Salafi Women in Contemporary Egypt: the Politics of Integration

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

ABSTRACT Although most Egyptians self-identify as observant Muslims, many also exhibit hostility toward face-veiled (Salafi) women. So how do face-veiled women navigate public spaces characterized by disap proval of obtrusive religious expression? This study focuses on face- veiled women based in Cairo, who are university students or gain fully employed. It shows that such fully-veiled women use their agency to address imbricated spiritual and worldly concerns, and that these dual concerns prompt them to subordinate themselves to divine discourses as well as engage with mainstream society. The latter necessitates inserting themselves into non-Salafi public spaces, and further involves awareness of constraints and the desire to resist these. They do so by deploying the ‘power of presence’. This strategy involves: persisting in the performance of mundane daily activities that do not harm others; making decisions inde pendently without the benefit of leadership; resorting to audible action to defend rights/gains. They rely on this strategy to realize self-fulfillment and thereby improve their lives

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