Ulama
In Islam, theʿulamā, also known as Shuyukh or Mawlawi, are scholars and judges of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, interpreters and legislators of religious knowledge in Islam.
"Ulama" may refer broadly to the educated class of such religious scholars, including theologians, canon lawyers, judges, professors, and high state religious officials. Alternatively, "ulama" may refer specifically to those holding governmental positions in an Islamic state.
By longstanding tradition, ulama are educated in religious institutions. The Quran and sunnah are the scriptural sources of traditional Islamic law.
Traditional way of education
Students of Islamic doctrine do not seek out a specific educational institution, but rather seek to join renowned teachers. By tradition, a scholar who has completed their studies is approved by their teacher. At the teacher's individual discretion, the student is given the permission for teaching and for the issuing of legal opinions . The official approval is known as the ijazat at-tadris wa 'l-ifta. Through time, this practice has established a chain of teachers and pupils who have become teachers in their own time.Places of learning
The traditional place of higher education is the madrasa. The institution likely originated in Khurasan during the 10th century AD, and spread to other parts of the Islamic world from the late 11th century onwards. The most famous early madrasas are the Sunni Niẓāmiyya, founded by the Seljuk vizir Nizam al-Mulk in Iran and Iraq in the 11th century. The Mustansiriya, established by the Abbasid caliph Al-Mustansir in Baghdad in 1234 AD, was the first to be founded by a caliph, and also the first known to host teachers of all four major madhhab known at that time. From the time of the Persian Ilkhanate and the Timurid dynasty onwards, madrasas have often become part of an architectural complex which also includes a mosque, a Sufi ṭarīqa, and other buildings of socio-cultural function, like baths or a hospital.Madrasas are considered sacred places of learning. They may provide boarding and salaries to a limited number of teachers, and boarding for a number of students out of the revenue from religious endowments ', allocated to a specific institution by the donor. In later times, the deeds of endowment were issued in elaborate Islamic calligraphy, as is the case for Ottoman endowment books '. The donor could also specify the subjects to be taught, the qualification of the teachers, or which madhhab the teaching should follow. Moreover, the donor is free to specify in detail the curriculum, as was shown by Ahmed and Filipovic for the Ottoman imperial madrasas founded by Suleiman the Magnificent.
As Berkey has described in detail for the education in medieval Cairo, unlike medieval Western universities, in general madrasas have no distinct curriculum, and do not issue diplomas. The educational activities of the madrasas focuses on the law, but also includes what Zaman called "Sharia sciences" as well as the rational sciences like philosophy, astronomy, mathematics or medicine. The inclusion of these sciences sometimes reflects the personal interests of their donors, but also indicates that scholars often study various different sciences.
Branches of learning
Sufism
Early on in Islamic history, a line of thought developed around the idea of mysticism, striving for the perfection of worship. During the first Islamic century, Hasan al-Basri was one of the first Muslim scholars to describe, according to Albert Hourani "the sense of the distance and nearness of God ... in the language of love". During the 7th century, the ritual of Dhikr evolved as a "way of freeing the soul from the distractions of the world". Important early scholars who further elaborated on mysticism were Harith al-Muhasibi and Junayd al-Baghdadi.Philosophy and ethics
The early Muslim conquests brought about Arab Muslim rule over large parts of the Hellenistic world. During the time of the Umayyad Caliphate, at latest, the scholars of the emerging Islamic society had become familiar with the classical philosophical and scientific traditions of the world they had conquered. The collection of classical works and their translation into the Arabian language initiated a period which is known today as the Islamic Golden Age. According to Hourani, the works of the classical scholars of antiquity were met with considerable intellectual curiosity by Islamic scholars. Hourani quotes al-Kindi, "the father of Islamic philosophy", as follows:
We should not be ashamed to acknowledge truth from whatever source it comes to us, even if it is brought to us by former generations and foreign peoples. For him who seeks the truth there is nothing of higher value than truth itself.
The works of Aristotle, in particular his Nicomachean Ethics, had a profound influence on the Islamic scholars of the Golden Age like Al-Farabi, Abu al-Hassan al-Amiri and Ibn Sina. In general, the Islamic philosophers saw no contradiction between philosophy and the religion of Islam. However, according to Hourani, al-Farabi also wrote that philosophy in its pure form was reserved for an intellectual elite, and that ordinary people should rely for guidance on the sharia. The distinction between a scholarly elite and the less educated masses "was to become a commonplace of Islamic thought". As exemplified by the works of al-Razi, during later times, philosophy "was carried on as a private activity, largely by medical men, pursued with discretion, and often met with suspicion".
