The Ulama in Contemporary Islam: Custodians of Change (Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics)

This is a well-argued book, which brings out the complexity of the role of the ulama in contemporary Muslim societies with clarity and simple elegance. It deals with the response of the ulama after the encounter of Islam with the moment of rupture constituted by colonialism and Western modernity.Running throughout the book, Zaman examines the contextually defined, dynamic relationships of cooperation and contradiction between the modernists, the Islamists and the ulama. Whereas modernism and Islamism, trends that emerged in the Muslim world since the late nineteenth century, are seen to be largely rooted in modern, Westernized institutions of education, the ulama are generally perceived to be carriers of "tradition," which in turn is conceptualized as static and unresponsive to the modern world. "Modernist" Muslim intellectuals have sought `to find ways of making Islam compatible with what they have taken to be the challenge of modern age' (p.7). The Islamists, on the other hand, `are drawn to initiatives aimed at radically altering the contours of their societies and states through the public implementation of norms they take as "truly" Islamic' (p.8). The interests of the modernists and the Islamists are generally perceived to be opposed to those of the ulama and they share the view that `one certainly does not need the ulama to interpret Islam to the ordinary believers' (p.10). It is implied that ulama are tied to a frozen tradition. However, Zaman demonstrates in this book that `boundaries between the ulama and the "modernists" can become blurred, just as they sometimes do between the ulama and the Islamists' (p.10). Thus the ulama are not only engaged in religiopolitical activism, like the Islamists, but also participate in redefining and reconstituting "tradition." In fact, understanding "tradition" as a dynamic and pluralistic venture is critical to the project of this book.Following the moral philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre and the anthropologist Talal Asad, Zaman takes tradition to be a "discursive tradition". Understood in this way, he finds that `appeals to tradition are not necessarily a way of opposing change; that what passes for tradition is, not infrequently, of quite recent vintage; and that definitions of what constitutes tradition are often the product of bitter and continuing conflicts within a culture' (p.3)."Reforms" in education, particularly at madrasas, by the colonial government in India is the starting point of analysis in this book. Zaman shows how the ulama ended up arguing for a "distinctive sphere of religion" in order to preserve their authority under the onslaught of new changes. It leads to tension, collaboration and contradictions between the ulama and later post-colonial state, especially in countries like Egypt and Pakistan.The most interesting part of the book is its comparative perspective. Zaman discusses the uneasy and complex relationship between the ulama and the state in countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Phillipines, Iran, India and Pakistan. He makes a distinction between the official or dominant and the "peripheral" ulama and examines their relation with each other, with the state and the Islamists.Finally, in interpreting the recent ulama activism, Zaman suggests the influencing role of three key factors. First factor is the ties that the ulama have established with the Islamists although these two groups are generally seen to be opposed to each other. It is a product of the reconfiguration of education, since the colonial intervention, and its intended and unintended consequences. Secondly, international patronage, primarily in the form of Saudi Arabian money in financing mosques and madrasas, has played a critical role in empowering the ulama. And lastly, the impact that the Iranian revolution of 1979, especially the pre-eminent role of the religious leaders in the running of the state, and Iranian attempts at expanding the influence of Shi'ism, has provided an opportunity to the Sunni ulama to be more active at the grass-root level. These three factors have contributed to the ulama activism globally though each Muslim country has had its own specific contexts that are critical to understanding the complexity of nation-specific activism of the ulama.Zaman has carried out an impressive analysis at the macro level. However, what is missing is the use of some ethnographic studies to examine the understanding of tradition, actual activities and relation with Islamists in specific cases of madrasas at the micro level. The book is too much preoccupied with the major ideologues among the ulama and the Islamists. Therefore the nature of ulama activism at the grass-roots level remains a mystery.

This is an amazing work by Zaman on the role of the Ulama, or Muslim religious scholars, in society today. Zaman takes the examples of the Deobandi ulama, which hailed from the religious seminary in Deoband, India, as a case in point to demonstrate his thesis. The ulama are shown to be cognizant of modern problems, not simply confined to their madrassas and preaching fundamentalism, as they are usually depicted. Indeed, as the title indicates, the Ulama play such a large role in Muslim societies that they are a major factor in the evolution of any of these societies. Zaman eventually discusses the issue of ulama and their role in extremism, as any good work should. But Zaman demonstrates that the ulama themselves are not a single, united group, and many have vastly different ideologies.