ulema

See also: ulemá

English

Alternative forms

• ulama (directly from Arabic)
• olema (dated)

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish علما (ulemâ), from Arabic عُلَمَاء (ʕulamāʔ, plural of عَالِم (ʕālim, “learned one”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʊləmə/, /ˈuːlɪmə/, /uːləˈmɑː/

Noun

ulema

1. plural of alim; the guardians of legal and religious tradition in Islam; clerics.
   • 1850, Archibald Alison, The Decline of Turkey: Essays, Political, Historical, and Miscellaneous, volume 2, page 458:

     In process of time, the whole monopoly of the ulema centred in a certain number of families; and their constant residence at the capital, to which they return at the expiration of their term of office, has maintained their power to the present day.

   • 1999, Margaret L. Meriwether., The Kin Who Count: Family and Society in Ottoman Aleppo, 1770-1840, page 145:

     Perhaps surprisingly, ulema families were less likely to intermarry with other ulema families than merchant families were to intermarry with other merchant families.

   • 2000, Karen Armstrong, The Battle for God, Harper, published 2004, page 131:

     For the time being, the faithful must follow their own consciences and learn to distinguish good from evil by themselves, instead of relying on the ulema.

   • 2006, Madeline C. Zilfi, “10: The Ottoman ulema”, in Suraiya Faroqhi, editor, The Cambridge History of Turkey, page 209:

     The problem of sources can be offset by limiting the scope of generalisation - not all ulema, for example, but those who are retrievable or in some way representative of the sources if not of society.

   • 2009, Ron Eduard Hassner, War on Sacred Grounds‎^[3], page 143:

     By virtue of their influence and their historical allegiance to the royal household, the ulema form one of three power centers of the kingdom, alongside the members of the royal court and the heads of the major tribes.

Anagrams

• Alemu, Maule, Muela, maule

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Ottoman Turkish علما (ulema), from Arabic عُلَمَاء (ʕulamāʔ), plural of عَالِم (ʕālim, “learned one”).

Noun

ulema f (plural ulemale)

1. ulema

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	ulema	ulemaua		ulemale	ulemalele
genitive-dative	ulemale	ulemalei		ulemale	ulemalelor
vocative	ulema			ulemalelor

Spanish

Noun

ulema m (plural ulemas)

1. (Islam) alim

Further reading

• “ulema”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Turkish

Etymology

Inherited from Ottoman Turkish علما (ʿulemā, “learned men; doctors of the canon law of Islam”), from Arabic عُلَمَاء (ʕulamāʔ), plural of عَالِم (ʕālim, “scholar, man of letters”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /u.leˈmaː/
• Hyphenation: u‧le‧ma

Noun

ulema pl (definite accusative ulemayı)

1. (dated) plural of âlim; scholars, learned people

   Synonym: âlimler

2. (Islam, dated) religious scholars

Declension

Inflection
Nominative	ulema
Definite accusative	ulemayı
	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ulema	—
Definite accusative	ulemayı	—
Dative	ulemaya	—
Locative	ulemada	—
Ablative	ulemadan	—
Genitive	ulemanın	—

Derived terms

• ulemalık

 

Related terms

• alem
• alemdar
• allame
• allem
• ilam
• ilim
• ilmî
• ilmihal
• ilmiye
• ilmühaber
• malum
• malumat
• muallim
• talim
• ulum

 

Further reading

• “ulema”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
• Çağbayır, Yaşar (2007) “ulema”, in Ötüken Türkçe Sözlük (in Turkish), Istanbul: Ötüken Neşriyat, page 4979