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
abU hamid al-ghazali (d. 1111), and were even
members of Sufi brotherhoods, such as ahmad
sirhindi (d. 1624). The antipathy of the ulama to
aspects of sUFism 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 taqi al-din ahmad
ibn taymiyya (d. 1328) and mUhammad ibn abd al-
Wahhab (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 Jamal al-din al-aFghani (d.
1897), mUhammad abdUh (d. 1905), mUhammadK 684 ulama