[CIS 8.

1-2 (2012) 5356]

doi: 10.1558/cis.v8i1-2.53

Comparative Islamic Studies (print) ISSN 1740-7125

Comparative Islamic Studies (online) ISSN 1743-1638

Editors Preface
Contemporary Salafism:
Expressions, Practices and Everyday Living
Susanne Olsson and Emin Poljarevic
Stockholm University and University of Edinburgh

Contemporary Salafism is a multifaceted phenomenon that is increasingly receiving attention from scholars of sociology and religion in
general and Islam in particular. This special issue is a part of this trend
wherein we present a collection of case studies all focused on one or several important elements of Salafism in different socio-political contexts.
Herein, the scholars discuss various manifestations of Salafism, primarily
as a religious phenomenon, by using a range of different theoretical and
methodological models. The issue is the result of presentations at several
conferences and workshops during the last couple of years.
Each article in this issue is based on a case study wherein each scholar
presents a critical analysis of a unique set of data. This collection of
articles reveals rather clearly, the variety of approaches to the study of
Salafism both as a religious and social movement. The scholars demonstrate how a socio-religious phenomenon can be studied effectively by
applying several different methodologies. At the same time, they reveal
remarkable similarities in their unintentionally collective understandings of Salafism, an unexpected side effect of their respective studies.
The aim has not been to establish a consensus of our understanding of
Salafism. Our aim has instead been to broaden the study of Salafism.
Hence, the majority of case studies included here concern Salafism in
Muslim minority societies. This consequently complements the wider
Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2014, Office 415, The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX

54

Contemporary Salafism: Expressions, Practices and Everyday Living

study of Salafism, most of which is done on its religious and political

expressions in the MENA region.
The introductory article by Mark Segwick: Introduction: Salafism,
the Social, and the Global Resurgence of Religion, frames the issues
examination of social aspects of Salafism in terms of Roel Meijers observations on Salafisms capacity to empower and change identities. It
embeds Salafism in the wider contexts of the resurgence of Islam and
of the global resurgence of religion. Segwick notes that while analysis of
doctrinal aspects of Salafism is important, the study of the social aspects
is more neglected. It is here that this special issue makes an important
contribution. The introductory chapter summarizes and distills the
important findings of each case study.
Three articles focus on Salafism in Scandinavia. The article by Susanne
Olsson, Swedish puritan Salafism: a hijra within, focuses on the interpretation of a puritan Salafi group in Sweden that opposes political
participation of its affiliates. The group advocates instead a program
of individual and collective action (manhaj) that promotes segregation
and avoidance of the surrounding immoralities in various shapes. One of
the groups more specific concerns is the issue of segregation between
believers and non-believers and the idea of migration (hijra) to a Muslim
majority society. Gney Dogans article Moral geographies and the disciplining of senses of Swedish Salafis asks the question what it means
to be a Salafi. Here, an anthropological study shows that within a Salafi
mode of social habitus we can see people developing their own doctrinally based preferences and embodied behavior codes. This in turn leads
to forming new moral subjectivities bringing changes to practitioners
everyday lives. These two articles give a reflective image to what it may
mean to be a puritan Salafi in a Swedish contemporary setting while at
the same time they show how it may influence the everyday lives of individual Salafis. The two articles also contest the understanding that puritan Salafis are apolitical, since the promotion of segregation and infusing everyday life with a Salafi lifestyle brings about significant social
and political consequences. Ulrika Mrtenssons article, Harak Salafism in Norway: The Saved Sect Hugs the Infidels focuses on the Norwegian organization Islam Net and seeks to define its correspondence
with the broader notion of Salafism. Mrtensson does that by exploring the organizations capacity for civic engagement. The strategies of
Islam Net seem to differ from the Swedish groups in focus in Olsson and
Dogans articles. Islam Net has explicitly made a civic commitment to
Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2014

Susanne Olsson and Emin Poljarevic

55

social activism. The organization has therefore chosen to publicly negotiate parts of their religious framework, bringing Islam Net in line with
European harak (movement) Salafism. The three articles on Scandinavian Salafism explore different mobilization strategies of Salafi groups
exposing several important similarities and differences between the two
social contexts.
Emin Poljarevics article In Pursuit of Authenticity: Becoming a Salafi
explores Salafism in the Egyptian context by focusing on the broad Salafi
claim of representing religious authenticity. Poljarevic identifies the
main components of this assertion and its appeal among the Egyptian
youth immediately before and after the 2011 popular revolt. The article
offers an analysis of Salafi youths discourse by tracing the process of
developing the moral economy based on their claims of authentic religion and everyday living. Through contextualization of the empirical
data, Poljarevic shows that the growing influence of Salafi rhetoric on
Egyptian youth materialized, at least in part, due to the states repressive policies. The article suggests that the authoritarian rule and fragmentation of the religious market of ideas had, to great extent, facilitated the rise of strict religious groups. Such groups appeal primarily to
those who desire a firm structure of everyday living and in a context of
authoritarian rule, but also in periods of rising socio-cultural fragmentation and uncertainty.
Terje stebs article, Salafism, State-Politics, and the Question of
Extremism in Ethiopia addresses the need to consider Salafism both
in the particularities of the locality and to broader trans-local dynamics. The main objective of the article is to demonstrate the dynamic of
the increasing tensions between the Ethiopian regime and the countrys
Muslim population. Within this tension, Salafis have been singled out as
an important target of the government policies and accused of aspiring
for political powerseeking to introduce the Islamic rule. This article
offers important insights into the Ethiopian Salafi movements attitudes
towards political activism. One of stebs major points is to illustrate
how local particularities and broader ideological framework, of both the
regime and Salafi movement, reciprocally affect one another, reinforcing each partys stance even further. In the Ethiopian case we see, contrary to the regimes accusations, that a range of local and trans-local
factors prompt Salafis to avoid political engagement.
Jonas Svenssons article, Mind the beard! Deference, purity and
Islamization of everyday life as micro-factors in a Salafi cultural epi Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2014

56

Contemporary Salafism: Expressions, Practices and Everyday Living

demiology represents a theoretical outlier in this issue. While most

studies explain the appeal of Salafism as a result of a particular set of
cultural and socio-political circumstances, this article considers Salafism as an epidemiology. Svensson suggests that complementary to the
factors on a macro or meso level, there are certain micro-factors related
to general human psychological, cognitive and emotional dispositions.
These dispositions are certainly of interest to the main question of why
Salafism appears to be successful in such varied contexts. The articles
focus on the concept of purity and its implications for everyday living
as a Salafi has certainly added a useful element to our understanding of
Salafism.
The editors hope is that this special issue will bring useful and original insights to our overall understanding of contemporary Salafism. The
articles represent a collection of various methodological and theoretical
approaches to the study of this growing religious movement, all with
the aim to illuminate a specific dimension of Salafism. Our intention
has, at the same time, been to encourage others to broaden the study
of Salafism by calling them to consider the utility of multidisciplinary
and comparative case-study approaches including the analysis on multiple levels. We therefore hope that future studies of Salafism will reconsider the old notions of, not only Salafism, but also other strict religious
groups, as a way to continue to improve our understanding of a significant socio-religious phenomenon.

Equinox Publishing Ltd. 2014