The current political conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Bahrein and Yemen often are described as being determined by the allegiances across the Shia-Sunni fault-line, and Saudi Arabia is presented as leading power within the Sunni bloc. Only some decades ago, however, hardly anybody would have imagined such a constellation, because Wahhabism was considered a heretic movement by most Sunnis. As most Sunnis were at the same time Sufis, they did as well practice place related rituals like the veneration of tombs, anathema to puritan Sunnis. On the basis of several examples from the Middle East and South Africa Martin Riexinger will show, how Sunni Islam became more puritan in the course of the last century and how that affected Sunni-Shia relations.