Comparisons of Mainsteam Sunnism, Salafism, Jihadist Salafism and progresive Islam

BASED ON THE REFERENCES IN MY PUBLICATIONS AND READINGS. MOST FROM  HERE

At the level of Fundamentals

Source	Mainstream sunnism( based on sixth hijri version )	Salafism	Jihadist salafism	Progressive Islam
Quran interpretation	Semi- textualist	Heavily textualist	Heavily textualist	Heavily contextualist
Sunna	Hadith dependent	Hadith dependent; ittiba' based	Hadith dependent; ittiba' based	sunna independent of Hadith  ;rationalist; dynamics and ethico-values driven
Ijtihad	Operates within the 4 source heavily textualist hermeneutics; taqlid based	Operates within the 4 source hiraerchy; heavily textualist hermeneutics ; ittiba' based	Operates within the 4 source hierarchy heavily textualist hermeneutics; ittiba' based	Operates outside 4 source hierarchy of mainstream sunni ulul ul fiqh
Maqasid al sharia	Heavily textualist	Heavily textualist	Heavily textualist	Heavily contextualist
Epistemology	Premodern and heavily textualist	Premodern and heavily textualist	Premodern and heavily textualist	Modern , contextualist  and rationalist
Approach to ulum ul hadith	Premodern , heavily textualist	Premodern, heavily textualist	Premodern, heavily textualist	Inclusive of premodern but applied  also modern sources and in line with above
theology	Ash’ari cum Maturidi	Hanbali /fideistic	Hanbali fideasitc	Rationalist
Ethics	Ethical voluntarism	Ethical voluntarism	Ethical voluntarism	Ethical objectivism

At the level of Concepts /legal determinations

Concept /legal	Mainstream Sunnism	Salafism	Jihadist Salafism	Progressive Islam
Caliphate	Premodern ( bay’a to ruler elected  on basis of traditional shura principles; patriarchal, elitist undemocratic; mainly quietist	Premodern ( bay’a to ruler elected  on basis of traditional shura principles, patriarchal, elitist undemocratic;questist	Premodern,  ( bay’a to ruler elected  on basis of traditional shura principles, patriarchal, elitist undemocratic; revolutionaly	Modern  ( compatibility with  constitutional democracy principles)
Criminal law and ethics ( apostasy, theft, zina,homosexuality)	Premodern hudud;can not evolve; might be suspended under certain circumstances	Premodern hudud	Premodern hudud	Rationalist,contextualist  and in accordance with modern ethical sensibilities ( considered Islamic)
Human rights	Premodern; can't evolve	Premodern ; cannon evolve	Premodern;cannot evolve ,	Modern, rationalist and contextualist ; can evolve
Gender issues in Islamic law and ethics	Premodern; largely fixed	Premodern; completely fixed	premodern; completely fixed	Modern, rationalist and contextualist ; can evolve
al wala wa l bara	millet based	saved sect Muslims only	in group muslims only	nonconfessional
Slavery	Legal until late 20th century  based on ‘scholarly consensus’ and pressure from outside of tradition	Legal and valid	Legal and valid	Illegal and unislamic
Jihad	Premodern (  basis for engaging in war   - in Shafi and some Hanbali- kufr ; Hanafi and Maliki – aggression on Muslims	Offshoot of Shafi’I and Hanbali	Offshoot of Shafi’i and Hanbali	Builds on Hanafi and Maliki and goes beyond
takfir	relatively infrequent but present ( e.g. Ghazali against  Islamic philosophers)	more  prone to takfir	very prone to takfir	endorse religious pluralism and very abstract and non confessional concept of a muslim /mu'min