Encyclopedia of Islam

Twelve-Imam Shiism

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683

AF

J:

ulama

 

(also 

ulema; Arabic: plural of alim, 

“possessor of knowledge”)

The chief religious authorities in Islam are the 

ulama. In addition to scholars and teachers, they 

include jurists, judges, preachers, imams (prayer 

leaders), market inspectors, and advisers to rul-

ers. The ulama view themselves as the heirs of the 

prophet  m

Uhammad

 (ca. 570–632) in matters of 

religious law (

sharia

) and tradition, the masters 

of the q

Uran

 and 

hadith

, and moral guardians 

of the community of believers. They support 

their claims to religious 

aUthority

  by invoking 

the Quranic injunction, “Obey God, the Prophet, 

and those who have authority among you” (italics 

added, Q 4:59). They are not a priesthood, how-

ever, since they do not conduct sacramental rites 

on behalf of the laity. Nor do they administer a 

“church” or congregation like priests and minis-

ters do in Christianity. Rather, the ulama are more 

like Jewish rabbis; they advise people about God’s 

commandments and prohibitions, and they issue 

opinions and judgments in matters of dispute or 

legal necessity. Their status varies greatly, from 

being half-literate caretakers at village mosques 

to being highly esteemed scholars patronized 

by the powerful and wealthy in the major urban 

centers of Islamdom.

In Sunni Islam, which embodies the majority 

of Muslims, there is no central religious author-

ity like a Roman Catholic pope or Orthodox 

Christian patriarch. Rather, the authority of 

Sunni ulama is built upon a web of relations that 

extends from the mosque or 

madrasa

 (religious 

college) to the palace, marketplace, 

bazaar

,

neighborhood, household, and across entire 

regions from North Africa and a

ndalUsia

 to India 

and beyond. Only in the era of Ottoman rule was 

an official ranking recognized, focused on the 

figure of the 

mUFti

. This office became decentral-

ized with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire 

after World War I. Shii ulama differ from Sunni 

ulama; their authority is based on belief in the 

infallibility of the Imams, venerated descendants 

of Muhammad’s household (

ahl

 

al

-

bayt

). As a 

consequence, Shii ulama, particularly in t

Welve

-

i

mam

  s

hiism

, have developed a centralized hier-

archy since the 18th century, with the top ranks 

held by senior jurists known as ayatollahs. The 

most highly ranked of these, determined by con-

sensus of the ulama on the basis of the jurist’s 

knowledge and reputation, is the marjaa al-taqlid

(source of imitation). Shii ulama, like their Sunni 

counterparts, also depend on extensive networks 

of support and patronage.

U

---

More is known about the ulama than any 

other social group in Islamic history, thanks to 

the voluminous amount of biographical literature 

that they created over the centuries. Studies of this 

literature have shown that ulama were recruited 

from different walks of life, but they were usually 

supported by the ruling class, wealthy merchants 

and landholders, who earned merit for their gen-

erosity. After obtaining a primary 

edUcation

 at 

a 

kuttab

 or at home (if the father was himself a 

scholar), a would-be scholar went to a madrasa 

to study with a master teacher, or select group of 

scholars, of the Islamic sciences. Students (sing. 

talib, seeker) traveled far from home and often 

attended several different madrasas, which served 

as pathway for upward mobility. The hadith-based 

notion of “seeking knowledge, even in China” has 

been a guiding dictum for learning in Islamic tra-

dition. The madrasa, an institution that originated 

in the 10th–11th century, was usually associated 

with a particular tradition of Islamic law (madh-

hab)—Hanafi, Shafii, Maliki, or Hanbali for Sun-

nis, and Jaafari for Shiis. Some madrasas included 

teachers of more than one legal tradition.

The main subject taught was Islamic juris-

prudence (

fiqh

), together with quranic studies, 

hadith and hadith criticism, as well as a variety of 

secondary subjects (for example, Arabic grammar, 

rhetoric, logic, dialectical 

theology

, and history). 

