The Charisma of Script: The Quran and the Hadith in Neo-Salafi Online Community

The purpose of this paper is to analyze textual practices in contemporary neo-Salafi online groups. The neo-Salafis' approach to religious text sources is particular, in that it tends to privilege literalistic interpretations of the Quran and the Hadith. Particularly, what is known as 'the authentic Hadith sources' plays a special role in questions regarding ways to conduct one's own life. This article regards the neo-Salafi understanding of the Quran and the Hadiths as textual charismatic authorities that enable a direct and 'authentic' access to 'pure' religion. The present article will connect the question of the mediated immediacy of religion to a Salafi concept of textual charismatic authority articulated by its own notion of 'authenticity.'