This paper concentrates on the religious authority of the Jihadi-Salafi ideologue Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi (b. 1959). Although of Palestinian origin, al-Maqdisi has lived and studied in the West Bank, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Jordan and the influence of his writings extends far beyond the borders of his home-country of Jordan. He is therefore the epitome of a transnational scholar whose status has transcended the national sphere. Considered one of the most important living radical Muslim scholars in the world, al-Maqdisi has come under heavy criticism from fellow Jordanian Jihadi-Salafis for his criticism of his former student Abu Mus'ab al-Zarqawi in 2004 and 2005. Since that time, a small but vocal group of critics has developed in Jordan that eventually found its place at the Midad al-Suyuf internet forum. While al-Maqdisi enjoys a global reputation as being one of the most important Jihadi-Salafi scholars alive, the criticism levelled at him from the mostly Jordanian-inspired Midad al-Suyuf forum challenges that reputation in three respects: his allegedly weak personality, his supposedly recanted radical beliefs and his lack of experience in fighting a jihad. These "accusations" stem mostly, if not entirely, from Jordanian radical Muslims who have first-hand knowledge of al-Maqdisi's experiences in Jordanian prisons or are taken from books written about him. Al-Maqdisi's efforts to counter these accusations against him are derived from his transnational network of sources, including the writings of Western analysts and Jihadi-Salafi scholars in Europe, who are only familiar with his writings but not with al-Maqdisi himself. This paper is based on the postings on the Midad al-Suyuf forum as well as al-Maqdisi's own writings and fieldwork in Jordan conducted in 2008 and 2009. Its focus is on the connection between the very local (Jordanian) "accusations" against al-Maqdisi on the Midad al-Suyuf forum and his transnational response. It asks whether al-Maqdisi's transnational responses to Jordanian accusations will ever be successful as long as they are being fed locally. Moreover, it seeks to answer to what extent these "accusations" affect al-Maqdisi's transnational religious authority and whether his local detractors may actually start a global decline of his status.

Saudi Arabia is regarded as the cradle of modern Salafism from where this new, reformist stream of Sunni Islam spread around the Islamic world and the Muslim communities of the West. Prominent members of the Saudi religious elite (official and unofficial) are regarded authoritative wherever Salafism is present. Therefore the development of the Saudi religious field inevitably has impact on the Salafi scenes of other countries. The appearance of different streams of Salafism due to the differences of the opinions on political legitimacy and social issues contributed to the divisions in the lines of Salafis worldwide. In this paper I will examine that how this happened in Kuwait. In the small Gulf emirate the Salafi movement has significant influence on the country's social and religious life and the political field as well due to the relative freedom of political activism. Moreover Kuwaiti charity organizations are one of the most important financial sources of Salafi groups in many Muslim countries. The evolution of two religious streams in Saudi Arabia which have opposite views regarding the relations with politics and the ruling elite had crucial influence on the Kuwaiti Salafi movement. The first school is often hallmarked with the Sahwa movement, or called "Haraki"; they openly criticize the ruler, emphasize his accountability and the right of the people to choose the ruling elite. The second is the so called "Medina school" and its most radical branch, the Madkhalis (from the name of Rabi' al-Madkhali) who call for unconditional obedience for the ruler and harshly attack everybody who oppose their views. During the Gulf war of 1991 most of the Kuwaiti Salafis took refuge in Saudi Arabia and actively participated in the religio-politcal debates regarding the legitimacy of asking military assistance from the US. After the liberation of Kuwait these debates were transferred to Kuwait and are still continuing if not in the same vehemence as in the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s. In my paper I will show how the transformation of religious authority has contributed in shaping Kuwait's Salafi scene and how other factors, like tribal or other, personal contacts played role in the development of this authority.

Much of the research on Salafism focuses on its ideologies and the differences between ideological currents and key figures. At the same time these discourses are tied to transnational flows of people, money, ideologies and to Islam as a global space of flows of ideas, references and debates about the role and nature of Islam. In order to understand to dynamics between Salafi networks, it is not sufficient to look at the global level only. Glick Schiller has suggested that in studying transnational connections we have to ask questions pertaining to the "dynamic between transnational networks and ideologies of legitimation" (2005:440). This dynamic has to be explored at both the local and global level. Based upon ethnographic research in the Netherlands, this paper draws on that question in the case of Salafism by exploring two transnational networks. One network belongs to the so-called quietist Salafi branch with Al-Madkhali as its most prominent scholar. By looking at the life-histories of one imam and two Salafi activists I will try to find out how the Saudi Madkhali network expanded throughout Europe, in particular the Netherlands, how issues that dominate Islam and Salafism as global spaces are re-localized but also how, in turn, local issues become part of the global space. The second network features one native Dutch Salafi activist who works as a volunteer for the US based Salafi preacher Sheikh Yasin. I will look in particular at the life history of the Dutch Salafi activist in order to how this Saudi-US-Dutch network came into being. Both cases have been chosen because on the global as well as on the local level these networks are part of eachother's counter-public. With this comparative approach I will attempt to explain how religious authorities are shaped and situated in transnational social fields and how forms of power are produced on a more local level. I will show how Salafi discourse on for example truth and justice link up to powerful religious gnd secular discursive regimes and how people within the Salafi networks use those connections in order legitimate Salafi discourse and build their own position as authorities. This paper therefore contributes to ongoing efforts of exploring and analyzing sources of authority and the process of authorization of religious knowledge among young Muslims in Europe. Schiller, Nina Glick. 2005. "Transnational social fields and imperialism: Bringing a theory of power to Transnational Studies." Anthropological Theory 5:439-461.

Scholars agree in general that new communication technologies in unison with mass education have transformed and are still transforming the nature of religious authority (Mandaville 2007, Eickelman/Anderson 1999). However, it is rarely specified what form or type of authority is affected (Campbell 2007). This paper tries to address the question as to what specifically happens to Salafi authority when increasing numbers of young Muslims engage with the Salafi understanding of Islam in chat rooms and online forums. Salafi ideas of authority are in general closely linked to authenticity. Authoritative is what or who comes closest to the idealized life worlds of Muhammad and the pious ancestors as illustrated in the Quran and the Sunnah (Musa 2008). Muhammad and his companions are regarded as the ideal models of how a pious Muslim should live (Meijer 2009). To be authentic therefore means to base deeds and words on the scriptures. In chat rooms and online forums Muslims following the salafiya try to find their way through the jungle of diverse "Salafi" and "Islamic" voices emanating from different parts of the world and intermingling in diverse transnational networks. One of their main concerns is to stay true to "authentic" Islam despite the manifold temptations to deviate. Based on interviews and participant observation in Dutch and German chat rooms and online forums this paper will explore practices that generate authority in concrete mediated environments. Authority can be bestowed on persons considered to to be on the path of the salaf al-salih or on practices considered to be rooted in the life worlds of the prophet and his companions. Four main interrelated elements are at work in the processes of authority construction in German and Dutch chat rooms and online forums: (1) audio-visual elements like avatars, Quranic recitation and anasheed, (2) discursive elements like the construction of genealogies of Salafi scholars and their students, the use of "Salafi" narratives and exegetic interaction with the the religious sources, (3) stylistic elements like the use of Arabic or different literary genres and (4) performative elements like typing invocations (ad'iya) or modeling one's online behaviour on the salaf al-salih. These elements circulate in different transnational Salafi networks but are simultaneously localized in specific mediated environments like among German and Dutch speaking Salafi communities in chat rooms and online forums.