A number of scholars have addressed the great difficulty of defining “Salafism” but few have examined the instability of the term in a particular historical moment, or the efforts of various stakeholders, Salafis included, to reclaim ‘Salafism’ in any depth. Instead, scholars often focus on Salafism’s emergence as an ideology, its incompatibility with modernity, and the piety, practices, and sometimes-violent tendencies of its adherents. The result is a series of narratives that silence Salafis, privilege the longue durée, gravitate toward doctrine, and (over-)emphasize jihad. The dearth of academic scholarship exploring Salafism in modern Egypt is particularly striking. This paper seeks to address this void, which, as will be demonstrated, is further compounded by the writings of those who explore Salafism through a series of reductive classifications incapable of reflecting the complexity of present-day Egyptian politics. The research presented herein is based on Arabic newspaper articles, television broadcasts, YouTube videos, pamphlets distributed in Tahrir Square, and one year of fieldwork in downtown Cairo (2010-2011). The objectives of my analysis are two-fold. First, I seek to understand the processes and conditions under which ‘the Salafis’ were produced in Egyptian mass media in the months following the ousting of Hosni Mubarak. I pay particular attention to the resistance and responses of Salafis to their portrayals as vanguards and villains. I address both the construction and receptions of these representations in order to observe the instability of ‘Salafism’ in a particular historical moment, as well as the efforts of some Salafis to reclaim and re-define their doctrine in front of the Egyptian masses. Secondly, I contest the idea of ‘the Salafis’ as a monolithic entity. I maintain that the tendency of commentators to frame Salafis as a unified movement of like-minded organizations presents a number of shortcomings. After accounting for the weaknesses of movement-based analysis, wherein Egyptian Salafis are compared to, and confused with, Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, I address the complex dynamics at play between, as well as within, Salafi schools and currents, such as the “Salafi Call” (al-Da`wa al-Salafiyya) in Alexandria. Ultimately, I reveal a more complex religious landscape wherein multiple Salafisms compete to define “correct Salafism” in contemporary Egypt.