Of all Arab countries, Jordan is usually one of the least discussed in the media as well as in academia and the impact the Arab Spring has had on the country only seems to confirm this. This is particularly so, perhaps, with regard to political Salafism in Jordan, which – judging by how often it is dealt with by both journalists and scholars - seems to be almost non-existent. Jordan nevertheless has its very own tradition of Salafism, a small part of which can be labelled “reformist” – a broad term used for those Jordanian Salafis who seek a middle way between the sole focus on doctrinal purity and education of quietist, a-political Salafis and the radicalism and use of violence of the country’s Jihadi-Salafi trend.
This paper discusses the development of this more political Salafism in Jordan and how the Arab Spring has had an impact on this phenomenon. It traces the history of political discourse and activism among Salafis in Jordan back to transnational trends coming from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the early 1990s on the one hand and increased politicisation among local Islamic movements after the Gulf War on the other. The paper shows how the Jordanian context has gradually become more hostile towards political Salafism, both because of the state’s increasingly sceptical attitude towards political Islam in general and because of quietists Salafis’ growing vehemence in their rejection of alternative Salafi trends. Special attention will be paid to what may be described as the standard bearer of “reformist” Salafism in Jordan, the Jam‘iyyat al-Kitab wa-l-Sunna.
Based on an extensive reading of Jordanian political Salafis’ own publications as well as fieldwork among adherents to this trend of “reformist” Salafism conducted in 2012 and 2013, this paper argues that the Arab Spring – and particularly the Salafi parties that came into existence as a result – has had a dual effect on political Salafism in Jordan: while it has undoubtedly served as a source of inspiration for the country’s political Salafis, it has simultaneously increased the weariness of this trend among both state officials and Jordan’s quietist Salafis. As such, this paper argues that, whereas the Arab Spring seems to have stimulated Salafi groups to integrate politically in countries whose regimes have been overthrown, it has so far increased pressure on like-minded Jordanians to refrain from doing the same.
Religious Studies/Theology
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