclusion, the author is to be commended for the significant spadework that he has done to document the ideas of a leading Sunni scholar and for the precision that he has shown in doing so. Unfortunately, however, the conceptual and methodological limitations of this work undercut the author's main thesis and limit this this study's value for those who seek to understand Qaradawi's broader significance within Islamic thought and relationship to competing religious visions and movements.
