Salafi is a school of thought, just like any other school of thought. They might have some regressive aspects but you are confusing the concept of takfir which is what political Islamic groups of all schools of thoughts indulge in and associating with only the Salafis.
You misunderstand what I say, again. I say it has a
high potential to be abused by others. Think about it. It is a recent ideology, sprung up in the 18th century. Deobandism sprung up in India in the 19th century.
It's an ideology based on revisionism, seeking to 'correct' the deviations in Muslim societies. Sufism was the means of how Islam spread in the Indian subcontinent. Deobandism declared revering shrines haram, & everything Sufis did to spread the peaceful message of God.
I did not say it is a Takfiri ideology, but it can easily be made into one. Just like extremism can easily be converted into militancy if exploited by others. The reformist & revisionist aspect of Salafism is the one that gives some (the people who want to exploit this ideology) the license to kill others, even though they aren't following Salafism by being militant, they feel, in their brainwashed minds, that they are doing the "work of God", which is how some brainwashed individuals thought that killing Shias would get them into heaven, as they are Mushrikeen, & God has said "kill the infidels".
Again, I am strictly talking about the brainwashed individuals. My previous example shows Salafism getting converted into "political pan-Islam", being used by "political powers", who give it a political dimension, to brainwash the easily brainwashed to achieve "certain objectives".
The point is that political Islamists who happen to be Salafi are NOT indulging in terrorism because of the Salafi school of thought which condemnds thinkgs like killing civilians and suciide bombings in the first place but because of the deviant political Islamist leanings. The idea was first promulgated by Syed Qutb in Egypt and has been popularised by a section in the Arab world. Kohemnei is the shia counterpart of the same ideology. So for example, dispite complete unanimity that suicide bombings are haram, Khomenie had supported the Hezbullah's suicide bombing campaign. Even thought other shia scholars opposed it.
You are wrong with the comparison to Shia ideology, because while Iran has used political Islam (Taqleed) to gain political control of the Shia population throughout the world, it (Taqleed) is not a Shia concept. The concept in Shiism is to accept the Imamat of only the infallible, & Khamenei nor Sistani are infallible. Hence, everything they say is open to criticism in the Shia world.
The concept of Taqleed (following Sistani or Khamenei unconditionally) is not inspired by contemporary Shia teachings, whereas Takfirism (which gets converted into militancy) is inspired by the revisionist aspect of Salafism, a recent phenomena to correct the deviations of Muslim societies.
The contemporary Sunni school of thought (& its different flavors), Shia school of thought have been around since a long time, Deobandism/Salafism only came around a couple of hundred years ago, with political motives.