One of the major developments in the Islamist movements landscape this year was the death of Sheikh Muhammad Surur, this November. Surur started in the Muslim Brotherhood school of thought then gradually moved into the Haraki Salafi activist current within Salafism. Salafi Harakis object to absolute submission to the ruler. They combine the Salafi creed with Muslim Brotherhood activism and organisational strategy. Unlike the Purist Salafi current, Haraki Salafis support political engagement in order to change the Muslim community through gradual political reform and civic engagement. Sururi Salafis also pay special attention to international relations. Sheikh Surur is considered one the main ideologues of Haraki Salafism, which he embraced after he left Syria, the countrz of his birth, and took up residence in Saudi Arabia, where he encountered exiled Muslim Brotherhood members who had fled Jamal Abdel Nasser’s repression in the 1960s. Sururi Salafis had a difficult relationship with the Saudi ruling establishment. In 1990, following Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait and Riyadh’s request of US protection and liberation of Kuwait, Sururi scholars disagreed with the ruling establishment. The latter’s crackdown on them was merciless. They then had to go into exile or remain in prison. In their exile in London they set up Al Muntada Trust, which established a vast network of schools, publications, charities, NGOs, medical relief aid action, and radio stations, especially in Africa. Some Haraki Salafi groups decided to set up political parties in the wake of the 2011 uprisings. This was the case of Al-Rashad Party in Yemen, for example. In Saudi Arabia, the current is known as Al Sahwa (the awakening) and scholar Salam Al Aouda is one of the prominent figures of this activist Salafi current that calls for political reform. Al Aouda was in house custody under the late King Abdullah. One month after King Salman was enthroned he lifted the house arrest order. Surur died in Doha and his death was felt throughout the Muslim world.
Links for more information:
http://cordoue.ch/images/stories/pdf/Papers/CFG_Salafiscape.pdf (Salafi-scape paper by CFG)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Surur
http://www.aljazeera.net/encyclopedia/icons/2016/11/13/
