The trope of “the way of the pious forefathers” epitomizes Islam’s most viable response to the challenge of modernity. The Salafi discourse fills the theological space that opened up in the nineteenth century between the puritan Wahhabiyya, the pre-modern expression of the Hanbali tradition of return to original Islam, and new Muslim elites advocating a wholesale adoption of Western values and institutions. The early Salafi protagonists were reformist middle status Arab ‘ulama/intellectuals who defined themselves in contradistinction to Wahhabis and Westernizers, while their main adversaries were conservative ‘ulama and Sufis who, entrenched in the same theological space, accused the Salafis of both Wahhabism and unbelief. Salafism may accordingly be seen as an anti-traditional discourse that calls to return to the way of the pious forefathers in order to secure Islam’s place in the modern world. My presentation seeks to follow the modern debate over the legacy of the salaf in the crucial period of its consolidation, from the demise of the Ottoman Empire and abolition of the Caliphate following World War I to the creation of independent Arab states in the aftermath of World War II (roughly 1920-1945). I use an interdisciplinary approach, analyzing writings of the major participants in the debate over the Salafiyya in the historical context of the time and in light of the theoretical contributions of Althusser, Barth, and especially Foucault concerning the dialogical nature and power determination of discourse. My primary sources are texts by the main protagonists of the Salafiyya at that period in the Arab east such as Rashid Rida, Muhibb al-Din al-Khatib, Mahmud Shukri al-Alusi, and Bahjat al-Bitar, as well as major anti-Salafi ‘ulama/Sufis like ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Iskandarani and Muhammad Zahid al-Kawthari. My principal conclusions are that this debate resulted in 1) the formation of the Salafiyya as the hegemonic ideology of modern Islam, so that today it is used not only by Salafis but also by their ‘ulama and Sufi adversaries, and 2) the current diversification of the Salafi discourse itself between a Wahhabi-type creed and a politicized (post-)modern global Jihad.