The Slow Death of the Ulema

In the very beginning, when the Islamic State first emerged in the settlements of Yathrib, there were no "ulema," certainly not as we find them today. One found, instead, a lot of people who knew Islam top to bottom—without Saudi certificates or PhD’s. They were not professional "Allah-wallas", but merchants, herdsmen, and laborers. Young and old, they learned when they had free time, visiting Prophet Muhammad (SAAW) at his home or following him through the streets, learning the Qur'an by heart, and taking note of everything the Messenger said and did. Then they taught each other, and spread Islam-related skills like reading and writing. Nearly all of these early students also gained the ability to do ijtihad, and applied what they knew already to new situations rising when their Teacher (SAAW) was not immediately at hand. 

A career as pesh-imam, or professor of "Islamic Studies," was not their goal. The Companions (RAAH) simply wanted to know the truth about where they came from, where they were going, and what they must do in their lives as merchants, herdsmen and laborers to attain the good of this world, and the next.

Eventually, the Islamic State spread to Egypt, Ash-Sham, and Persia. It soon became obvious that many among the first generation of experts on Islam, and those who came immediately after, were needed full-time to guide the masses of new Muslims (and non-Muslims) and immerse them into the culture of the Ummah (Islamic nation). And so, like Abu Bakr (RAAH), many of the experts left behind their old jobs and served the Khilafah as governors, judges, administrators, teachers, and military commanders, supported by salaries paid them from the Bait ul Mal (treasury). The rest, though they too knew Islam, stayed in their original work, supported the new rulers, and straightened them out whenever they failed to rule according what the Prophet (SAAW) had left behind.

But centuries passed, and things slowly changed. The Muslims who knew more—relatively speaking—about their Deen began to think of themselves as guardians of a special wisdom, with the sole right to determine, among other things, who could join their number, and how. This tendency became strongest in countries where the level of knowledge about Islam among Muslims as a whole was low. These areas included Old Hindustan, the Spice Islands, and the Swahili Coast. There, many thousands of new Muslims lived beyond the reach of the Khilafah state and its culture, where one could learn much about Islam just by walking, looking, and listening in the street.

Ulema in Safawi Persia.

When people, who once upon a time simply knew Islam, began to think of themselves as professional ulema, they assumed the vices of other professions. Like lawyers and priests, they felt the temptation to set themselves apart from the "laymen"—in other words, the rest of the Ummah. They began in speak in jargon that no one outside their circle could easily understand, contributing to the sense of isolation. Worse still, like physicians, they developed interests, priorities, and agendas that did not necessarily match those of the people they supposedly served and taught, nor even those of Islam. By the time of the great Mongol invasions in the 13^th Century CE, many ulema actually endorsed a fatwa approving of Hulagu Khan’s overthrow of the Baghdad Khilafah to save their skins. Their rationale was appalling: “Better a virtuous infidel as ruler than a bad Muslim.” Later on, under the Mamluk régime in Egypt, the government ceased giving its scholars salaries and began paying them per fatwa instead. Very quickly, the muftis found it in their economic interest to produce as many fatwas as possible about everything, and make them popular as well—at least with those holding the purses!

Yet these developments did not lead at once to disaster, because later Khilafahs (and other states run by Muslims), even in their weakness, generally provided the ulema with steady jobs and other means to satisfy their ambition until well into the last Hijrah century. (Paradoxically, however, as the ulema developed themselves as professionals, Islamic culture within the Ummah overall continued to decline.)

Even these safeguards, however, slipped away, as Muslim strength withered in Islambul, Delhi, and other places. Missionaries of Christianity and Capitalism established new schools throughout the Islamic world, institutions that spread the idea of "secular" education. At the same time, French, British, and Russian authorities did all they could to wreck the prestige of the old Islamic madrassahs. The net effect was the attraction of the best young Muslim minds towards kufr, while "Islamic scholars" were left on the sidelines.

