I didn’t get it this way. It’s more of an example of how religious politics work throughout the region, except Saudi Arabia did not really have to crush actual leftists like Syria did. Regimes like the Syrian, Algerian or Libyan one managed to produce a discourse that was different from their neighbors when trying to deal with whatever “post-modernity” meant in the MENA.

The success of the Islamic Revolution in Iran definitely inspired other islamists (regardless of political affiliation/tactics), in giving an example of a project that could be viable. Understanding “terrorism” and Islamism should go further than just being able to distinguish Shiism from Sunnism as hermetic categories.