For their lessons, students congregated around 

their teachers, forming circles (sing. halqa) to 

study their books with them and hear their com-

mentaries. When a session was completed they 

would form their own study circles to discuss 

their lessons further and assist each other in 

memorizing the texts and commentaries. When 

a student mastered a book, he would receive a 

certificate (ijaza) from his teacher, which usually 

would qualify the student to teach the book to 

others. Students, therefore, could collect several 

certificates in their course of study, and move into 

the ranks of the ulama based on the knowledge of 

the Islamic sciences they had acquired in madrasas 

at the feet of their teachers. Although 

Women

 were 

excluded from the medieval madrasa system, the 

biographical dictionaries mention that some were 

included among the ulama nevertheless. They 

were known especially as scholars and teachers of 

hadith, and usually they gained their expertise at 

home from male scholars in their families.

Through the centuries the ulama were able to 

establish a sphere of authority for themselves in 

religious matters without undue interference from 

the state, despite the fact that they often depended 

on rulers for patronage and protection. They did 

this by granting legitimacy to them and maintain-

ing close relations with the populace. The ulama 

often endorsed popular customs and religious 

devotionalism, or remained neutral. The evidence 

indicates that most accepted Sufi ideas, such as 

a

bU

 h

amid

 

al

-g

hazali

 (d. 1111), and were even 

members of Sufi brotherhoods, such as a

hmad

s

irhindi

 (d. 1624). The antipathy of the ulama to 

aspects of s

UFism

 and popular saint veneration has 

been exaggerated by modern scholars of Islamic 

studies, and was limited to a relatively small 

number of literalists, such as t

aqi

 

al

-d

in

 a

hmad

ibn

 t

aymiyya

 (d. 1328) and m

Uhammad

 

ibn

 a

bd

 

al

-

W

ahhab

 (d. 1792), until the 20th century.

The establishment of colonial regimes by 

European powers during the 19th and 20th cen-

turies, followed by the emergence of new nation-

states in Muslim lands, contributed significantly 

to undermining the authority of the traditional 

ulama. These governments established secular 

laws and legal systems that emulated those of 

western Europe, effectively displacing the ulama 

in that area. The opening of schools based on 

modern curricula undermined the preeminence 

of the ulama in the area of education and pro-

duced a literate public who could study Islamic 

texts themselves, or appropriate new forms of 

secular and techno-scientific knowledge from 

post-Enlightenment Europe. These developments 

helped compel ulama in different regions to 

engage in Islamic reform programs, as exempli-

fied by the efforts of J

amal

 

al

-d

in

 

al

-a

Fghani

 (d. 

1897),  m

Uhammad

  a

bdUh

 (d. 1905), m

Uhammad

K  684  

ulama

---

r

ashid

  r

ida

 (d. 1935), and the d

eoband

 move-

ment in Indo-Pakistan. Despite these efforts, the 

ulama found themselves blamed for the intellec-

tual backwardness and political weakness of their 

societies by secular Muslims, on the one hand, 

and advocates of political Islam like s

ayyid

 q

Utb

(d. 1966) and a

bU

 

al

-a

la

  m

aWdUdi

 (d. 1979), 

on the other. Even though the ulama were abol-

ished in t

Urkey

 in the 1920s and became little 

more than government employees in countries 

such as e

gypt

, they have undergone a significant 

transformation in a number of countries recently, 

as exemplified by their influence in s

aUdi

 a

rabia

and their involvement in Pakistani politics and 

the rise of the t

aliban

 in Afghanistan. The clear-

est example of this trend is that of i

ran

, where 

Shii ulama under the leadership of Ayatollah 

r

Uhollah

 k

homeini

 (d. 1989) established a revo-

lutionary Islamic government in 1979, an event 

unprecedented in the history of Islam. The U.S.-

led invasion and occupation of i

raq

 in 2003 gave 

Shii ulama in that country, many with links to 

neighboring Iran, an opportunity to take a leading 

role in religious and political affairs.