This chapter consists of five sections. The first assesses al-Shiqaqi’s teenage years and his turn from Nasserism to Islamism. I then proceed to see how the PIJ founders met in the Egyptian university system, how they organized study circles, and their interaction with, and growing animosity toward, the Muslim Brotherhood. Third, I analyze the importance of the study circles for the emergence of PIJ. I then discuss the Palestinians’ contact with the Egyptian radical groups and the latter’s potential influence on the Palestinian students. Last, I analyze the importance of the Palestinian political landscape and whether changes in its structure (or the lack thereof) contributed to PIJ emerging as it did.