Eighty turbulent years after the fall of the Khilafah in Islambul, the ulema struggle to regain their lost power and prestige as professionals. Over the years of their trying, it has been possible to observe several trends. First of all, apart from the hudud punishments, scholars now teach little detail about public life in Islam, the better to tighten their grip on what’s left: worship, dress and hygiene, inheritances, and other personal issues[1]. A passage from Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi’s recent fatwa about women leading mixed-gender salah had this to say:

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also warned against the same wrongdoing in the hadith which states, “Whoever innovates in this matter of ours (i.e., in our religion) whatever is not in it, that innovated thing is rejected.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also said, “Beware of innovated matters, for every novelty is perversity.” (Ahmad in his Musnad and regarded as authentic) All scholars are resolved that acts of worship are unchangeable and must be taken as Allah has ordained them…

However, as regards matters like transactions and worldly affairs, the original judgment concerning them is that they are permitted, for the Islamic rule is following in religious matters and innovating in worldly matters. This was the rule to which Muslims adhered during the times of their superiority in civilization. They followed in religion and innovated in life, and that was how they created a lofty civilization…

    

In this passage Shaykh Al-Qaradawi, like many of the ulema of his generation and after, explicitly limits the application of critically important ahadith to “religious” matters only—without any real justification for it! In essence, he removes politics, economics, and all “worldly affairs” from the scope of the Shari`ah. Why so many of the ulema have taken this stand is hard to say with complete certainty. However, it does allow the shaykhs to seek favor from the current world order without shame; it also permits their followers to elect kafir politicians who will later oppress them, since “there is nothing in Islam that forbids Muslims from participating in the US political system”!!!    

A second trend, notably in the West, is the appearance of scholars, especially the younger ones, marketed like rock or media superstars. Organizers of Islamic conferences advertise them on their fliers almost as if they were Bollywood celebrities coming to town. Wherever they go, they are surrounded by young fan boys and fan girls basking in their starlight (or barakah). Yusuf Islam (though strictly speaking, he’s not a scholar) probably was the first to go down this path, to be followed soon after by Ahmed Deedat in South Africa, Hamzah Yusuf in the USA, and above all, Tariq Ramadan in Europe. In Michigan, we have local stars like Sherman Jackson. Their videos are bought and sold anywhere and quoted everywhere, even though there is often very little meat in them. Their listeners seldom “learn” anything except vague bumper-sticker slogans like “Islam is tolerant,” or “Islam means peace.”                                                                                                              

Where star-power is lacking, other scholars try to "improve their credentials", sitting through Ph.D. programs in "Islamic Studies" at kafir-style universities—and who cares if their professors are even Muslim or not! Then, supported by their degrees and certificates, they present themselves to Muslims as the new priests of Islam, the true owners of the Deen. (It is troubling to see how the asinine word “cleric” has been adopted even by Muslims to describe their “scholars.”) If a Muslim "layman" with the wrong kind of doctorate disagrees with one of their fatwas, he had better shut up, even if he has better evidence, because he never studied Islam at 'Abdul 'Aziz University, Temple, or the U of M!  Perhaps these "Islamic scholars" even convince themselves that they serve the Ummah's best interest; but, as we have seen before, this discourages Muslims in general from learning about Islam, particularly its political aspects. In their everyday lives, Muslims govern themselves and make critical positions each day, not based upon even an ordinary understanding of Shari`ah, but some half remembered platitude they heard on their favorite shaykh’s DVD. So-called Islamic Banking (It’s covered in our “Fiqh and Shari`ah Issues” section), even though it too is riba-based, succeeds only because a few shaykhs put their seal of approval on it.    

Muzammil Siddiqi and Friends.

