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Salafism in Lebanon: From Apoliticism to Transnational Jihadism by Robert G. Rabil (review)

LEBANON Salafism in Lebanon: From Apoliticism to Transnational Jihadism, by Robert G. Rabil. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2014. $49.95 cloth; $29.95 paper.Reviewed by Zoltan PallIn this book Robert Rabil attempts to offer an understanding of how Salafism in Lebanon has evolved and transformed within the context of confessionalism. He also wants to show how the ideology of the different Salafischools has been applied to politics in Lebanon's multi-sectarian milieu.In the beginning he discusses the broad belief system of Salafism, and then distinguishes three schools of thought within the movement: the quietist, the haraki or activist, and the jihadi. In Chapter Two he provides some background on Lebanon's confessional political system and the emergence of Islamic movements within this context. The next three chapters discuss the various ideological positions of different Lebanese Salafis. The last three chapters focus on contemporary sociopolitical developments in Lebanon and their impact on Salafism. These final three chapters cover the period since the end of the 1975-90 civil war until the beginnings of the conflict in Syria.So far very few scholars have done serious studies on Salafism in Lebanon, and a thorough analysis that would shed light on the development of the movement in relation to the Sunni community's leadership structure, and to the larger Lebanese and regional context is much needed. Unfortunately, Rabil's book contributes little to fill this gap due to its shallow analysis, lack of a cohesive structure, and its conceptual misunderstandings.In the first place, the book is not based on a solid theoretical background: Rabil devotes less than a paragraph to describe the theories he intends to use in his analysis (p. 16). He claims that he deals with Salafism as a social movement. However, he does not explain how Salafism fits into the larger family of social movements, nor does he explain how the logic of Salafism differs from that of other forms of social activism, such as anti-capitalist protest movements.The book, as Rabil puts it, "heeds Joseph Alagha's employment of the concept of resource mobilization" (p. 16). But he does not explain how Alagha employs resource mobilization, and how his approach, developed to examine Hizbullah, would be useful to understand Salafism. Moreover, there is no further discussion of social movement theory or resource mobilization.The author's seemingly shallow understanding of Islam and Salafism has led to serious factual errors throughout his book. …