Word: ulema
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...Jubail on the Persian Gulf, which are costing $30 billion to build. In the past three years, the Saudis have built nearly 300,000 housing units?enough for a quarter of the Saudi population. In a land where education a generation ago was essentially in the hands of the ulema, a powerful group of conservative Islamic religious leaders. 960,000 young Saudis are now in high schools and colleges...
...same time that Roman Catholic canon lawyers were putting together their reform proposals, another group of ecclesiastical legal experts-the ulema (scholars) of Islam-was meeting in Cairo to update the Sharia, or code of spiritual rules, which governs their own ancient faith. Since the Sharia is based exclusively upon Mohammed's words in the Koran and the equally authoritative oral tradition of his deeds and sayings, the ulema had a tougher task adapting its provisions to fit the changes in modern life...
When it came to economic matters, the ulema found themselves bedeviled by subtle problems of distinction that would have tried the ingenuity of the prophet himself, who lived in a less complex fiscal age. In general, Islamic scholars have agreed that government-sponsored pension systems, social-welfare payments, and the use of bank checks and letters of credit are compatible with tradition. But even though loans at interest are made by all Arab-nation banks, most Islamic scholars still stoutly maintain that this is nothing less than the sin of usury. Others feel that even fire, death and accident insurance...
...capital city of Riyadh. Just down the road in the Red Palace was Saud's half brother Feisal who two weeks ago was summoned to the throne by a fatwa, or religious edict, issued by a national council composed of 100 princes, assorted sheiks and the ulema (a body of learned men). At the same time the fatwa deposed King Saud, but he refused to abdicate, and no one knew just how to go about making...
...Imam, who apparently has reservations about his son's admiration for Nas ser and two years ago tossed out the teachers and technicians Badr had imported from Egypt, last week called Hassan home from New York. Hassan has been given no job yet, but the ulema favor him over Badr. And on his way home Hassan spent four days in Saudi Arabia talking with King Saud, who is alarmed by the 2,000 Red Chinese and Russian technicians Badr imported, and feels Hassan is the man to prevent a Communist takeover of his neighbor...