The term Salafism comes from the name for the first three generations of Muslims, al-salaf al-ṣāliḥ (the pious ancestors), whom Salafīs purport to emulate in belief and practice. The Wahhābīs certainly fit the popular conception of Salafism today as a purist religious orientation in Sunnī Islam, one that combines a fundamentalist hermeneutics (that is, direct engagement with the source texts of revelation) with a commitment to the doctrinal tenets of Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim.
