ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the dissemination of the transnational Salafi movement in Azerbaijan in the context of its relationship to external powers and local discourses. In order to examine the relationship between a transnational religious movement and a nation state, the chapter refers to the concepts of transnationalism and soft power. Transnationalism is understood to comprise cross-border interactions and contacts between different people and organizations that try to escape the state's control and that are not controlled by the central foreign policy organs of any government. The transnationalization of Salafism has been a constant Saudi political strategy to spread a Saudi version of Islam worldwide. Salafism appeared in Azerbaijan as the result of diverse transnational flows, notably from Saudi Arabia and some other Gulf countries. Many scholars divide contemporary Salafism into the purist/quietist strand, the politically active strand and the jihadi or militant strand.
