This dissertation explores the politics of state-sponsored Islam in Egypt between 1952 and 1970. I examine how secular nationalist states played an important role in the formation of key ideas and practices of modern Islam. I take Gamal Abdel Nasser's secular rule in Egypt as a lens to explore this question in the Middle East. I examine how the Egyptian regime used al-Azhar, Egypt's preeminent Islamic institution, to redefine and regulate Islam through its network of shaykhs. My project analyzes the secularization of religious life through the bureaucratization of religion and its institutions in relation to authoritarianism, society, and nation-building in Egypt and the Middle East. To tell this story, I draw on sources from the Egyptian National Archives, the British National Archives, and most importantly, the archives of al-Azhar. I argue that Islam was a contested site that was used by the secular state, liberal intellectuals, and al-Azhar to negotiate power. Furthermore, I contend that the Egyptian state's bureaucratization of religion produced unintended consequences for the application of shariʿa, the agency of its religious institutions, and society. Thus, I offer a conceptual template for rethinking state-mosque relations both within and beyond Egypt, exposing the role Islam plays in the state's national project and the implications of this role for contemporary Egyptian politics and the Middle East at large.