Waning Influence of the Ulama

 بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:

اِنَّمَا یَخۡشَی اللّٰہَ مِنۡ عِبَادِہِ الۡعُلَمٰٓؤُا

Verily, it is only the Ulama who [truly] fear Allah

(Surah 35, Ayah 28)

This is a remarkable excellece for the Ulama (Islamic scholars) which the ordinary Muslims should take note of. The Holy Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم said:

وَإِنَّ الْعُلَمَاءَ وَرَثَةُ الأَنْبِيَاءِ

Verily, the Ulama are the heirs of the Prophets (Sunan Abi Dawud)

Ideally, the Ulama should lead the Muslim Ummah, in both formal offices of leadership, and informally in the sense of religious guidance and influence. The Prophet’s rightly-guided Caliphs رضى الله عنهم were all well versed in the sciences of Islam; they are the highest ranking Ulama of the Ummah in its entirety. But when the formal leadership of the Muslims was grabbed by ignorant, corrupt men, the vitality of Islam in society began to suffer. While the Ulama are jealous for Allah and His Apostle صلوات الله والسلام عليه and are guardians of the sacred Shari’ah, they are also moderate and tempered in contrast to the laymen who are propelling various so-called “Islamist” movements and parties. The “Islamist” laity, by turning away from the guidance of the traditionalist Ulama, fell into the snare of violent extremism and Takfir. They inflicted irreparable damage to the cause of Islam, at least in our generation and for the foreseeable future. The ignorant, sinful masses of this Ummah are becoming more distanced from the Ulama with each passing day, as cultural secularity and modernity have enveloped them. While they loudly lament the corruption and dishonorable conduct of the current Muslim rulers, they fail to realize that the inability of the Ulama to influence our corrupt rulers is a consequence of their failure to rally around the Ulama. If the people would appreciate and hold up the Ulama to the position they deserve one would surely witness betterment of our societies. Instead, the heedless laity have gravitated to the trash of society; singers, musicians, actors, supermodels, athletes and social media influencers. It is observed that the youth have little regard for the men of religion and piety. This state of affairs within the mainstream Sunni community is most pronounced. Among the Twelver Shi’ah, their Mullas wield greater power and influence in that community, due to several factors. One of those major factors is the institution of Khums, a religious tax in which one-fifth of surplus wealth is received by the Shi’ah Mullas from their flock. So when the Shah of Iran was toppled in 1979, the Revolution was easily hijacked by Khomeini and those close to him among the Mullas, establishing a Shi’ite theocracy that has persisted for nearly half a century. Likewise, when the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, liberating that country from the tyranny of Saddam and his Baathist Party, the immediate beneficiaries were the Shi’ite clergy. They managed to transform their massive religious influence among the Shi’ah community into political power, especially the two clerical dynasties; the al-Hakim family and the al-Sadr family. The chief Mulla in Iraq, Ali al-Sistani, though preferring to remain behind the scenes, also wielded remarkable political influence in Iraq since millions there and worldwide consider him their Marja, or reference point for Taqlid. There is simply no equivalent today in the world of Sunni scholarship. The Taliban have successfully and incredibly restored their rule over Afghanistan after an armed struggle of two decades and so are the unique exception to the general phenomenon of Sunni Ulama being powerless and increasingly losing influence over the society. Maulana Fazl ur-Rahman and his Jami’at Ulama-e-Islam (JUI) has some influence among the Pakhtuns of Pakistan, and would manage to acquire a seat at the table with almost every government, though in the latest elections his party was virtually decimated. The next best thing, in lieu of the Ulama directly governing the Muslims, is for them to have the ear of the rulers. Yet this state of affairs too is essentially nonexistent today.