Generally, us muslims put too much emphasis on what we consider majority view. Not only is it completely illogical to do so but its easily illustrated by counter examples. For example, were the Qureish on the truth when they believed in polythiesm at the time of the prophet simply because they were the majority view? Additionally, the mechanism of traditional knowledge transfer is very restrictive and leaves very little opening for critical thinking. Tamim Ansari has a really great paragraph in Destiny Disrupted which shows this.
Let me emphasize that the ulama were not (and are not) appointed by anyone. Islam has no pope and no official clerical apparatus. How, then, did someone get to be a member of the ulama? By gaining the respect of people who were already established ulama. It was a gradual process. There was no license, no certificate, no "shingle" to hang up to prove that one was an alim.
The ulama were (and are) a self-selecting, self-regulating class, bound entirely by the river of established doctrine. No single alim could modify this current or change its course. It was too old, too powerful, too established, and besides, no one could become a member of the ulama until he had absorbed the doctrine so thoroughly that it had become a part of him. By the time a person acquired the status to question the doctrine, he would have no inclination to do so.Incorrigible dissenters who simply would not stop questioning the doctrine probably wouldn't make it through the process. They would be weeded out early. The process by which the ulama self-generates makes it an inherently conservative class.
If you ever get a chance, go to pakistan and see how these ulama are taught in the masaajids. There is absolutely no deviation from previous works. This is why there was an incredible diversity early on which became less and less especially with the formalization of the madhabs. Dr. Brown's books Hadith and Misquoting Mohammad illustrates this fossilization very well.
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