The aspects of al-Maqdisi's influence we have seen so far have been almost entirely ideological, without his personal presence playing much of a role: he spent little time in Saudi Arabia, stayed briefly in Afghanistan/Pakistan and during his time in Kuwait and Iraq he was still too young to have been of much influence. This changed, however, when al-Maqdisi moved to Jordan in 1992. There, he found himself in a situation where he could start building a network of followers that was not just based on his writings but also on his personal contacts. This chapter and the next focus on how and why al-Maqdisi's presence in Jordan as well as his writings influenced the radical Islamist community there.

In what follows, we will first look at the political context in Jordan, starting with the role of Jordanian Islam as a social and political force in the country, before moving on to an analysis of the period during which al-Maqdisi arrived in the kingdom. We will then turn to how his moving to Jordan initially influenced the radical Islamist community and how he tried to channel its widespread discontent. Finally, we will look at how al-Maqdisi's influence from 1992, when he arrived in Jordan, until 1994, when he went to prison, can be explained using framing. As we will see, the impact of al-Maqdisi and his quietist Jihadi-Salafi message in Jordan at this stage owed much to his ability to provide guidance to seekers of knowledge in need of a spiritual leader.