In March 1919, Egypt erupted in revolution when the British arrested and exiled the nationalist leader Sa’d Zaghlul and three of his Wafdist colleagues. Thousands of Egyptians took to the streets spontaneously demanding an end to British occupation, and calling for Egypt to assume its rightful place amongst modern nation-states in world affairs. Contemporary accounts of the 1919 revolution described the urban demonstrations as initiated by students of the higher schools and al-Azhar, joined by groups of workers, women, and segments of the urban “riff-raff” in the following days. Within these historical depictions, we find characterizations of sectarian collectiveness represented in the revolutionary street and square as, “al-wahadiyya al-wataniyya,” visually reinforced by revolutionary flags bearing the crescent and the cross. Interestingly, these signifiers have had considerable longevity taking into account the same localized symbols were employed again in the wake of the 25 January unrest to emphasize national and sectarian unity. The historiography explaining developments leading to and during the 1919 revolution focuses exclusively on the nationalist movement, workers, women, and most recently on revolutionary era popular culture. Popular memory and historical studies take al-Azhar, its theology students (as well as churches and synagogues), and religious symbols into account, but the roles and politics played by religious institutions in the anti-colonialist and nationalist movement has not been fully fleshed out. Utilizing British archival documents, Egyptian and British periodicals from the era, and the diary of the Azhari Shaykh Abd al-Wahhab al-Najjar, this paper will present an analysis of al-Azhar’s neglected contributions by showcasing the political acumen of the ‘ulema to the nationalist debates, by arguing that the ‘ulema served as an essential force in legitimizing the nationalist movement in 1919, and by demonstrating the central role played by al-Azhar’s students and ‘ulema in contributing to the organization, rhetoric, and iconography of the revolution. By engaging these specific points, I will shed a broader light on the fluid dynamics contributing to the reciprocal interaction of the nationalist movement and religion during this important era, and thus provide more insight into the socio-political processes at work in modern Egyptian history.