Editing Ulama (section)

====Orthodox Shi'a ulama in post-Safavid and Qajar Iran====
[[File:Portrait of Allamah Majlisi.jpg|thumb|Iranian Shaykh ul-Islam Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi (1627–1699)]]

In Iran, a period of political instability began with the collapse of the Safavid reign after shah [[Sultan Husayn]]s death in 1722. In the light of the discontinuity and fragmentation of the central government, two social groups maintained continuity and, consequently, rose in power: Tribal chieftains established, amongst others, the [[Khanates of the Caucasus]], the [[Afsharid dynasty|Afsharid]] and [[Zand dynasty|Zand dynasties]]. The second group who benefitted from the weakness of the central authority was the Shi'a ulama. According to Garthwaite (2010), "the ulama constituted one institution that not only provided continuity, but gradually asserted its role over and against royal authority." A process of change began which continued throughout the 19th century and into the present.<ref name="Garthwaite_NCHoI_504_525">{{cite book| last1=Garthwaite| first1=G.R.| editor1-last=Cook| editor1-first=Michael |chapter=Transition: The end of the old order – Iran in the eighteenth century | title=The new Cambridge history of Islam | volume=3| date=2010| publisher=Cambridge University Press| location=Cambridge, UK| isbn=978-0-521-51536-8| pages=504–525, see p. 506| edition=3rd}}</ref>

Already some of the last Safavids, [[Suleiman I of Persia|Sulayman Shah]] (r. 1666–1694) and [[Tahmasp II]] (r. 1722–1732) had sought the ulama's support in an attempt to strengthen their authority. Particularly, they associated themselves with a group of ulama who supported the "official" [[Twelver]] Shi'a doctrine, established by the Iranian Shaykh al-Islām [[Mohammad-Baqer Majlesi]] (1627–1699) during the later decades of Safavid rule. The dispute between the Twelver Shi'a and [[Mir Damad]]'s (d. 1631 or 1632) and [[Mulla Sadra]]'s (c. 1571/2 – 1640) [[School of Isfahan]], who promoted Sufi mysticism and [[Islamic philosophy]], continued throughout the 18th century, and shaped the relationship between ulama and government during the reigns of the subsequent dynasties.<ref name="Garthwaite_NCHoI_507_508">{{cite book| last1=Garthwaite| first1=G.R.| editor1-last=Cook| editor1-first=Michael |chapter=Transition: The end of the old order – Iran in the eighteenth century | title=The new Cambridge history of Islam | volume=3 | date=2010| publisher=Cambridge University Press| location=Cambridge, UK| isbn=978-0-521-51536-8| pages=504–525, see pp. 507–508| edition=3rd}}</ref>

With the accession of [[Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar]] to the Iranian throne, the [[Qajar dynasty]] consolidated the central power. However, the Qajar Shahs, in particular [[Naser al-Din Shah Qajar]] (r. 1848–1896), whose reign paralleled that of the Ottoman Sultans of the Tanzimat time, failed at obtaining central control over the ulama. The [[Shia|Shiite]] scholars retained their political influence on the Persian society. They also maintained unrestricted access to the financial resources from the religious endowments. In addition, the Islamic [[Zakat]] tax was paid to individual imams and not to state-sponsored tax collectors. Both their religious influence and their financial means allowed the Shiite ulama to act, at times, against the Shah.<ref>{{cite book| author=William L. Cleveland, Martin Bunton| title=A history of the modern Middle East| publisher=Perseus Books Group| location=New York| year=2016| isbn=978-0-8133-4980-0| pages=104–110}}</ref> Thus, under the Qajar dynasty, the ulama provided a source of religious legitimacy and served as interpreters of religious law in a dual legal system where the state administered law based on custom ''([[Urf|ʻurf]])''.<ref name=choueiri-81>{{cite book|last1=Ghazzal|first1=Zhouhair|editor1-last=Choueiri|editor1-first=Youssef M.|title=A Companion to the History of the Middle East|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|page=81|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ioTXW3316AC&q=history+of+the+ulama&pg=PA81|access-date=10 September 2015|isbn=9781405152044|date=2008-04-15}}</ref>