Editing Ulama (section)

====Syria====
In his study ''Religion and State in Syria'' (2013),<ref>{{cite book| last=Pierret | first=Thomas | title=Religion and state in Syria. The Sunni ulama from coup to revolution| publisher=Cambridge University Press| location=Cambridge, UK| year=2013| isbn=978-1-107-60990-7}}</ref> Pierret pointed out how the training of Syria's ulama gradually became more institutionalised, based upon the traditional madrasa system. In 1920, the madrasa of the [[Khusruwiyah Mosque]] complex (which was to be destroyed in 2014 during the [[Syrian Civil War]]) introduced an entrance exam and a stable curriculum for its Islamic seminary. Graduates were issued a diploma carrying the name of the institution, which bore the signatures of all teachers, signifying individual ''ijazah''. In 1947, courses also included natural sciences and foreign languages. In 1947, the state-run "Faculty of Sharia" was initiated in Damascus by [[Kamal al-Qassab]] (1853–1954), a former student of Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905) in Cairo. Until 1954, all Syrian ulama aiming at higher degrees had to join [[Al-Azhar University]] in Cairo. In 1954, however, Syria's first higher faculty of sharia was founded by members of the modernist wing of the [[Muslim Brotherhood of Syria|Muslim Brotherhood]]. Its curriculum, which included economy and the "current situation of the Muslim world", according to Pierret, "anticipated the 1961 modernist reform of al-Azhar by [[Gamal Abdel Nasser|Nasser]]". In 1972, the curriculum of the state-run "Sharia high schools" was reformed again, thus providing access for their students to all faculties of Syrian high schools.<ref>{{cite book| last=Pierret | first=Thomas | title=Religion and state in Syria. The Sunni ulama from coup to revolution| publisher=Cambridge University Press| location=Cambridge, UK| year=2013| isbn=978-1-107-60990-7| pages=35–37}}</ref>

According to Pierret (2015), the [[Ba'ath Party]] coup of 1963 brought about a weakening of the state-controlled sharia high schools by the secular government. Many teachers of the Damascus faculty of sharia were forced into exile during the 1960s. Attempts of the regime during the 1980s at changing the curricula of the faculty and create a new "Ba'athist ulama" failed. The faculty, maintaining their ability to recruit competent teachers, was able to resist the political pressure. Consequently, the Syrian government prohibited the faculty to grant doctorates until 1998, and delayed the establishment of another faculty in Aleppo until 2006.<ref>{{cite book| last=Pierret | first=Thomas | title=Religion and state in Syria. The Sunni ulama from coup to revolution| publisher=Cambridge University Press| location=Cambridge, UK| year=2013| isbn=978-1-107-60990-7| page=39}}</ref>