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Mullah

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This article is about the Islamic cleric. For the Maldivian island, see Mulah.
Not to be confused with Mula or Mulla.

Mullah (/ˈmʌlə, ˈmʊlə, ˈmuːlə/) is an honorific title for Muslim clergy and Imams.[1] The term is widely used in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, and is also used for a man who has higher education in Islamic theology and Sharia.

The title has also been used in some Mizrahi, Iranian (Persian), Afghan, Bukharian, Kaifeng, and Sephardic Jewish communities in reference to the community's leadership, especially its religious leadership.[2]

Since the 1980s, the term has developed to have a pejorative connotation in certain contexts, especially in India.[3][4][5]

Etymology

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The word mullah is derived from the Persian word mullā (Persian: ملا‎), itself borrowed from the Arabic word mawlā (Arabic: مولى), meaning "master" and "guardian", with mutation of the initial short vowels.[1]

Usage

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Historical usage

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Painting of a mullah (Muslim scholar) reading a book. Gouache by an Indian artist, c. 19th century

The term has also been used among Iranian Jews, Bukharian Jews, and Afghan 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".[6]

Modern usage

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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, Caucasus, Central Asia, West Asia, South Asia,[7] Eastern Arabia, the Balkans and the Horn of Africa. In other regions, a different term may be used, such as imam in the Maghreb.[7]

In Afghanistan and Pakistan, the title is given to graduates of a madrasa or Islamic school, who are then able to become a mosque leader, a teacher at a religious school, a local judge in a village or town, or to perform religious rituals. A person who is still a student at a madrasa and yet to graduate is a talib.

The Afghan Taliban was formed in 1994 by men who had graduated from, or at least attended, madrasas. They called themselves taliban, the plural of talib, or "students". Many of the leaders of the Taliban were titled Mullah, although not all had completed their madrasa education.[8] Someone who goes on to complete postgraduate religious education receives the higher title of Mawlawi.[9]

In India, the title is used more generally to denote a 'Muley' or Muslim Jat.[10]

In Iran,[3] until the early 20th century, the term mullah was used in Iranian seminaries to refer to low-level clergy who specialized in telling stories of Ashura, rather than teaching or issuing fatwas. However, in recent years, among Shia clerics, the term ruhani (spiritual) has been promoted as an alternative to mullah, which, since at least the 1980s, has developed a pejorative connotation, and is even considered a religious slur in certain contexts (especially in India and Iran).[5][11]

Training and duties

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

  • Classical Arabic
  • Tarikh (history)
  • Fiqh (Islamic law)
    • 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
  • Hadith (Islamic traditions)
  • Aqidah (Islamic creed)
  • Mantiq (logic)
  • Ilm-ul-Kalaam (Islamic scholastic theology)
  • The Quran
    • The meanings of the Quran
    • the principles and rules of Quranic exegesis
  • Tasawwuf or Sufism (mystic practices in Islam)

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

  • Takhassus fil Iftah – after which they qualify as a mufti and can issue fatwas (legal rulings)
  • Takhassus fil Hadith – specialisation in hadith studies
  • Takhassus 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. 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 Shia Islamists seized power in Iran in 1979.

Dress

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Mullahs teaching children

The dress of a Mullah usually consists of a type of turban called an ammama, a long coat with sleeves and buttons (similar to a cassock), and a long gown or cloak, open at the front, which is called a qaba. The qaba is usually made either of brown wool or black muslin, and is sleeveless but has holes through which the arms may be inserted. In Shiism, the turban is usually white, but those who claim descent from Muhammad traditionally wear a black turban.[12]

See also

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Other Islamic honorifics and titles

Related topics

References

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  1. ^ a b Szczepanski, Kallie (16 October 2019). "Islamic Mullah". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
  2. ^ See for example: "Rabbinic Succession in Bukhara 1790–1930" Archived 7 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b Algar 1987
  4. ^ "Hate against Muslims in India, whether on the streets or in Parliament, is the same". Middle East Monitor. 30 September 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  5. ^ a b Faisal, Meer. "Muslim MP called 'terrorist, pimp' by BJP member inside India's parliament". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  6. ^ Chinese and Japanese repository of facts and events in science, history and art, relating to Eastern Asia, Volume 1. Oxford: s.n. 1863. p. 48. Retrieved 6 July 2011. (Original from the University of Michigan)
  7. ^ a b Roy, Olivier (1994). The Failure of Political Islam. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 28–29. ISBN 0-674-29140-9.
  8. ^ Matinuddin, Kamal (1999). The Taliban Phenomenon: Afghanistan 1994–1997. OUP. pp. 15–16. ISBN 0195792742. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  9. ^ Abdul Salam Zaeff (2010). My Life with the Taliban. C. Hurst. p. 302. ISBN 9781849040266. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  10. ^ Gupta, Dipankar (1997). Rivalry and Brotherhood: Politics in the Life of Farmers in Northern India. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1997. pp. 2, 34, 44-47, 50, 57, 60, 63–65, 82–85, 87, 124, 160. ISBN 978-0-19-564101-1.
  11. ^ Momen, Moojan, An Introduction to Shi'i Islam, Yale University Press, 1985, p. 203
  12. ^ Seyyed Behzad Sa'adati-Nik Tarīkhche-ye Lebās-e Rūhānīat (The History of Clerical Dress) Archived 2 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine. Mehr News, 29 Tir 1394.
  •  This article incorporates text from Chinese and Japanese repository of facts and events in science, history and art, relating to Eastern Asia, Volume 1, a publication from 1863, now in the public domain in the United States.
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