Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya as Changing Salafi Icons 469
cus or al-Azhar in Cairo, nor did he participate in informal study cir-
cles with renowned Muslim scholars over a period of several years.
His credentials are based on an approximately two-month Islamic
dogma (ʿaqīda) crash course in Saudi Arabia with a Muslim religious
scholar and professor at a Saudi University named Muḥammad Saʿīd
al-Qaḥtānī (b. 1956).^27 The latter was a student of the late Saudi Grand
Mufti ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Ibn Bāz (1909–1999).^28 Shaykh Ḥasan openly
admitted not being an Islamic scholar and frequently challenged his
followers to verify his statements. For example, when he was invited
to present Salafi Islam at a seminar at the Free University of Berlin in
the summer of 2003, he arrived with an entourage of young male Arab
and European Salafis, who sat in the back of the room with the Koran
and Hadith books on their laps – always at the ready to look up the
answers to questions. In the course of that lecture, Dabbāgh frequent-
ly asked them to verify his statements, which gave his teachings an
egalitarian touch.^29 Despite his lack of academic credentials, his noisy
appearances have a certain impact. Since March 2006, Dabbāgh made
it into several discussion rounds on German TV channels.^30 Hence,
despite their small number, Salafis do have some possibilities to insert
their statements into the public discourse. About 300 followers regu-
larly attend the mosque,^31 which is under surveillance of the “Office
for the Protection of the Constitution of Sachsen” (Landesamt für
Verfassungsschutz in Sachsen).^32 In April 2008 Dabbāgh’s mosque and
his private residence – together with other Salafi centres in four of 16
27 Muḥammad Saʿīd al-Qaḥtānī is a Saudi scholar specialized in Islamic dogma
who graduated with an MA from the Umm al-Qurā University in Mecca in
1401/1980. He currently teaches as an Assistant Professor at the Umm al-Qurā
University. See http://www.islamtoday.net/questions/muftee.cfm?Sch_ID=121,
accessed July 30, 2008.
28 Informal conversation with Umm ʿAbd Allāh on May 29, 2004 in al-Nūr
Mosque in Berlin. ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Ibn Bāz was Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia from
1993 to 1999.
29 Lecture of Shaykh Ḥasan Dabbāgh at the Free University of Berlin on June 12,
2003.
30 Musharbash, Yassin: Maischberger, Christiansen und der doppelte Imam, in:
Spiegel-Online (Sept. 14, 2006); online: http://www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesell-
schaft/0,1518,437136,00.html, accessed Dec. 11, 2010.
31 Figure given by the Religionswissenschaftliche Forum e. V. from the University
of Leipzig. See http://www.reform-leipzig.de/web/index.php/Religionenin
Leipzig.html, accessed Dec. 11, 2010.
32 See its report on the internet: Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz: Islamische
Gemeinde in Sachsen. Al-Rahman Moschee e. V.; online: http://www.verfas-
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