Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Moojan Momen, An Introduction to 

Shi’i Islam (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 

K  500  

mujtahid

---

1985); Joseph Schacht, An Introduction to Islamic Law

(Oxford: Clarendon, 1964); Linda Walbridge, The Most 

Learned of the Shi’a (London: Oxford University Press, 

2001).

mullah

 

(molla)

A mullah is a title for a Muslim religious author-

ity, a member of the 

Ulama

. It is based on the 

Arabic mawla, which can mean “master,” “slave,” 

or “client.” In early Islamic history a mawla often 

referred to a non-Arab Muslim who had become 

a client of an Arab tribe or had been a slave and 

was manumitted (freed). It later gained wide and 

varied usage in Muslim lands. It is, for example, 

the basis for the Turkish epithet for J

alal

 

al

-d

in

r

Umi

, Mevlana (our master), and for the South 

Asian title for religious leaders and Sufis, maw-

lawi (my master). In i

ran

 and other eastern lands 

in the Muslim world it especially became a title 

of respect for religious authorities, or Muslim 

clerics, qualified to teach, preach, and officiate 

at rituals, as well as interpret Islamic law. Such 

individuals usually would wear distinctive cloaks 

and turbans as signs of their status. In Safavid 

Iran (16th and 17th centuries) the most respected 

religious office that one of the ulama could 

occupy was that of mullabashi (chief mullah). A 

female mullah would be called a mullabaji (sister-

mullah). During the colonial period the prestige 

associated with the title began to decrease. The 

British, for example, coined the derogatory name 

“mad mullah” to insult Muslim leaders who took 

up arms against them in i

ndia

 and e

ast

 a

Frica

 in 

the 19th century. But the title has also lost respect 

among many contemporary Muslims themselves, 

who make mullahs the butts of their jokes and 

apply the title to shady characters and religious 

fanatics.

See also 

aUthority

; m

evlevi

 s

UFi

 o

rder

; s

aFa

-

vid

 

dynasty

.