Family laws represent a central arena of political, social, and ideological contestation in Muslim majority states. Debates over the reform of the family law frequently serve as catalysts for religious-secular polarization, with significant implications for state-religion dynamics. While much of the existing literature focuses on how interactions between Islamist movements and ruling elites shape family law, this paper foregrounds official religious elites as noteworthy yet understudied political actors, through a comparison of Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey. By "official religious elites", we refer to the Ulema, a body of religious scholars who share a set of common characteristics and occupy positions within formal religious and educational institutions. We contend that official religious elites play essential roles in shaping the debates over family legislation, ensuring that it remains within their traditional sphere of influence across legislative, cultural, educational, and preaching domains, even in countries with secular legal frameworks. This paper aims to reveal the influence of official religious elites in contemporary Muslim-majority countries, highlighting their survival strategies and their direct and indirect influence on public policies. By analyzing their strategies comparatively in Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey, the paper seeks to demonstrate that religious elites are not passive agents of the state nor rigidly bound by doctrine. Instead, they are politically strategic actors who adjust their strategies to shape their environment. This approach moves beyond the secular-religious dichotomy to underscore the negotiated and strategic dimension of religious authority today. Across the four cases, the analysis indicate that official religious elites can either delineate the scope of legal change or subtly influence policy choices through moral framing, agenda-setting, and alliances with political actors.