For observers of the oil-boom era nothing meets the eye more closely than the rapid spread of mass consumption together with manifold representations of religious devotion in public spheres and public discourses on religion. Why did the preoccupation with buying goods and services closely correspond to deepening religiosity as an idea, as part of everyday life, and as a politics? In Egypt and Saudi Arabia, a search for new, local middle classness created multiple linkages between religious practice and consumption-as-social-distinction in an age of hectic cultural politics. Mass consumption facilitated Islamization through new mass media, market-inspired religious promotion, and commercialization of religious holidays, most notably Ramadan. Islamism and consumerism formed a confluence in new urban environments where construction of new shopping venues and mosques simultaneously took place. Devotion and respectability (an Egyptian male wearing white, Saudi-style jalabiyas, an Egyptian female adopting Saudi head covers) intertwined in public spheres. An Islamic revival facilitated the spread of local market-economies because it provided moral grounds and sanctioned practice for Egyptian and Saudi Arabian integration into the world economy. In Egypt, Islamic financial institutions bypassed state-owned banking system in channeling remittances and investment into the economy. In Saudi Arabia, a religious legitimizing mechanism (siyasa shar’iyya) greatly facilitated state modernization-cum-commercialization policies. In Saudi Arabia and Egypt, fatwas (religious opinions), no less than commercial law, were crucial in guiding circulation of goods and services, and their use. Notably, fatwa giving institutions in Egypt and Saudi Arabia were overhauled during this period. For both countries, the local press—daily newspapers and journals—constitutes an important source for contemporary debates on socio-economic transformations and Islam. I further consulted state legislation venues through which economic transitions were guided, and commodities regulated. I investigated religious opinions (fatwas) of leading religious officials as well as Islamic economics writing on consumption and consumers’ rights and duties.