Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Shaista P. Ali-Karamali and Fiona 

Dunne, “The Ijtihad Controversy.” Arab Law Quarterly

9, no. 3 (1994): 238–257; Wael B. Hallaq, “Was the 

Gate of Ijtihad Closed?” International Journal of Middle 

East Studies 16 (1984): 3–41; Rudolph Peters, “Ijtihad 

and Taqlid in 18th and 19th Century Islam.” Die Welt 

des Islams 20 (1989): 132–145.

Ikhwan al-Muslimin, al-

  See m

uslim

 

b

rotherhood

.

Ikhwan al-Safa

  See b

rethren

 

of

 p

urity

.

imam

 

(Arabic: leader, guide, a person to 

be imitated)

Imam is a term that has several meanings in 

Islamic belief and practice. Its basic meaning for 

Sunnis is “leader of group 

prayer

” (salat), literally 

the one “in front of” the congregation, standing 

before the 

mihrab

 (niche indicating the 

qibla

,

direction of prayer, facing the k

aaba

 in m

ecca

). 

A leader of prayer can be any qualified adult 

with sufficient knowledge of the prayer ritual. 

Although “prayer leader” is the basic meaning of 

the term imam, in practice an imam’s function also 

includes giving the 

sermon

 (khutba) from the pul-

pit (

minbar

) as part of Friday noon prayer, relating 

interpretation of Islamic religious and legal texts 

(for example, q

Uran

, 

hadith

, 

fiqh

, 

theology

) 

to current events and issues in the local Muslim 

community. Customarily, men must lead mixed or 

male-only prayer gatherings, and 

Women

 lead only 

women’s prayer groups. This traditional exclusion 

of women from the imam’s function in mixed