Hingga pertengahan abad XX terdapat perbedaan kategori ulama (ulama birokrat/ulama penghulu dan ulama non-penghulu/ulama bebas) di Palembang. Hal ini bermula dari proses birokratisasi agama, ketika sistem kekuasaan merasa berkewajiban untuk memberikan pelayanan keagamaan atau ketika kekuasaan melihat agama harus dikendalikan. Sementara itu, sejak dekade kedua abad XX banyak terjadi konflik antara ulama-ulama bebas maupun ulama birokrat Palembang yakni antara ulama bebas yang berorientasi Islam tradisionalis dan ulama bebas yang berorientasi Islam modernis. Di sisi lain, bersamaan dengan bangkitnya gerakan Islam modernis di Palembang, pada awal abad XX, berdatangan juga para ulama tradisionais lainnya yang bermukim di Mekkah. Ulama-ulama yang berfaham Islam tradisionalis ini diantaranya mulai melakukan upaya gerakan pembaharuan dalam bidang pendidikan Islam yakni dengan mendirikan lembaga berupa "Madrasah". Upaya pendirian lembaga pendidikan dengan sistem madrasah ini menunjukkan bahwa adanya unsur "pembaharuan" yang kemudian menegaskan perbedaannya dengan sistem pendidikan Islam tradisional.Kajian ini mengungkap kontinuitas tradisi keilmuan dalam bentuk penulisan karya-karya keagamaan serta pengajaran agama yang dilakukan oleh ulama bebas dan ulama birokrat setelah Kesultanan Palembang dihapus, serta peran ulama bebas dan ulama birokrat di Karesidenan Palembang di tengah wacana adanya gerakan pembaharuan Islam dan gerakan nasionalisme. Dalam perubahan-perubahan yang terjadi pada masyarakat Palembang, ulama bebas dapat dikatakan sebagai agent of change yakni tokoh yang mampu membawa perubahan sosial sebab terbukti mempunyai kemampuan yang enabling bagi lingkungannya. Sedangkan ulama birokrat dipandang tidak mempunyai kemampuan untuk melakukan perubahan-perubahan dalam masyarakat atau tidak berperan sebagai agent of change, hal ini disebabkan ulama birokrat dibatasi oleh salah satu perannya yakni sebagai pejabat pemerintah kolonial yang harus loyal terhadap aturan-aturan.

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Until the mid-twentieth century, the categories of ulama were differentiated into two types: bureaucratic ulama/ulama penghulu (headman ulama) and independent ulama in Palembang. These differences have resulted from the process of bureaucraticization of religion, when the power system feels obliged to provide religious services or when the power considers that religion must be strongly controlled. On the one hand, since the second decade of the twentieth century, the conflicts between independent Muslim ulama with their orientation on traditionalist perspectives and those with modernist perspectives took place. On the other hand, along with the rise of the Modernist movement in Palembang, in the early twentieth century, the other traditionalist scholars who lived in Mecca also took part in these movements. Scholars with traditionalist Islam perspectives partly initiated their efforts of renewal movement in the field of Islamic education by establishing the institution in the form of 'Madrasah'. This effort of establishment of educational institutions with the madrasah system demonstrates the element 'renewal' which then confirms the difference with the traditional Islamic educational system.This study reveals the continuity of the tradition of knowledge in the form of writing works of religious matters as well as religious instructions conducted by independent scholars and bureaucratic ulama after the Palembang Sultanate had been removed, and the role of independent ulamas and bureaucraticic ulamas at the residency of Palembang in the middle of the discourse of Islamic reform movements and the nationalist movements. In the changes that occur in people of Palembang, the independent scholars can be regarded as the agent of change who is capable of bringing about social changes because it has proved to have the enabling capabilities for the environment. Meanwhile, the bureaucratic clerics are considered not to have the ability to make changes in the society, or they do not act as agent of change due to the fact that bureaucratic ulama are constrained by one of their role as the colonial government officials who should be loyal to the rules.