The uprisings of 2011 caused regimes across the MENA region to update their strategies for maintaining power. While initial readings of the mass demonstrations inspired hope for the possibility of democratization, the consolidation of regime control since the Arab Spring as well as subsequent violence and instability have reinforced the factors contributing to the region’s persistent authoritarianism. Islamist groups, for whom “victory was not an option” (Brown 2012) in the pre-2011 era, briefly achieved control over the governments of Tunisia and Egypt, and their travails were watched with interest by their neighbors. Arab regimes in Jordan, Morocco, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia did not experience the overthrow of a head of state, but have updated their strategies regarding state control of Islam. Since 2011, each of these monarchies has altered their policies towards Islamist opposition groups, as well as the official discourse regarding religion in general. The paper compares the strategies of these four Arab monarchies, focusing on the implications of the different choices made by each regime. The governments of Morocco and Saudi Arabia adopted a stance of promoting so-called “moderate Islam,” while the Jordanian regime has been engaged in less of this posturing than prior to 2011. Qatar had funded Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s initiatives allegedly dedicated to promoting the Quranic notion of wasatiah (~“moderation”), but in 2017 faced a blockade from Saudi Arabia and isolation from the rest of the GCC on the basis of sponsoring terrorism. The ways in which governments make use of notions such as moderation, authenticity, and religious authority express strategic maneuvering for both international religious soft power, as well as efforts to consolidate domestic control. Combining nine months of ethnographic fieldwork with government officials and Islamist groups in Jordan and Morocco with interviews with Emirati and Saudi officials, the paper offers insights into how the strategic use of official Islam has shifted in the post-2011 context.