Wahhabism and Salafism

Many scholars and critics distinguish between Wahhabi and Salafi. According to American scholar Christopher M. Blanchard, Wahhabism refers to "a conservative Islamic creed centered in and emanating from Saudi Arabia", while Salafiyya is "a more general puritanical Islamic movement that has developed independently at various times and in various places in the Islamic world".

Hamid Algar lists three "elements" Wahhabism and Salafism had in common.

Above all disdain for all developments subsequent to al-salaf al-salih (the first two or three generations of Islam),

The rejection of Sufism,

The abandonment of consistent adherence to one of the four or five Sunni Madhhabs (schools of fiqh).