Editing Ulama (section)

==Cosmopolitan scholarly tradition==
The study of, and commentaries on Quran and hadith, debates about ''ijtihad'' and ''taqlid'' and the issuing of ''fatwa'' as well as the use of Arabic, and later also Persian as common languages of discourse constituted the religious authority of the ulama throughout the entire Islamic world. Zaman{{sfn|Zaman|2010|pp=595–599}} has demonstrated that, as personal contacts were key to acquiring knowledge, Islamic scholars sometimes travel far in search of knowledge ''(ṭalab al-ʿilm)''. Due to their common training and language, any scholars travelling from one region of the Islamic world to another can easily integrate themselves into the local Muslim community and hold offices there: The traveller [[Ibn Battuta]] (1304–1368 or 1369), born in [[Tangiers]], Morocco, to a family of ulema, was appointed qadi by Sultan [[Muhammad bin Tughluq]] of [[Sultanate of Delhi|Delhi]]. [[Nuruddin ar-Raniri]] (d. 1658), born to a [[Gujarati Muslims|Gujarati Muslim]] family, travelled to, and worked as Shaykh ul-Islam in modern-day [[Indonesia]] under the protection of [[Iskandar Thani]], [[Aceh Sultanate|Sultan of Aceh]].{{sfn|Zaman|2010|pp=595–599}} Both scholars were able to move freely in an "interconnected world of fellow scholars".{{sfn|Zaman|2010|p=598}} According to Zaman, their offices and positions as respected scholars were only questioned if they proved themselves unfamiliar with local customs (as happened to Ibn Battuta]), or met resistance from opponents with stronger local roots (ar-Raniri).{{sfn|Zaman|2010|pp=595–599}}

Through their travels and teachings, ulama are able to transmit new knowledge and ideas over considerable distances. However, according to Zaman (2010), scholars have often been required to rely on commonly known texts which could support their ''fatwas''. A text which might be widely known within the intellectual circles of one region could be unknown in another. The ability of scholars from one region to support their argument in another might therefore be limited by the familiarity with the respective texts of the community they are working in. In an era without book print or mass communication media, a scholar's reputation might have remain limited if he was unfamiliar with the local canon of texts. As the ''[[ijazah]]'', the scholar's approval by another master, is key to the scholar's reputation, the latter would be greater in regions where the approving masters is more widely known.{{sfn|Zaman|2010|pp=603–606}}