ulema

Muslim scholars trained in Islam and Islamic law.

The Moslem doctors of sacred law and theological science, especially those belonging to the religious hierarchy of the Turkish empire, with the Sheik ul Islam at their head: a collective term.

A college or body composed of the hierarchy (the imams, or ministers of religion, the muftis, or doctors of law, and the cadis, or administrators of justice). That of Turkey alone now has political power; its head is the sheik ul Islam.

The guardians of legal and religious tradition in Islam; clerics.

the body of Mullahs (Muslim scholars trained in Islam and Islamic law) who are the interpreters of Islam’s sciences and doctrines and laws and the chief guarantors of continuity in the spiritual and intellectual history of the Islamic community