Rereading Jihadi Texts: Between subalternity and policy discourse

This chapter examines how elements of the Islamic State (IS) phenomenon, rather than representing innovations in Islamic tradition, reproduce familiar themes that have evolved in the modern jihadist tradition. Salafism, Islamism and political Islam are contested, even confused terms upon which there is no consensus in the scholarly literature. Salafism is divided into three blocks: political Salafism, quietist Salafism and jihadi Salafism. As for jihadi Salafism, it is concerned with the conditions that justify insurrection against a Muslim or non-Muslim ruler, which may or may not involve declaring the Muslim ruler to be outside Islam. The jihadi tradition has developed since Sayyid Qutb through a dialectic that deploys a series of concepts and external discursive traditions, including takfir, jihad, caliphate, apocalyptica, al-wala wal-bara, Arab nationalism, anti-imperialism. The chapter suggests that it can be possible to recover alternative readings of jihadist movements, one of the more enigmatic products of the post-colonial order.