Abstract
Since the attacks of 9/11, there has been a tendency to define Islamist militancy in terms of an undifferentiated pan-Islamic threat defined in terms of the puritanical salafi creed. This paper challenges this essentialist approach, arguing that it makes better interpretive sense to understand an episode of Muslim activism within its historical, sociological, and political contexts. Rather than privilege ideology as an explanatory factor, researchers must examine contingencies that prompt members of an Islamist organization to modify practices in the direction of pan-Islamic activity. The paper illustrates the effectiveness of the contextual approach with reference to two cases of Muslim activism at opposite ends of the historic Dar al-Islam: the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and the Bosnia struggle for national self-determination against Serb and Croat forces in the 1990s. The paper shows that despite efforts to graft pan-Islamic ideologies onto these movements, each was able to maintain its integrity as a regional player. Adapted from the source document.