On identifying someone as "Salafi" :
I never call any group in any derogatory term. Almost never. Rather I check what they would like to identify themselves as. And then call them that. The name they like being called with.
That's how the term "Salafi" appeared in my posts. They liked to be identified as such. The 90s, even in 00s.
Until now, that is. When surprisingly they now find it derogatory. That's what I am seeing both on the net and in real life. And some people really do get offended when I identify them as such. And suddenly I am caught off guard not noticing when that changed.
Flash back -- Matiur Rahman Madani's lecture on why it's good that we should be identified as "Salafi". And I heard the same argument from scholars in Medina in 00s.
Time changes. Apparently it's now rebrand time.
Reading this on twitter :
"Every set of ideas has imploded and had to reform and rebrand itself. But you've never seen the Shafiis for example go through this. For a millenium nobody's ever been embarassed to be called Hanafi, Malikis, Shafii...
They never had to rebrand. They've lasted the test of time."