<Special Feature: Revisiting Islam and Politics in Egypt’s “New Republic”>Transformation of Salafist Political Attitudes during the “Arab Spring” Period: “Democracy” and “Parliamentary Politics” for Egypt’s al-Da‘wa al-Salafīya

Abstract

This paper explores how al-Da‘wa al-Salafīya (the Salafi Call: DS), the largest Salafist organization in Egypt, changed their attitude toward “democracy” and “parliamentary politics” and participated in public politics during the so-called “Arab Spring/Arab Uprising” of the 2011 period. DS was previously considered “apolitical/quietist, ” but after the resignation of Ḥusnī Mubārak, they established a political party, Ḥizb al-Nūr (the Nour Party: NP) and participated in public politics. In addition, after the political upheaval of 2013, they have survived until today as the only Islamist party in parliament under the Sīsī regime. Following the change from their previous stance of distancing themselves from public politics, a certain number of studies focus on the situation at the very beginning of their political participation and analyze interviews with DS/NP officials at the time. However, little is known about the continuity/innovation (discontinuity) in DS/NP’s thought and strategy before and after the transformation of their attitude and the internal logic behind it. Thus, this study investigates how they justified their actions in the changing socio-political environment and what continuity/innovation can be seen in comparison to their conventional thought and strategy. This was done through discourse analysis of articles written by DS leaders and writings and statements of DS/NP officials before and after their change in political attitude.