The focus of this article is the process of religious change and the emergence of a Salafi prayer economy in Bale, Ethiopia. Discussing the movement’s trajectory from the 1960s to the present, the paper demonstrates how the quest for religious reform has been linked to changing socio-economic structures and to the development of new patterns of trans-local trade. Starting with a description of the traditional Oromo prayer economy, as represented through the veneration of Muslim shrines, the paper investigates how altered socio-economic structures impinged on such practices. The paper also discusses the fragmentation of Salafism in Bale, the arrival of the Ahl al-Sunnah movement, and how this has affected the process of religious reform.