Saudi Fatwa Limitations

In a significant assertion of royal power over the ulama, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is restricting who can issues religious rulings:

"King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia on Thursday issued a decree stating that only senior clerics are permitted to issue fatwas or Islamic religious edicts, the official SPA news agency said.

"It cited the text of the decree as saying that for the time being, only members of the Council of Senior Ulema (scholars) will be allowed to issue fatwas...

"In the decree, the Saudi monarch also asks the grand mufti, who heads the council, to submit a list of others who are qualified to issue fatwas."

One broader context for this is controlling extremists at lower levels, but the crown and the ulama have been in a battle over authority for a long time now.