ABSTRACT
The Islamists' judgment of the religious status of their societies both embodies the essence of their mission and highlights their main objective. Accordingly, it puts them on a different course from that of other political groups in their countries. It is true that among Tunisian Islamists the term was not widely used, and that even Ghannouchi employed the term only on rare occasions, although the notion of jahiliyya was in evidence from the movement's ideological beginnings. When Ghannouchi spoke about jahili societies, he spoke also about its victims: ordinary Muslims. These are not considered jahili people as such, but their society is jahili because it is not ruled by the laws and rules of Islam. However, it is not the "Muslim" who will bring about a return to the aims of Islam but the "Islamist". Such is the essence of exclusivism, upon which the current wave of Islamism has insisted.
