The Syrian project to establish a form of "official Islam" has been contested at various times. A well known case is the challenge from the Muslim Brotherhood in the late 1970s and beginning of 1980s. Since the Brotherhood was suppressed in the early 1980s the government has endeavored to co-opt Islam and create an "official Islam" in which to channel pious citizens. Moreover, since the 1980s representatives within the framework of "official Islam" have been given the possibility to establish movements and organizations. Operating in a space in which the state is weak, if not absent. These organizations have developed in to self-maintained structures containing various forms of education, charity and sometimes a large economy. Hence, communities parallel to the state founded on specific interpretations of Islam have appeared in the society. For several reasons the government recently began to feel threatened by these "private" religious movements and a governmental decree was issued in 2008 to take control of the organizations. The decree was implemented in 2009 and now most, if not all, of the "private" religious movements are under the control of the Ministry of Religion. The most well known representative of "official Islam" today is the Ahmad Kuftaro Foundation. In 1938 Kuftaro inherited the position as a shaykh of a Naqshbandi branch and in 1964 he became the mufti of Syria. In 2004 this charismatic shaykh passed away and today the organization, centered at the Abu Nur mosque in Damascus, is headed by one of the mufti's sons, Salah Kuftaro. Throughout the years it has been seen as an exponent of "official Islam" in Syria. However, the current-day development of the organization is challenged and its contemporary leader, Salah Kuftaro was placed in jail in June 2009. This paper will explore how and why an "official Islam" employed by the Syrian state turned into something that was apparently perceived as dangerous by the same state. Hence, I will analyze the fundamental aspects of the Kuftaro foundation, especially its mission to develop an Islamic model for the society. This message is designated to present a functionally useful interpretation of Islam that enables followers to succeed in a setting influenced by modernity as well as other interpretations of Islam. This paper is founded on extensive fieldwork in Damascus and the analysis is based on a sociological approach in which Islam is seen as a social force intimately connected with society.