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The Collaborative International Dictionary
Ulema

Ulema \U`le*ma"\, n. [Turk. & Ar. 'ulam[=a] the wise or learned men, pl. of '[=a]lim wise, learned, fr. alima to know.] (Mohammedanism) A college or body composed of the hierarchy (the imams, or ministers of religion, the muftis, or doctors of law, and the cadis, or administrators of justice). That of Turkey alone now has political power; its head is the sheik ul Islam.

Note: The government of Turkey in 1998 is exclusively secular.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
ulema

"scholars of Muslim religious law," 1680s, from Arabic 'ulema "learned men, scholars," plural of 'alim "learned," from 'alama "to know."

Wiktionary
ulema

n. (context plurale tantum English) The guardians of legal and religious tradition in Islam; clerics.

WordNet
ulema

n. the body of mullahs (Muslim scholars trained in Islam and Islamic law) who are the interpreters of Islam's sciences and doctrines and laws and the chief guarantors of continuity in the spiritual and intellectual history of the Islamic community [syn: ulama]

Usage examples of "ulema".

So it was that Selamlik talked to the Ulema, the holy men, who were there, and they urged him to clemency, as holy men will, even in Egypt--at a price.

Chairman Toure Bomoko, an Ulema of the Zensunnis and one of the fourteen delegates who never recanted ("The Fourteen Sages" of popular history), appeared to admit finally the C.