The Role of Islamic Scholars in Modern Society

Contemporary Muslims often find themselves confronting a seeming paradox that has emerged in our times. They ask themselves what role, if any, the ulama—Islamic religious scholars—have to play in modern societies. This question may arise in a number of different contexts. Some may see Muslim communities functioning just fine without significant numbers of ulama. Their limited visibility may give the (mis)impression of their irrelevance. Others might feel that modern educated Muslims in search of divine guidance can simply pick up a good translation of the Qur’an or an authoritative collection of hadith, like Sahih Bukhari or Sahih Muslim, and thereby directly access divine guidance unmediated by any scholar. There may even be some who look down at the “so-called ulama” who they believe, not always without some justification, are poorly educated and have little to offer graduates from modern universities who enjoy considerable success in their worldly lives.

My paper explains that, contrary to the above views, there are actually very good, and arguably quite obvious, reasons that the ulama have historically been and will inevitably continue to be indispensable to Muslims. My answer draws on the Qur’an and Sunnah and the statements of scholars of the past to illustrate this point in several ways, before addressing some challenges Muslims face today in finding the sorts of scholars we need. I also reflect on how contemporary challenges first emerged; Muslims’ own responsibility in dealing with them; and what kinds of steps we should take, as local communities and as an ummah, to try and address these challenges.

Given that the Qur’an was revealed over a millennium ago in “a clear Arabic tongue,” it stands to reason that Muslims need to resort to scholarly experts of the ancient Arabic language to understand its message. Add to that the fact that there has been a long and illustrious tradition of scholarly reflection on the Qur’an and the Sunnah in Arabic and it becomes clear that we need to have dedicated specialists in this tradition to inform us about what we need to live as faithful Muslims today.