Mullah

Not to be confused with Mulah or Mulla.

A mullah praying in Imamzadeh Hamzah, Tabriz

A mullah (/ˈmʌlə, ˈmʊlə, ˈmuːlə/; Persian: ملا‎) is a Muslim mosque leader. It is the term commonly used for village or neighborhood mosque leaders, who may not have high levels of religious education, in large parts of the Muslim world, particularly Iran, Turkey, Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, Eastern Arabia, the Balkans and the Horn of Africa. In other regions a different term may be used, such as imam in the Maghreb. The term is sometimes used for a person who does have higher education in Islamic theology and sacred law. The word mullah is derived from the Arabic word mawlā, meaning "vicar", "master" and "guardian".

The title has also been used in some Mizrahi and Sephardic Jewish communities to refer to the community's leadership, especially religious leadership.

Usage

The term is most often applied to Shia clerics, as Twelver Shia Islam is the predominant tradition in Iran. However, the term is very common in Urdu, spoken throughout Pakistan, and it is used throughout the South Asia for any Muslim clergy, Sunni or Shia. Muslim clergy in Russia and other former Soviet Republics are also referred to as mullahs, regardless of whether they are Sunni or Shia.

The term has also been used among Persian Jews, Bukharan Jews, Afghan Jews, and other Central Asian Jews to refer to the community's religious and/or secular leadership. In Kaifeng, China, the historic Chinese Jews who managed the synagogue were called "mullahs".

Outside of Eastern Arabia, which has a long Shiite tradition and numerous Shiite minorities, the term is seldom used in other Arabic-speaking areas where its nearest equivalent is often shaykh (implying formal Islamic training), imam (prayer leader; not to be confused with the imams of the Shiite world), or ʿālim ("scholar", plural ʿulamāʾ). In the Sunni world, the concept of "cleric" is of limited usefulness, as authority in the religious system is relatively decentralized.

The term is frequently used in English, although English-speaking Muslim clergy rarely call themselves mullahs. It was adopted from Urdu by the British rulers of India and subsequently came into more widespread use.

It is sometimes used in a derogatory and humorous form, to mock gnostically religious men.

Mullah and its variation mulla have also degenerated into a derogatory term for a Muslim priest that connotes a semiliterate, backward, often bigoted village imam. "Although, interestingly enough, the holy Quran stridently denounces priesthood (and this would include mullah-hood, too), the mullahs act virtually as priests, and presume it to be their sole prerogative to interpret Islam."

Iran

Until the early 20th century, the term mullah was used in Iranian hawzas (seminaries) to refer to low-level clergy who specialized in telling stories of Ashura, rather than teaching or issuing fatwas. In recent years, at least among Shia clerics, the term ruhani (spiritual) has been promoted as an alternative to mullah and akhoond, free of pejorative connotations.

Training and duties

Ideally, a trained mullah will have studied the traditional Islamic sciences not limited to:

• Classical Arabic
  • Nahw (syntax)
  • Sarf (word morphology)
  • Balaaghah (rhetoric)
  • Shi'r (poetry)
  • Adab (literature)
• Tarikh (history)
• Islamic law (fiqh)
  • Rulings pertaining to their school of jurisprudence and the rulings of other schools of jurisprudence
  • The principles of jurisprudence pertaining to their school of jurisprudence and the principles of other schools of jurisprudence
  • The evidences of their school of thought for principles and rulings, the evidences of others, how they differ and why
• Islamic traditions (hadith)
  • Exegesis
  • The principles of exegesis
• Aqidah (Islamic creed)
• Mantiq (logic)
• Ilm-ul-Kalaam (philosophy)
• (Quran)
  • The meanings of the Quran
  • Exegesis
  • the principles and rules of Quranic exegesis
• Tasawwuf (Sufism)

Some mullahs will specialise in certain fields after completing the above foundational studies. Common specialties are:

• Iftah – after which they qualify as a mufti and can issue a fatwa (legal ruling)
• Takhasus fil Hadith – specialisation in hadith studies
• Takhasus fil Aqidah – specialisation in aqidah studies

Such figures often have memorized the Quran and historically would memorise all the books they studied. However in the modern era they instead memorise the founding books of each field (sometimes in the form of poetry to aid memorisation).

Uneducated villagers may frequently classify a literate Muslim with a less than complete Islamic training as their "mullah" or religious cleric. Mullahs with varying levels of training lead prayers in mosques, deliver religious sermons, and perform religious ceremonies such as birth rites and funeral services. They also often teach in a type of Islamic school known as a madrasah. Three kinds of knowledge are applied most frequently in interpreting Islamic texts (i.e. the Quran, hadiths, etc.) for matters of Sharia, i.e., Islamic law.

Mullahs have frequently been involved in politics, but only recently have they served in positions of power, since Islamists seized power in Iran in 1979. In Syria, political militant groups supported by the West have taken root.

Dress

Hojjatoleslam Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan

In Iran the usual dress of a mollah is a turban (Persian: عمامه‎ ammāme), a long coat with sleeves and buttons, similar to a cassock (Persian: قبا‎ qabā), and a long gown or cloak, open at the front (Persian: عبا‎ abā). The aba is usually made either of brown wool or of black muslin. It is sleeveless but has holes through which the arms may be inserted. The turban is usually white, but those who claim descent from the Prophet Muhammad traditionally wear a black turban.

See also

• Allamah
• Marja'
• Maulana
• Maulvi
• Ulema

References

• Template:PD-old-text

External links

• "Mollah" . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
• International Imam Organization