ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses the main contours of juridico-political developments in several key Muslim countries, where trends have been set and where tensions and accommodations between and among these camps have had noticeable but varied effects. The key Muslim countries include: Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, and Egypt. South East Asia, Pakistan, Iran and Egypt represent more prominent sites of ulama strength, Iran especially, where they have been commanding the state since 1979. The ulama, strictly speaking, continue touphold their "traditional" methods of interpretation or a semblance thereof, which is to say that they generally espouse the authority of their legal sources, treatises, legal schools, leading jurists and ways of instruction. The important difference is the ulama's professional loyalty to their area of specialization: they have continued to dedicate themselves to religious knowledge, either by acquiring it as students or by imparting it as teachers, professors, muftis or preachers.
