The Ulama in Contemporary Islam: Custodians of Change Paperback - 2007

First line

MODERN SCHOLARSHIP has often viewed the premodern Islamic legal tradition as a highly rigid structure, defined in opposition to the social and political institutions of society, and resistant to change once its fundamental principles and doctrines had been articulated in the first centuries of Islam.

From the rear cover

"Long before 11 September, the `ulama were regarded as the ubiquitous agents of Islamic authority throughout the Muslim world. Yet until Muhammad Qasim Zaman, no scholar has attempted a fine-grained, comparative analysis of their multiple roles and adaptive views. This book will change the way that both scholars and observers of Islam think about contemporary Muslim societies."--Bruce Lawrence, author of Shattering the Myth

"This highly original book offers fresh insight into the role of Islamic religious scholars in the modern world. It will shape how we understand religious tradition, sectarianism, religious knowledge and its carriers, and the diverse ways in which religious arguments are created and disseminated. The book's accessible style and persuasive comparison of religious developments in South Asia with other parts of the Muslim world make it a significant port of entry for anyone wishing to understand Islamic religious tradition and the modern social and political contexts in which it is elaborated and reproduced."--Dale Eickelman, Dartmouth College

"Zaman's work is a convincing study of religious and social change. The rise of `ulama as important political and social factors in various Muslim countries has come as a surprise to many scholars, who still find phenomena such as the Taliban puzzling. This book explains this missed perspective on modernity and shows that the `ulama have not been oblivious to modern challenges."--Muhammad Khalid Masud, International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World, Leiden