The founder of Islamic philosophical ethics is Ibn Miskawayh He combined Aristotelian and Islamic ethics, explicitly mentioning the Nicomachean Ethics and its interpretation by Porphyry of Gaza as the foundation of his philosophical thoughts.
In the 12th century, the early Islamic Neoplatonism which had developed out of Hellenistic philosophy was effectively criticised by al-Ghazali, one of the most influential scholars of Islam. In his works Tahāfut al-Falāsifa, Mizan al-'amal and Kimiya-yi sa'ādat, he refuted the Philosophy of Ibn Sīnā, and demonstrated that the Aristotelian ethics is incompatible with Islamic ethics: The latter is based on the belief in God and in life after death, which together provide the foundation of action in the pursuit of sa'āda.
Law
According to Shia Islam, the authority to interpret the messages of the Quran and the Hadith lies with the Imamah, a line of infallible interpreters of the truth. The Sunni majority, however, reject this concept and maintain that God's will has been completely revealed in the Quran and sunnah of the Prophet. The capacity of its interpretation lies with the ulama.By the eleventh century, the major schools of Sunni and Shia law ' had emerged. Whilst, historically, the schools were at times engaged in mutual conflicts, the differences became less controversial over time, and merely represent regional predominances today. The four most important Sunni schools are:
Shia madhhab include the Ja'fari and Zaidi schools. Minor madhhab also mentioned in the Amman message are the Ibadi and the Zahiri schools.
All Sunni madhhabs recognize four sources of sharia : the Quran, sunnah, qiyas, and ijma. However, the madhhabs differ from each other in their conception of the Principles of Islamic jurisprudence, or uṣūl al-fiqh, as briefly summarised by Hourani. The Hanbalis accepted only the consensus of the Companions of the Prophet ', which gave more leeway to independent reasoning ' within the boundaries of the rules of qiyās. The Hanafis hold that strict analogy may at times be supported by a limited use of juristic preference ', whereas the Maliki school also allows pragmatic considerations in the interest of public welfare ' are also acceptable. Instead of the Sunni concept of analogy ', Shia ulama prefer "dialectical reasoning" ' to deduce law.
The body of substantive jurisprudence defines the proper way of life through interpretation of sharia, which Muslims should follow if they want to live according to God's will. Over time, the madhhabs established "codes of conduct", examining human actions in the light of the Quran and Hadith. Supplementing the sharia were customs ' within a given society. Islamic law and regional customs were not opposed to each other: In 15th century Morocco, qadis were allowed to use a process called ʻamal'' in order to choose from different juridical opinions one which applied best to the local customs, even if they were not supported by the consensus of the majority. More often, the use of sharia led to changes in local customs.
Theology
, the "science of discourse", also termed "Islamic theology", serves to explain and defend the doctrine of the Quran and Hadith. The concept of kalām was introduced during the first Islamic centuries by the Muʿtazila school. One of the most prominent scholars of the Muʿtazila was Abd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad. From the 11th century on, the Muʿtazila was suppressed by the Sunni Abbasid Caliphate and the Seljuk Empire, but it continued playing an important role in the formation of Shia theology. The Ash'ari school encouraged the use of Kalām as the basis of fiqh, and was followed in this approach by parts of the Shafi'i madhhab. In contrast, the Hanbali and Maliki madhhabs discouraged theological speculation. Abu Mansur al-Maturidi developed his own form of Kalām, differing from the Ash'ari view in the question of Man's free will and God's omnipotence. Maturidi Kalām was often used in combination with Hanafi fiqh in the northwestern parts of the Islamic world.A distinct school of theology often called traditionalist theology emerged under the leadership of Ahmad ibn Hanbal in the early centuries of Islam among hadith scholars who rejected rationalistic argumentation. In the wake of the Ash'arite synthesis between Mu'tazilite rationalism and Hanbalite literalism, its original form survived among a minority of mostly Hanbalite scholars. While Ash'arism and Maturidism are often called the Sunni "orthodoxy", traditionalist theology has thrived alongside it, laying rival claims to be the orthodox Sunni faith.
Islamic theology experienced further developments among Shia theologians.