Massimo Ramaioli

In this study, I offer a categorization of Salafism based on the concept of vanguardism. Vanguardism suggests how Salafis inhabit the political domain, by posing as the vanguard of a privileged group endowed with a historical mission. Relatedly, I summon the Gramscian concept of “philosophy of praxis.” With this, I intend to reconfigure Wiktorowicz’s classificatory scheme predicated on too stark an opposition between ‘aqīdah (theory) and manhaj (method). The philosophy of praxis accounts for the inherent tension between these two domains. Such tension is manifest in Salafis’ ambiguities, compromises, internal rifts, ideological adjustments, and revisions. Two related Gramscian concepts, historical bloc and modern Prince, bring such considerations more immediately into the political. They highlight, respectively, the political-historical context in which Salafis operate and the political-historical role they play as instances of vanguardism. I then put forth my classificatory scheme ...

In this study, I offer a categorization of Salafism based on the concept of vanguardism. Vanguardism suggests how Salafis inhabit the political domain, by posing as the vanguard of a privileged group endowed with a historical mission. Relatedly, I summon the Gramscian concept of "philosophy of praxis." With this, I intend to reconfigure Wiktorowicz's classificatory scheme predicated on too stark an opposition between 'aqīdah (theory) and manhaj (method). The philosophy of praxis accounts for the inherent tension between these two domains. Such tension is manifest in Salafis' ambiguities, compromises, internal rifts, ideological adjustments, and revisions. Two related Gramscian concepts, historical bloc and modern Prince, bring such considerations more immediately into the political. They highlight, respectively, the political-historical context in which Salafis operate and the political-historical role they play as instances of vanguardism. I then put forth my classificatory scheme in the form of a typology. One axis is represented by the attitude towards the "historical bloc" (pro or anti) and the kind of vanguard posturing that emerges out of it (support, creation, or activation). The other axis is represented by the specific framing of the "Enemy" category on the part of the Salafi vanguard (historical/institutional or essential/identitarian), and the stance they consequently assume towards it (compromise/accommodation or rejection/denunciation). The resulting classification offers six categories (accommodationists, partisans, delayers, agitators, mobilizers, and belligerents). Stressing the fundamental political nature of contemporary Salafism-its vanguardism-they account for its inscription in a specific, modern way of thinking and acting the political.

p. i Title Page, p. ii Copy Right Page, p. iii Acknowledgements, p. iv Chapter 1 – Introduction Intellectuals in Contention, p. 1 Salafis: Contentious Politics, Islamism and Gramscian Intellectuals, p. 5 Studying Islamism and Mobilization: an Unavoidable Tension?, p. 11 Theory and the Salafi Case, p. 13 Jordanian Salafism: an Overview, p. 14 Plan of the Study, p. 16 Chapter 2 A Land of Three Rivers: Combining Perspectives Geography as a Metaphor, p. 18 On the Study of Religion in Politics, p. 19 Religion, Ideas and Political Contention, p. 21 Evolution of the Field: a Bird’s Eye View, p. 24 Framing Theory and the Study of Mobilization and Contention, p. 28 Dynamics of Contention, Cognition and Meaning Making, p. 37 Popular Intellectuals and Alternative Worldviews, p. 40 Defining an Elusive Actor: the Sociology of the Intellectuals, p. 42 Mobilizing Islam, or Why We’re Here, p. 50 Chapter 3 The Social Appropriation of Tradition: A Theory on Religious Intellectuals and Mobilization Gr...

<jats:p>Like Gender Economics, Trafficking in persons has only recently emerged into academic consciousness and business environment concerns, as a discrete area of study with its own particular areas of legal, socio-anthropological and economic principles, in the first decades of this third millennium. New discourses raise fresh questions and they are legion. The 'new kids' seek to make sense of challenging phenomena and outline the terms through which, Trafficking in persons it is to be articulated to the wider academy, public services, market institutions, and civil society. This chapter explicates the connectedness of critiques Gender Economics has been using on businesses, to see how Human Traffickers exploit people's bodies and their gendered realities. There is certain passivity towards the human, inbuilt in neo-liberal markets which commodify the whole of life. Those least able to protect themselves from the abusive 'entrepreneurship' of traffickers are traded, with their gendered reality affecting prices and outcomes. </jats:p>

In chapter 10, Massimo Ramaioli provides advice on interviewing Salafis based on his experiences in Jordan. He shares 10 considerations with the readers: orientalism, ethics, risks, context, meetings, approach, language, ivory tower, muqābala (encounter/interview), and surprises. Salafis, insofar as it is possible to generalize, tend to share a rigid approach to Islam that may present a number of unusual and specific challenges to the researcher. This chapter seeks to offer practical and theoretical suggestions as to how to approach Salafis of various inclinations and attitudes for carrying out interviews, balancing amongst issues of access and communication, personal safety, and ethics.

In which ways do ideologues and intellectuals affect social and political mobilization and the trajectory of contention through their ideological work? In this project, I analyze this question in the context of contemporary Arab Salafism, a particularly literal interpretation of Sunni Islam. I seek to unpack the processes by which prominent Islamist ideologues impact and shape two Salafi currents originating and operating across Jordan from the 1988 till 2005. The first current is labeled 'Quietist' Salafism, as its members engage mostly in preaching, proselytizing and provision of social services; they refrain from direct political activities or overt confrontation with state authorities. The second current is known as 'Jihadi' Salfism, and espouses instead a confrontational, radical and at times violent stance vis à vis state power. I posit that Islamist ideologues in both instances impact mobilization in similar ways through three main mechanisms: diffusion, whereby they facilitate the spreading and transmission of ideas and concepts formulated elsewhere; elaboration, whereby they build upon the existing body of knowledge on a given subject, providing novel insights, interpretations or at times formulating new ideas altogether; and systematization, whereby they (re)organize the otherwise relatively fragmented or incoherent worldview of their followers and acolytes. Together, these mechanisms compound into a process that I call ‘the social appropriation of tradition', by which group members, harking back to elements belonging to a shared and exemplar tradition, rearticulate the central aims of the group to include sustained social and political mobilization