From Quietism to Politics: The Development of the Egyptian Salafiyya from 1970 to 2012

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Henner Fürtig
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History
• Term: from 2014 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 258164453

The research project seeks to analyse the development of the Egyptian Salafist movement from 1970 to 2012. It focuses on how a political strand has evolved out of the Salafiyya's dominant quietist mainstream, and on how this strand has acquired increasing strength materializing in the formation of several Salafist political parties after the fall of Mubarak in 2011; after the dismissal of President Mursi in 2013, the Salafists even remained the only legal islamist grouping of significance. On a material level Salafist forms of organization and mobilization will be studied over time. On an ideational level the development of Salafist ideology and its various strands will be analysed. Both developments are understood to be shaped by the changing political context in which they unfold. This context will be conceptualized through a combined Political Opportunity Structures and Framing approach, that comprises the interactions of Salafist groups with (i) the state and (ii) with other Islamist forces. It is assumed that especially the interactions with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Brotherhood's entrance into formal politics in 1984 and its ascendancy to becoming Egypt's strongest opposition force in 2005, have contributed to the strengthening of the political Salafist strand in Egypt.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants