The ongoing events in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, as well as the rise of the Salafist movement, now require some interpretation that goes beyond daily political affairs. The Salafists are taking to the streets in a frequently violent manner. They are imposing some patterns of behaviors and values that, according to them, reflect the fundamental Islam. This is a reflection of the contemporary Arab societies rather than a return to the religious and social sources. We are witnessing a major and profound development in the Arab and Islamic societies, especially the ones that toppled the “infidel, secular" dictatorships and are now looking for their future direction. This development brings together several elements that have been building for several years during what came to be known as the era of stability in Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, and others. Over the past forty years, the social structure of these countries has changed. The population increased tremendously (especially in Syria and Egypt) and large numbers of people moved from rural to urban areas, thus leading to the emergence of slums, chronic poverty, and lack of education. Concomitantly with these changes, the attempts at development from above – that were carried out by the Nassiri and Baath regimes as well as the other ideologies – ended up with the disasters that we all know. However, this neither stopped nor slowed down the influence of external concepts on Arab societies, namely on productivity (increase of consumerism, dependence on emigrants' money, the oil money, etc...) and culture in general. The Arab societies changed; but the vision of the ruling classes and their ruling methods did not. When the dictatorships fell, it seemed that the movements of political Islam were more suited to take over power than the Liberals or Leftists who played an efficient part in the revolutions. The reasons pertain to the extent of experience, relations and capacities that the Islamists gained through decades of semi-public work on the one hand; and the speech directed at the masses of citizens who sided by the image of the “good and righteous man" instead of the image of the educated, intellectual and political activist on the other hand. But things cannot end just like that. The society where the traditional Islamists have worked for a long time is no longer the same. This society has lived through the experiences of the armed Jihadist groups and the Salafist movements. It grew poorer and more eager for a way out even if this was to come only through the satellite channels. The Salafist movements came about with their structural networks; their many leaders and references (with their slogan that rejects monopolization, “They are men and so are we," regardless of the erroneous use of this statement, which is quoted from Imam Abi Hanifa); and with their promises of an immediate heaven on earth and an eternal heaven in the afterlife. This flexible, network-based structure was in complete contradiction with the pyramidal structure of the Muslim Brothers, which is based on the European labor structure (or the Lenin vision of a party's structure). The Salafists' Islam transcended the failed modernism of our countries. In the post-modernism phase, there wouldn't be additional modernism but rather a regression and a rejection of that modernism. This is the reason why the individual freedoms, the indications of “westernization" and every aspect of creative and political independence are being attacked via the media and in the Street. This is the reason behind the startling fatwas uttered by the Sheikhs of the satellite channels. There is no use in discussing whether the statements of these Sheiks are right or wrong from the jurisprudential point of view. These statements are often contradictory; and there is a high wall separating their sources from a sound debate.
