Does the extension of such licence conflict with the idea of the ulema as a ruling class?
Yes. Whoever can interpret the revealed text is an alim. So we should not say that ulema should interpret the text but rather that whoever is competent to interpret the text is an alim. That’s one thing. The other is that there is no official class of ulema in Islam. The clergy is not synonymous with ulema. The definition of ulema is broader, as I have just explained, to cover all those who are able to interpret revelation. When we talk about the clergy, some of them are not even learned. In fact, some of them are not even pious. It is not always the case that they know religion very well or are the best commentators. Because of this I claim that religion is not the same as an ideology. One dimension of an ideology is that there is always an official class of interpreters. In Islam, it is the right of all people to believe in Allah, in the Quran, and it follows then that they all have an equal right to their own justifiable understanding. The religious state should keep the conditions
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