After the events of 9/11, media representations of Muslims in the West-never known for their accuracy-becameeven more stereotypically negative. Few of us realize, however, the profusion of similar sentiments that existedwithin Arab Muslim media outlets ten or even fifteen years earlier. Lila Abu- Lughod here examines these images ofreligious extremism in popular Arab media, focusing most closely on such depictions in Egyptian television showsof the 1990s. Concluding with an exploration of the influence of media on religion itself, Local Contexts of Islamism in Popular Media will add new fuel to current debates in media studies and world politics.