The term Salafism has been used to refer to the movement of Islamic modernists such as Muhammad ʾAbduh and Rashid Rida which emerged in late 19th century Egypt, and to the much more traditionalist contemporary trend closely associated with Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia. In recent years scholars have addressed links between the two, and even questioned the utility of the term itself; however the tendency has continued to promote a common dichotomy: modernist ʾulamaʿ in places like Cairo and Damascus, and puritanical ʾulamaʿ clinging to traditionalist dogma in Arabia, especially the Najd. However, in the 1910s and 1920s in the Najd, the geographic core of Wahhabi Hanbalism, there was a lively debate among ʾulamaʿ, many of whom advocated a relatively moderate, Salafi approach to addressing the already emerging demands of the changing world around them. They sought first to educate and moderate the extreme traditionalists of the Ikhwan, then issued fatwas backing ʾAbdulaziz ibn Saud’s efforts to eliminate the movement. The works of the Najdi ʾalim Sulayman bin Sahman (d. 1930), in particular, reveal a tendency toward a Salafi methodology similar to that espoused by scholars such as ʾAbduh and Rida. Indeed, in 1927 Rida’s Al-Manar published bin Sahman’s, “Guidance for the Seeker of Knowledge,” originally written at least as early as 1917 and meant to educate and temper the more extreme traditionalist voices. Bin Sahman’s correspondence with fellow Najdi ʾulamaʿ reveals that he and his colleagues were quite familiar with Rida’s works and that bin Sahman sent him multiple letters for publication. This work is based on dozens of letters written to or by bin Sahman, fatwas and treatises, and his extensive works of poetry, mostly with a religious or political focus. These documents were accessed in Riyadh at the King ʾAbdulaziz Institute, the King Saud University Documents and Special Collections departments, the King Fahd Library, and the King ʾAbdulaziz Library. The views expressed by bin Sahman and other Najdi ʾulamaʿ reveal a Salafi approach to the challenges of the modern era far closer to (what Leor Halevi calls) the “laissez faire Salafism” of Rashid Rida than to the conservative and traditionalist Wahhabi Salafism with which the term is most often associated. These ʾulamaʿ were key supporters providing vital religio-legal legitimacy for ʾAbdulaziz’s suppression of more traditionalist forces, and ultimately for his establishment of a modern state system.