The Clerics of Islam by Nabil Mouline

Author:Nabil Mouline [Mouline, Nabil]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2014-03-11T04:00:00+00:00

7

RAISING THE VEIL ON THE CONDITIONS OF ACCESS TO THE RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENT

FROM SELF-MADE MEN TO HEIRS: THE SOCIAL ORIGINS OF THE ULAMA

The predication of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab made many disciples. In the founder’s lifetime, several of his followers showed great devotion and zeal to propagate al-da‘wa.1 Upon the master’s death, his charisma was “routinized” in Max Weber’s sense of the term: while the members of his family inherited a large part of this charisma, his disciples also benefited from routinization. The result was the creation of a number of “houses” of ulama (buyut ‘ilm, sing. bayt ‘ilm) that monopolized the religious space of the successive Saudi emirates up until the middle of the twentieth century (though several isolated cases of individual success did exist). The most important of these houses of ulama included those of Al al-Shaykh, direct descendants of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab; Al Slim; Al al-Qadi; and Al ‘Atiq. Beginning in the 1950s, however, the Saudi Arabian clerical corps underwent a degree of “democratization.” This can be seen in the membership rolls of the Committee of Grand Ulama since its creation in 1971. My interviews with and study of the biographies of members of the committee have allowed me to identify three broad categories of ulama: the self-made men, the children of midlevel religious personnel, and the heirs of the houses of ulama.

In the first category, I include foreign and Saudi-origin ulama from socially and economically “modest” backgrounds. Study and promotion to high religious offices offer incalculable opportunities to clerics from this category and guarantee them upward social mobility. Few, however, experience this type of ascent. In a society of houses based on personal relations and networks of solidarity, social mobility is in theory possible only for individuals possessing a degree of social and cultural capital—something that, by definition, self-made men do not possess. This is reflected in the committee itself: though highly respected for their personal qualities and knowledge, its self-made men are “looked down upon” by their colleagues because of their social origins. In fact, the appointment of self-made men to the Committee of Grand Ulama has taken place only on four occasions since its creation: in 1971, 1977, 1987, and 2005.

The second category, offspring of midlevel religious personnel, consists of ulama whose kinsmen held religious posts in the magistracy or public instruction or were not especially renowned imams or preachers at mosques. I have also included in this category ulama whose relatives were “experts” on the Qur’an or an area of Hanbali-Wahhabi theology and held posts in the liberal, administrative, or manual professions. Ulama drawn from this category have constituted more than 67 percent of the committee’s members since its creation.

Family background plays a decisive role in their social promotion. Midlevel religious personnel themselves initiate their children into religious knowledge or sometimes confide it to trusted tutors. Their family networks allow them to study under the guidance of the most renowned and influential masters and to frequent the best-stocked libraries. What’s more, the apprentice ulama

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