Yet if today's Ulema and their supporters do not let other Muslims practice all of Islam without a license or union-card, who will be left to help the scholars back to the Path when they themselves go astray? This is not a frivolous question! For even now, as never before, the Ulema face great temptations set before them by Islam's enemies and their pawns; and, unfortunately, too many of them, all too human, already have given in. Instead of using their skills in ijtihad to find the best Islamic answer to new problems affecting the Ummah, they act instead like corporate lawyers do in this country: their bosses pay them, then tell them, "I want such-and-such to happen—make it legal!" Worse still, there are others who, instead of straightening the rulers as they once did in the past, have been bent themselves, sometimes in return for special recognition as muftis and great shaykhs. The examples are all around: the official Saudi ulema who backed the American occupation of their country, as well as the tamed Russian "clerics" who put their blessing on the decimation of Chechnya. They are not so hard to bump into in the USA, either. These are the people who are working to establish "American fiqh" and justify participation in the American political system as voters and office-seekers, instead of spelling out what political activity in Islam really is. Of them, it can easily be said:

Those who conceal what Allah revealed in the Book, in order to make a small gain, will eat nothing but fire. Allah will not speak to them, or purify them, and they shall have a great punishment. They buy Error in place of guidance and punishment in place of forgiveness. How patiently (they wait) for the Fire! (TMQ, Surat ul-Baqarah, ayahs 174-175)

            

But in the English-speaking Islamic world at least, the ulema are starting to find that their strategies might not restore their lost power, or even maintain what they still have. With the Amina Wadud affair, the chickens are coming home to roost. The scholars are paying heavily for their failure to stem the rising ignorance among the masses. They have been used to telling other Muslims what to think and do, not through sharing their useful knowledge, but by brandishing their degrees, impenetrable fancy language, and charisma; but now they are finding that there are many people unimpressed by them.

The question, “Shall Muslimahs be imamahs of mixed-gender jama’ahs?” finds an easy answer; it is “No.” The problem comes in explaining, “Why not?” There is no verse from the Qur’an or sahîh hadith known to us that decides the issue. Answering the second question requires a close study of what the Companions of the Prophet (RAAHum) did and did not do, particularly the “Mothers of the Believers.” Doing a good job on the issue requires a solid, common understanding of the sciences of Usul ul-Fiqh. This used to be part of the basic education of ordinary Muslims, but the ulema of yesterday and today have failed to pass it on to younger generations. This is one reason why the masses in non-Arab Muslim communities no longer understand much of what their “clerics” say to them[2].

Thus, when authorities like Shaykh al-Qaradawi based their arguments on the agreement of “the vast majority of scholars,” so-called Progressive Muslims only heard, “We ulema can’t come up with a good reason why Sr. Amina can’t lead Friday salah, other than dead tradition. Therefore, we shaykhs are going to conspire to keep her in her place!" The scholars’ admonitions had no real effect on a crowd that only knew, “Islam means equality between men and women!”

Alas, this won’t be the last time that such things will happen. The role of the ulema is becoming increasingly irrelevant in the war of ideas between Islam and anti-Islam. Even their influence on the Muslim masses is slipping. As time goes on, the slow death of the “Muslim priesthood” is well underway, just as the Catholic priesthood is withering and dying today.

Is there a remedy? If so, it lies with the ulema’s reinvention of themselves. Islamic scholars have to stop thinking they are “clerics,” “stars,” or as the French so delightfully say, hommes-fétiches (literally, “human idols”). The days that they can lead the masses by the nose with their charisma and stardust are numbered: in America, they can’t even get the masjids to agree on the first day of Ramadan! It would behoove them instead, as some of the better ones are doing, to serve the people primarily as teachers of their most useful knowledge. This would include, first of all, teaching the illiterate to read: it is a disgrace to see a certain shaykh in Michigan wasting his time getting kissed by George W., while so many of the women in his community can’t read a lick of Qur’an! The ulema also can devote themselves to teaching good Arabic to Arabs and non-Arabs alike, so that Muslims can understand them better and keep them straight.  

Islamic scholars ought to remember as well that they are students before they are anything else. The best of them will realize that they can learn useful things from anybody, even “laypeople.” Over the years, their awareness of the political system of Islam (that is, the Khilafah) has atrophied; without reacquiring such knowledge, they can’t help much in the continuing debate with capitalism.  With it, they can win honor and glory for themselves and the entire Ummah.

Can the ulema do it? Will they share in Islam’s political, economic, and cultural revival? Or will they be used to support a kafir system responsible for the misery that both Muslims and non-Muslims must endure? Will the ulema become part of the solution, or remain part of the problem?