This book provides a new look at Salafism and an innovative approach to its study. Moving away from the common focus on politics and militancy, Rock-Singer turns our attention to Salafi social practices, their history in Egypt and the wider Middle East, and the ways in which the seeming ordinariness of life becomes both the site of intense contestation and, concomitantly, the means for reshaping the world in the Salafi image. As a guide to Salafism in its varied contexts and to the social history of the modern Middle East, this book is original, authoritative, and accessible. --Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Robert H. Niehaus '77 Professor of Near Eastern Studies and Religion, Princeton University A unique and insightful study of what makes a Salafi a Salafi. Rock-Singer turns many conventional assumptions on their head by showing that Salafi practices are not merely the result of a careful return to the Qur'an and the Sunna. A landmark book.--Henri Lauzière, Associate Professor of History, Northwestern University Through a careful reading of twentieth-century Egyptian Salafi thought and practice, Aaron Rock-Singer's work offers a potent corrective, indeed an outright challenge, to theories of Islam's discursive continuity. It warrants broad readership and will stimulate productive debate.--Emilio Spadola, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Middle Eastern & Islamic Civilization Studies, Colgate University