This explains the success of the Muslim Brotherhood and the strength of Salifism in Egypt, focusing on the importance of the groups’ ability to attract youth activists across class divides by providing convincing and desired forms of dissent against a repressive regime. Through an in-depth analysis of youth mobilisation based on extensive observation of activists in their everyday social environment, the author offers an innovative critical analysis of contemporary Egyptian Islamist activism, revealing the particularities of its social impact and the diversity of its ideas, as well as its long-standing capacity to influence civil society according to its own agenda.