The Legacy of Muslim Rule in India c8.s1.4

c8.s1.4

So far as the third element is concerned, it is true that there was no ordained or hereditary Muslim priesthood in medieval India. But there was a scholastic class called the Ulama, who wielded great influence with the Sultan. About their education and orthodoxy, Dr. Yusuf Husain has this to say: The institutions of higher learning called Madrasa, had developed into centres of learning with a distinct religious bias. They were essentially schools of theology These Madrasas were the strongholds of orthodoxy and were subsidized by the state.¹³ From amongst the products of these schools of theology were appointed jurists, advisers of Sultans and kings, and interpreters of the Shara (Islamic law). The protection of Shariat, writes Ibn Hasan, has two aspects: The propagation of the knowledge of Shara and its enforcement as law within the state. The one implies the maintenance of a class of scholars devoted to the study, the teaching and the propagation of that knowledge, and the other the appointment of one from those scholars as an adviser to the king in all his acts of state. The scholars devoted to that knowledge are called Ulama and the one selected from among them is termed Shaikh-ul-Islam.¹⁴ The Shaikh-ul-Islam was the representative of the Ulama and it was his duty to bring to the notice of the King what he thought detrimental or prejudicial to the interest of his religion, and the king had little option in acting upon such an advice.¹⁵ Henry Blochmann elaborates the position still further. Islam has no state clergy, says he, but we find a counterpart to our hierarchical bodies in the Ulemas about the court from whom the Sadrs of the provinces, the Mir Adls, Muftis and Qazis were appointed. At Delhi and Agra, the body of the learned had always consisted of staunch *Sunnis*, who believed it their duty to keep the kings straight. How great their influence was, may be seen from the fact that of all Muhammadan emperors only Akbar, and perhaps Alauddin Khalji, succeeded in putting down this haughty sect.¹⁶ No amount of arguments can obliterate the fact of the great influence of the priestly class (Ulama and Mashaikh) in the Muslim state.