Scholars of Religion

Jewish rabbis and Islamic Sunni ulama were masters of law who belonged to a well-defined class with higher education. These important figures in Judaism and Islam play a great role in society.

Kunst-Orchidee 14,99 statt 39,99

Scholars of Religion
Write an essay comparing and contrasting the rabbis and the ulama with respect to 1) their origins, 2) their function, and 3) their status in the community.

Jewish rabbis and Islamic Sunni ulama were masters of law who belonged to a well-defined class with higher education. These important figures in Judaism and Islam play a great role in society. Although neither were legislators in the strict sense, they acted as conservative guardians and innovators of legal tradition. They intensively studied law and other subjects in specific schools called yeshiva and madrasa. Due to their concentrated knowledge and education, these lawyers remain the leaders of their religious communities until this day.

Rabbis are an elite class of Jews that emerged in post-Exilic times, who had immense knowledge of the Torah. After Moses, the Law was not to be changed or edited by anyone. Jews lived under the Mosaic institution, where the Torah was viewed as a body of operational law administered by a court. “For they too have divine assistance and would never, on account of their large number, concur in anything which contradicts the Law.” (Judah Halevi, the Khazar King 3.40-41)

A rabbis prestige arose from his mastery of the law, which could be credited to his school, yeshiva. Rabbis had few religious rivals, and were able to lead the community by their knowledge of the Law. They are arranged in various prestige hierarchies of learning or holiness.

Ulama, or “the learned,” were somewhat equivalent to the Jewish legal scholars, in Islam. They began as unofficial and unorganized students of the traditions of the Prophet, but eventually transformed into powerful and remarkable scholars. These Muslim were educated in madrasas, similar to that of the Jewish education. They concentrated on subjects such as hadith and fiqh, combining law and the making of law, with religious dialects. “Now the development of jurisprudence from its sources took place. Jurisprudence was perfected and came to be a craft and science. The Quran readers were no longer called Quran leaders but jurists and religious scholars.” (Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddima 6.14)

Islamic law, or shari’a, transformed from just a body of theory, to a code of action determining which human acts are permissible and which are forbidden. All Muslims are required to have some legal knowledge about practices such as the daily prayers, Ramadan and the Hajj. Ulamas, however, are required to know the detailed duties and rules obligatory of men. These rules cannot be found in the Quran, but have to be debated and interpreted in different ways by the scholars.

Ulama are also arranged in a hierarchy similar to that of rabbis. Many members took it upon themselves to create a system of order, where the "absolute interpreter" whose authority, like that of his rabbinic counterpart, transcended his own place and his own time. During the Ottoman period, the government set them up into new hierarchies, and extended their patronage and access to the kind of power they had never enjoyed.

Both the rabbis and ulama enjoyed a fine knowledge in jurisprudence, and were an important and elite part of society. However, there were also some major differences between the two. Jews were eventually granted a degree of community independence in the systems under the Roman and Sasanian empires, and the later Islamic empire. Rabbis were given the opportunity as administrators to maintain the legal traditions, and act as judges and surrogates of a higher judicial authority.

Muslim Sunni ulama, on the other hand, were only one element among many classes contesting for power in Islam. Before the Ottoman Empire, they had no control over political authority, and had no say in the duties of the caliph. Ulama however played a great role in the development of education in Islam. After the eleventh century, higher educated in Islam was inspired by the ulama, and madrasas were further expanded and shaped the development of Islamic consciences and the shar’ia.

Yet another difference between rabbis and ulama is that the ulama believe they are the interpreters of the shari’a, whereas the rabbis regard themselves as the custodians of the Torah. This has resulted in different uses of ijtihad, or personal interpretation. Ulama are the sole interpreters of the shari’a and undergo debates and analogies in order to reach a consensus. Rabbis on the other hand are the custodians, and can interpret their laws as they choose. “Rabbi Nathan met the prophet Elijah and asked him: What did the Holy One, blessed be He, do at that moment? He replied, God smiled and said, My children have defeated Me, My children have defeated Me.” (BT.Baba Metzia 59b) This proves the complex relationship between the Torah and it’s interpreters, a system foreign to that of Islam. Rabbis have more power in interpreting the scriptures.

Not only could rabbi’s interpret the Torah more freely, they practiced gezera and taqqanot. Gezera enabled them to tighten a law or act if they find it suitable, and the taqqanot refers to loosening a law, such as the creation of new institutions to improve social or religious conditions. Sunni ulama, however, did not enjoy such freedoms with the law.

The function and status of rabbis and ulama are very similar in society. They both require immense knowledge about law and religion, and undergo special schooling to achieve that. They are usually both at the top of the hierarchical systems in Judaism and Islam. However, some of their duties and responsibilities may differ. Rabbis seem to enjoy an uncontested power, assuring their position in the hierarchy. Ulama, on the other hand, were constantly competing with other classes for power. They also revolutionized the education system for Muslims in the years to come.

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